Storage of Vitamin A in Chick Livers as a Criterion of Stability, Availability, and Dietary Level

OSBORNE and Mendel (1913) were the first to suggest that vitamin A was stored in the body. Davies and Moore (1934) and Guilbert and Hart (1935) have shown that the major portion of the vitamin A stored in the body is concentrated in the liver. Marcus (1931) noted an 85% loss of vitamin A from cod liver oil when added to a vitamin A free rat diet. Fraps and Kemmerer (1937) found that alfalfa leaf meal was a more stable source of vitamin A activity in stored feeds than was cod liver oil. Bethke et al. (1939) in a similar study could not differentiate between the stability of the two vitamin A sources. Baird (1939) found that vitamin A from cod liver oil did not undergo complete destruction when mixed in the diet and the latter stored at summer temperatures for 25 weeks; progressive destruction did occur as the period …