Interaction of Vitamins A and E

Abstract

ONE of the most noteworthy properties of vitamin A is the extent to which it can accumulate in the liver. When the dietary intake is liberal, sufficient vitamin may be stored to meet ordinary requirements for a theoretical period of about a hundred years1. Some years ago we began experiments to find whether during a subsequent deficiency these large reserves would in practice be preserved and used up economically at a rate corresponding with physiological requirements, or whether they would be dissipated at an unduly rapid rate. In our first experiment a rapid dispersal of the vitamin A reserves was observed2. We emphasized, however, that this result was exceptional, since in earlier work large reserves had been found in the livers of rats after prolonged restriction to deficient diets3.