Some Unexpected Results in an Attempt to Produce Experimental Scurvy

Hay has been considered to contain little if any vitamin C (ascorbic acid) since Hoist and Frülich 1 reported the production of experimental scurvy in guinea pigs using this substance as an aliment, Others, notably Hess and co-workers 2 have reported success in producing experimental scurvy in guinea pigs with a diet of hay, oats and water. Animals maintained on the latter diet, by the author, did not show any signs of scurvy, even after 3 months.

The major difference between the diet used by the author and that of the workers quoted above was in the variety of hay used. We fed the South Park variety of Rocky Mountain meadow hay, the main constituents of which are grass-like rushes and sedges. The predominant species are Juncus columbianus, Carex arapahoensis and Carex siccata. This type of hay has long been recognized by stock feeders as of superior nutritional quality because its protein and mineral ash content are higher than those of most other varieties of hay.

A series of experiments was designed to determine which constituent of the diet used contained the antiscorbutic agent. The first experiment was to substitute another grain for the oats. Rolled barley was chosen since it had been used in several scorbutic diets. 3 4 However, the guinea pigs maintained a steady growth on the diet of hay, rolled barley and water and showed no signs of scurvy. Since the change of grains (oats to barley) did not seem to make any appreciable difference, the hay was next studied. It was thought that heating the hay as much as 7 hours at 105°C. might oxidize any ascorbic acid that was present. The hay was placed in an asbestos oven, heated by an underlying gas burner.