PEDIATRICS Vol. 13 No. 5 May 1954, pp. 462-475
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EFFECTS OF VITAMIN B12 AND AUREOMYCIN ON NITROGEN RETENTION IN INFANTS

ROBERT KAYE M.D.1, RONALD H. CAUGHEY M.B., M.R.C.P.1, and WALLACE W. MCCRORY M.D.1

1 The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and The Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine, Philadelphia.

The effects of vitamin B12 on weight, nitrogen and electrolyte balances were studied in six male infants. Three of the infants were offered nitrogen intakes of approximately 1.0 gm./kg./day, and the remaining three an intake of 0.1 gm./kg./ day.

The effects of aureomycin were studied by the same criteria in two of the infants on low nitrogen intakes.

The authors were unable to obtain unequivocal evidence that vitamin B12 exerts a nitrogen anabolic effect in infants maintained on constant intakes of high and low protein content.

Vitamin B12 administration to the subjects on a high protein intake resulted in an increased urinary nitrogen excretion which may be a reflection of an enhanced rate of conversion of protein into carbohydrate or fat.

Averages of the control and B12 period nitrogen retentions and weight gains in gm./kg./day were 0.235 and 11.8 for the high protein-fed subjects, and .011 and 2.4 for the low protein-fed subjects.

Aureomycin did not produce beneficial effects on weight or nitrogen retention, but rather showed a tendency to augment fecal nitrogen losses.

Appetite stimulation was noted in 2 of the 6 subjects given B12.

A nitrogen intake of 0.1 gm./kg./day derived from cow's milk protein approximates the minimum requirement for equilibrium in male infants under the conditions of this study.

Submitted on August 9, 1953