The Value of Some Vegetables in Nutritional Anemia

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Abstract
The influence of various dried vegetables in the cure of nutritional anemia was studied. Dried spinach when fed ad libitum and yielding an average daily intake of 0.43 mg. of iron and 0.0061 mg. of copper, effected hemoglobin regeneration in 3 to 4 weeks. Lettuce plus tomato mixture, asparagus, lettuce, spinach, and broccoli—all fed at a level affording 0.20 mg. of iron but different amounts of copper—permitted hemoglobin regeneration in 4 to 5, 5 to 6, 6 to 7, 6 to 7, and 7 to 8 weeks, respectively, in the order of decreasing copper intake. Since variations in the iron and copper content of these vegetables are known to exist, it is to be borne in mind that a different order of anti-anemic potency would probably result from another set of the same vegetables. Turnip greens fed at a level furnishing 0.425 mg. of iron and 0.0179 mg. of copper brought about rapid regeneration in 3 to 4 weeks. When fed at the same level of iron, a lettuce and tomato combination was found more effective than lettuce alone. The above vegetables are, therefore, important sources of the minerals concerned in normal blood formation. Iron alone or copper alone, when fed in the form of inorganic salt solutions, permitted only partial blood regeneration, whereas solutions containing both iron and copper effected rapid recovery of hemoglobin.

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