“Hypervitaminosis” and “vitamin balance”

THE experimental observation that vitamins exert their normal physiological action when consumed in very minute doses leads naturally to the enquiry, "Have the vitamins any injurious effect when consumed in abnormally large amounts?" A similar, and probably closely related, question also arises, " Does an increased or diminished consumption of one vitamin affect the body's requirements for the others2? " A great number of past writers have assumed, either tacitly or directly, that both these questions could be answered in the negative. In the present communication an attempt is made to collate and eOxtend certain evidence to the contrary.