The Effect Upon Hematopoiesis of Variations in the Dietary Levels of Calcium, Phosphorus, Iron and Vitamin D

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Abstract
Investigations have been made of the effect on hematopoiesis in rats of variations in the dietary levels of calcium, phosphorus, iron and vitamin D. The basal ration in one series (I) of experiments was markedly deficient in calcium and moderately low in iron, sodium, potassium, magnesium and chloride, while the phosphorus level was considerably in excess as compared with the content of calcium and iron. The mild polycythemia and anemia which occur with this diet were only partially prevented by supplementation with 1.4 mg. of iron, as ferric chloride, per rat daily. Six milligrams of iron per rat daily produced normal blood values. The same amount of iron as ferric phosphate was without effect. Fifty milligrams of calcium, as calcium carbonate, per rat daily prevented the abnormal hematological syndrome but the same amount of calcium, furnished as the diphosphate, was completely ineffective. In the second series (II) a purified ration was used in which calcium, phosphorus, iron and vitamin D could be varied at will. This ration, with normal levels of calcium, iron and vitamin D, but three times the normal amount of phosphorus, caused a mild polycythemia and anemia. The same basal diet supplemented with normal amounts of phosphorus and iron, but only one-fifth the normal quantity of calcium, caused a similar blood picture. The absence of vitamin D (Viosterol) from low-calcium normal-phosphorus rations, with normal and low levels of iron, caused a greater degree of polycythemia and anemia than similar diets containing vitamin D. It has been demonstrated therefore that in rats, calcium per se does not have a unique function in hematopoiesis; that a relative or absolute excess of phosphorus causes mild anemia and polycythemia; and that vitamin D facilitates hematopoiesis, presumably through its effect upon calcium and phosphorus metabolism.