ANTARCTIC STRESS AND VITAMIN REQUIREMENTS

• Main Authors: Adams, Robert J, Stanmeyer, William R, Harding, Richard S
• Other Authors: NAVAL MEDICAL RESEARCH LAB NEW LONDON CT
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1962
• Subjects: Stress Physiology; *STRESS(PHYSIOLOGY); ANTARCTIC REGIONS; ASCORBIC ACID; CHEMICAL ANALYSIS; DIET; HUMANS; MEMBRANES(BIOLOGY); NUTRITION; REPRINTS; TABLES(DATA); TOLERANCES(PHYSIOLOGY); ULCERS; URINE; VITAMINS; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0675391; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0675391

The occurrence of oral lesions in personnel living in Antarctica for the wintering over period in relation to vitamin requirements was the problem for this research. Experimental study of vitamin requirements was conducted for eight months on eleven healthy men subsisting on an unsupplemented diet of approximately 4800 calories per day. Once a month each man received an I.M. injection of 2cc Novagran, i.e. a standard vitamin tolerance test for ascorbic acid, N'-methylnicotinamide, riboflavin, and thiamine. The collected urine samples were stored under petroleum at -10F until analyzed by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Nutrition Laboratory where also a control study to establish deterioration rates was made. Contrasting the first four months with the second half of the experimental period, the excretion levels decreased indicating an increased body need as evidenced in both the fasting and loaded specimens. In the stresses and restrictions of the Antarctic environment, the increased occurrence of oral lesions seems partially to be explained by the body's increased and unsatisfied need for vitamin B complex and ascorbic acid. Pub. in Jnl. of Dental Medicine, v17 n1 p36-42 Jan 1962.