The biological values of proteins

Abstract

THE relative efficiencies of the proteins of wheat, maize and milk in supplying the amino-acid requirements of the body have gained particular interest in connection with current theories of the etiology of pellagra The majority of recorded outbreaks of pellagra have occurred among the poorer classes in districts where maize and maize products form the staple foodstuffs of the population and its occurrence among populations subsisting on wheat and rice, though recorded, is extremely rare. The disease, if not too far advanced, is cured after change to a " good diet " in hospital or elsewhere, and milk, meat and yeast have been shown to possess preventive and curative powers when added to a pellagra-producing diet [Goldberger, Waring and Tanner, 1923; Goldberger and Tanner, 1924; Tscherkes, 1930]. It is therefore reasonable to expect that any hypothesis as to the cause of the disease should account satisfactorily for these facts [see Aykroyd, 1930, 1].