Kidney Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and the Effectiveness of Vitamin E for Prevention of Nutritional Muscular Dystrophy in the Chick

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Abstract
Groups of one-day-old chicks fed a vitamin E-free diet contracted nutritional muscular dystrophy (NMD) at the rate of 95 to 100%. The addition of 20 to 25 IU of vitamin E/kg of diet decreased the incidence to 5 or 6%. Adding raw kidney beans in addition to the vitamin E increased the incidence of NMD to 45 to 100%, indicating the beans contain an anti-vitamin E factor (PAT, Phaseolus antagonist to tocopherol). Extracting and autoclaving the beans indicated 2 antagonists to vitamin E; one, alcohol-soluble and heat stable and the second, not alcohol-soluble and heat labile. Evidence indicated that the alcohol-soluble antagonist was due to the unsaturated fats present. The specific nature of the second antagonist is as yet unknown.