TEXAS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION R. D. LEWIS, Director. College Station, Texas Min 753 LIBRARY A. & M. COLLEGE CF TEXAS Effects of Enrichment on the Thiamine, Riboflavin and Niacin ct Corn Meal and Brits as Prepared for Eating ‘%> i ‘I The TEXAS AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE SYST GIBB crccnmsr, Chancellor [Blank Page in Original Bulletin] DIGEST This bulletin deals with the increase in the vitamin value 0f corn meal and grits dishes due to the enrichment of the cereals in the raw stage. Non-enriched degermed corn meal and grits were obtain- ed from Texas mills. Part 0f each batch was enriched by adding a commercial mixture 0f vitamins and minerals such as millers use. Sour milk corn bread, boiled grits and fried grits were prepared from both the enriched and the non-en- riched cereals. Only enriched corn meal was used for sweet milk corn bread, spoonbread, pone and mush. The prepara- tion of each dish according to a standardized recipe was as nearly as possible like Texas home procedure. Each prepar- ation was analyzed to find out how much of each vitamin was left in the cooked product. Approximately the same amount of riboflavin and niacin was in each preparation after cooking as before, whether or not enriched cereal was used. But of thiamine, only mush and grits boiled 30 minutes had as much as in the raw cere- als. Spoonbread and pone had 90 percent as much thiamine after cooking as before. From 84 to 89 percent of the thia- mine was left in corn bread made with the standard amount of soda (1/2 teaspoon to 11/2 cups sour milk) and of baking powder (11/2 teaspoons to 2 cups meal). When too much soda and baking powder were used, only 7 percent‘ of the thiamine was left in the bread. Mush and grits after 4 to 7 hours further cooking in a double boiler had only two-thirds to three-fourths as much thiamine as when boiled 30 minutes. Frying of boiled grits destroyed a small amount of thiamine. Enriched corn bread furnishes 2 times as much thiamine, 11/2 times as much riboflavin and 3 times as much niacin as non-enriched. Of the recommended allowance for a man, one 5-ounce serving of enriched corn bread supplies one-fifth of the thiamine and riboflavin, and one-sixth of the niacin. Pone also is excellent for thiamine and niacin; spoonbread, for ribo-- flavin. Spoonbread and short cooked mush are good sources of thiamine and niacin since in one serving there is about one- tenth of the recommended allowance. Enrichment changes cooked grits from a poor to a fair source of the three B vita- mms. CONTENTS Digest .............................................................................................................. __ Y Introduction .................................................................................................... __ a Procedure ........................................................................................................... __ 1 General Plan .......................................................................................... __ Standardization of Recipes ................................................................ __ a Source of Food Materials ...................................................................... __ - Methods of VitaminAnalysis .............................................................. Results and Discussion ................................................................................... . Recoveries ................................................................................................... Non-enriched versus Enriched Corn Meal and i Vitamin Content of the Raw Cereals ...................................... _. . Vitamin Content‘ of Corn Bread and Grits ........................... .. Retention of Vitamins in Corn Bread and Grits ...................... Effect of Cooking Procedures on Enriched Corn Meal and Grits? Content of Vitamins in Selected Preparations ........................ .._ Retention of Vitamins in Selected Preparations ..................... Comparison with Other Studies ............................................. .. Dietary Contributions ............................................................................ Summary and Conclusions .......................................................................... ..J._! Acknowledgments .......... ............................................................................... .. References ............................................................ .......................................... .. T Effect of Enrichment on the Thiamine, Riboflavin and Niacin of [Zorn Meal and Brits as Prepared for Eating Kathreen Thomas, June K. Pace and Jessie Whitacre* t.- ; CORN MEAL AND GRITS are used exeifisively in the South. These cereals may have an important part in the betterment of Southern diets if their quality is improved by enrichment. In Texas, especially among rural families, corn meal is can important food item, as shown by a survey of the food sup- g ply of 387 white and negro families (15). The ratio of meal to flour was 1 to 1.5 for white families and 1 to 1.6 for negro. ‘ The corn meal consumption of these families averaged 1.6 pounds per person weekly. This is equivalent to 370 calories per day, or about 12 to 15 percent of the daily energy need f of physically active adults. Corn is among the cereals low in niacin, the pellagra-pre- venting vitamin. It is very low in tryptophane, the amino a acid which can compensate for a deficiency of niacin (8). Pel- i lagra, still among health problems in Texas, is widely distrib- a uted over the State, as shown by the records of the Texas * State Department of Health. Although, over recent years, » there has been a rapid, continuous decline in the reported in- cidence of this disease, 395 cases and 42 deaths were reported for the year ending December 31, 1950. The situation is prob- ably not as good as the records indicate because of incomplete l reporting by doctors over the State. With pellagra, as with other kinds of malnutrition, mul- ‘ tiple vitamin deficiencies and sometimes mineral and good 1 quality protein deficiencies are known to exist. The enrich- a ment of corn meal and grits by the addition of thiamine, ri- i boflavin, niacin and iron to both cereals, and of calcium to corn meal, makes them excellent foods to combat pellagra and to t promote general good health. The greatest possible benefit from enrichment can be re- alized only if corn meal and grits are prepared so as to retain in palatable and attractive form as much as possible of both a *Kathreen Thomas and June K. Pace were formerly technicians, and Jessie Whitacre is head of the Department of Rural Home Research. _6_ natural and added nutrients. The best methods t0 achie that end were not known prior to a study of vitamin ret tion by the research committee of the Texas State N utriti Council} This laboratory Work Was a unit within the 0-; erative undertaking of several agencies concerned With @_ nutritionof Texans, and was directed toward having only f riched corn meal and grits available in the State. Progre reports of the cooperative Work have been published (16, 1, 18, 19) and a complete account is expected later. '1 This bulletin deals with the data accumulated only at t: Texas Station, Where the authors were participants in the c operative study. ‘ PROCEDURE General Plan The Ways in which Texans use corn meal and grits we determined in a special survey made by the "community i trition section of the Texas Dietetic Association. The m0 popular dishes were chosen for laboratory use. For each di chosen, a recipe was standardized. The products made r the standardized recipes, with the cereal enriched inthe la oratory or with the corresponding non-enriched cereal, We analyzed for thiamine, riboflavin and niacin. Retention e, each vitamin in each preparation Was calculated. An esti , tion Was then made of the value of the food preparation as s, source of each vitamin. 1* Standardization of Recipes Standardized recipes were formulated for corn bre corn pone, spoonbread, mush, fried mush, boiled grits a‘ fried grits. The proportion of ingredients and the manipul tion was as nearly like home procedure as laboratory contr 1 would permit. As a condition for adopting each recipe, t product it yielded was given a high rating on eating qualit by a number of judges. The ingredients in each standar ized recipe are shown in Table 1. ‘ ‘This committee is composed of one nutritionist in each of the five Tex institutions in which food and nutrition research is done. During - time of this study the committee members were: ~Mina W. Lamb, Te 1 Technological College; Laura McLaughlin, Texas State College for Q men; Florence I. Scoular, North Texas State College; Jet C. Winte ” University of Texas; and Jessie Whitacre, Texas Agricultural Expe j ment Station. __7_ , Standardized “Texas corn bread” (17) was based on 85 {irecipes collected from homes widely scattered over the State, fione-fourth of them rural. These recipes were analyzed to Ishow the amount of flour used to 1 cup of meal, of soda to 1 ;__cup of sour milk, and the amount each of milk, egg, fat, sugar, fsalt and baking powder to 1 cup of meal plus flour. Such wide jfvariations were found in the proportion of ingredients that it fiwas necessary to standardize more than one recipe. The listandardized recipes employ the modal proportions of ingred- ’1ients, except that leavening is below modal. Two standard- lgized recipes were used in this study, one calling for sweet milk, ITthe other for sour milk. . The recipe for spoonbread was standardized on the basis of an analysis of the proportions of ingredients in 17 recipes fobtained from published sources. The directions in cook books iand on cereal packages were used as guides to determine the exact procedure for making pone and mush and for cooking grits. . To determine the effect of pH on retention of vitamins in corn bread, the sour milk recipe was modified in respect to leavening. One modification used very low leavening-1.5 g of baking powder and 1 g of soda; the other, very high leaven- {Ting—18 g of baking powder and 5.7 g of soda. The amounts Tab-le 1. Ingredients used in standardized recipes for corn meal and grits preparations Weight of ingredients in each preparation Ingred- ients Corn Corn _ _ bread, bread, Spoon- Mush, Mush, Guts? Grits, sour sweet bread Pone boiled long boiled long milk milk 30 min. cookedl 30 min. cooked‘ Grams Grams Grams Grams Grams Grams Grams Grams Meal 250 250 125 125 125 125 Grits 110 110 Milk, sour 375 Milk, sweet 375 500 -_ Water 195 7753 8403 7753 8403 ‘ Egg 4s 4s 9s Salt 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 " Baking ; powder 4.5 4.5 2.25 H Soda 1.9 Fat 24 24 12 s 6 to fry to fry ‘Long cooked means cooking in double boiler: mush 41/; and 51/; hours, grits 5 and 7 . hours, after boiling for 30 minutes. JThe grits were not washed before cooking. "The measured water was weighed each time and varied not over 5 grams. _3__ of leavening in the modified recipes are within the range of the proportions used in the 85 home recipes. The lOW leaven- ing bread was rated good, but that with high leavening was > not more than fair in quality. It was dark grayish yellow in color, and most judges objected to the flavor. The standardized recipes for grits and mush were modi- fied by prolonging the cooking in a double boiler 41/2 and 51/2 i, hours for mush, and 5 and 7 hours for grits, after the initial boiling for 30 minutes. This modification was suggested by the long cooking practiced in some homes and institutions. Source of Food Materials All corn meal and grits were obtained from milling estab- lishments in the State as non-enriched products, partially or w completely degermed. The white corn meal was obtained in . 100-pound bags, the yellow in 50-pound bags and the grits in a 25-pound lot. Half of each lot was enriched with a specially . prepared mixture obtained either from the South Carolina l, Agricultural Experiment Station or from Merck and Com- g pany. In this report, both mixtures are called premix. For each cereal, the premix was used in the amount ex- j. pected to bring the content of vitamins to the level of federal I standards (5). The powder-like premix for the meal was first l sifted with a small portion of corn meal, then with succes- sively larger amounts until some 3 pounds of the meal had ; been used. This mixture was then added gradually to the re- I,‘ mainder of the meal in an institutional-size mixer and stirred .; for approximately 3 hours. The graunlar premix for the grits f was combined with this cereal by sifting through a hand flour ;_ sifter. The premix was first combined with about 1 cup of » the grits, which was then divided into two portions. Each Y portion and half of the grits to be enriched were sifted '00-; gether 10 times. These two lots of enriched grits were then f combined by 10 siftings. ‘ All other ingredients were bought as needed at local gro- j ceries. The sweet milk was whole, pasteurized; the butter-i milk was a cultured product. The one batch of grits served for all experiments with, this cereal. There were three batches of white corn meal and ; one of yellow. Only white meal was used for corn breads and pone, only yellow meal for spoonbread, and both white and yellow for mush. Three lots of Clemson premix (from South Carolina Experiment Station) and one lot of Merck’s (in this i report called 4th premix) were used to enrich the different" _9_ _ batches of corn meal. The 3rd lot 0f Clemson premix contain- ed one-third more riboflavin than the 1st and 2nd lots, and the thiamine was in the form of mononitrate instead of the hy- a drochloride. As will be seen later, differences in the vitamin contents of enriched meals were due in part to the varying amounts of vitamins in the premixes, but this variation in the prefinixes did not influence the other points of inquiry in this stu y. Methods of Vitamin Analysis l In the first series of experiments, thiamine only was de- 1 termined. The directions of Hennessy (7) for thiochrome as- j say in cereal products were followed, except for two modifi- * cations based on preliminary findings as well as on results re- ported from other laboratories (1, 12). Instead of .1 N sul- i phuric acid for extraction, 1 percent acetic acid was used, and a the base exchange purification was omitted. In all subsequent experiments, the three vitamins were determined on the same extract made with 1 percent sodium . acetate buffer. The extraction procedure followed in general _ that described by Cheldelin, et al (4). However, instead of v autoclaving, the samples in the buffer-enzyme mixture were . heated for 90 minutes in a temperature-controlled water bath . at 50° C., with continuous agitation by mechanical stirrers. f Then digestion followed for 18 to 20 hours at 46° C. in an i electric oven. 2 The determination of thiamine in the digested extracts , was completed by Hennessy’s thiochrome method. Microbio- . logical methods, that of Snell and Strong for riboflavin, and , of Snell and Wright for niacin, were employed. These meth- ods are detailed in Methods of Vitamin Assay (14). Determinations were made in duplicate in each replica- i tion, on meal, on the combined raw materials as ready to be cooked (whenever materials other than salt and water were a combined with the meal), and on the cooked product. . Recoveries were obtained on each vitamin alone and on I food samples supplemented with one chosen vitamin. Each ~ vitamin used alone was subjected to all steps in the analysis of a food sample. For supplemented food samples, the “re- covery sample” consisted of half the usual weight of the food ‘_ sample plus a known weight of the vitamin equivalent approx- imately to the content in the half-sample of food. With the exceptions of spoonbread and corn pone, recovery determina- __]_()_ tions were made for one 0r more vitamins in each run of de- terminations. Recoveries were calculated on the total sample _ basis. l l RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Recoveries With the pure vitamin used as a sample, recoveries aver- p aged for thiamine 99.8 percent, range 92-106; for riboflavin 103.6 percent, range 96-112; for niacin 100.7 percent, range , 93-112. Total content of vitamins found in supplemented food 1 samples compared with expected values were: thiamine aver- ‘t age 97.2 percent, range 89-112; riboflavin average 101.9 per- cent, range 94-118; niacin average 105.9 percent, range 98- ‘ 115. ‘ Non-enriched versus Enriched Corn Meal and Grits Vitamin Content of the Raw Cereals Comparisons of the non-enriched and enriched cereals in “ the raw stage were made with the grits and with three batches ; of white meal and four lots of premix. Two portions of batch f 2 of the meal were enriched, respectively, with the 2nd and ‘i 3rd lot of premix. Batch 3 of the meal was enriched with the} 4th lot of premix. Since in some phases of this study only a enriched cereals were used, there are more values for the en-tf riched than the non-enriched in some of the comparisonsf The single run of determinations of the three vitamins on non-i enriched grits and of riboflavin and niacin on the enriched-i grits were considered sufficient. Two reasons support this" decision. For both corn meal and grits, the additional amount of each vitamin in the enriched cereal as determined by analy- sis, was in good agreement with the increase expected by cal- culation based on the declared vitamin content on the premij label. The few retentions determined for cooked grits were‘ in good agreement with the larger number for mush. ‘ The data for the corresponding non-enriched and enrich ed raw meals and raw grits are shown in Table 2. The differ- ences between non-enriched and enriched meals in average content of each vitamin is due in part to the variation in nat- ural content as well as to the premix used. The lowest aver- age thiamine content in the three non-enriched meals was only‘ half as great as in the highest (1.00 vs 1.98 mcg/g). In the? two non-enriched meals analyzed for riboflavin and niacin, the _11_ iii/lower value was about three-fourths of the higher—0.92 vs 2.1.17 meg/g for riboflavin and 9.59 vs 12.58 meg/g for niacin. The thiamine content of the meals enriched with the 1st and 3rd lots of Clemson premix Were in close agreement; With the 2nd lot of premix, the thiamine content was distinctly qlower. Retentions and recoveries with this latter enriched §meal were in agreement With others; niacin content with the 2nd and 3rd lots of premix were similar, While riboflavin in the same enriched meals differed only as expected because of jthe manufacturer’s increase of riboflavin in the 3rd lot of pre- gjmix. No explanation of the lower thiamine content of the ‘meal enriched with the 2nd lot of premix has been found in the work with it. With the 4th lot of premix (Merck), the ;content of each of the three vitamins in the enriched meal ex- "ceeded the minimum federal standards. ,l'I'able 2. Content of thiamine, riboflavin and niacin in corresponding ' non-enriched and enriched corn meal and grits in the raw stage Thiamine Riboflavin Niacin c 1 ' 3331?.‘ m“ ‘$23121’ m“ 3331?.‘ mg/g , cationsRange I Av. cations Range I Av. lcationsRange I Av. iliWhite meal Batch 1 i, N on-enriched 4 1.73 Not determined Not determined f . Enriched, "l lst premix 7 2.53 Not determined Not determined z (Clemson) Bflfch 2 - 1.03 1.04 12.27 A Non-enriched 6 L01 1.98 3 L29 1.17 3 1231 12.58 Enriched, 2 2nd premix 17 2.34 4 2.48 6 32.90 (Clemson) 2.37 3.26 32. 4 3rd premix‘ 11 M6 2.00 e m1 3.00 s 3159 34.38 _ (Clemson) Batch 3 _2- 3 Non-enriched 3 1.00 3 .92 3 134; 9.59 Enriched, 4th premix 3 4-53 4.50 3 3-28 3.42 3 12:32 42.40 (Merck) p 4.65 3.58 h ' rits Non-enriched 1 .40 1 .66 1 5.63 Enriched 7 £53; 3.39 1 3.23 1 40.93 (Clemson) Minimum federal standards: 4.41 2.65 35.27 ilThe 3rd premix contained one-third more riboflavin than the 1st and 2nd, and the thia- #|||ine was in the form of mononitrate instead of the hydrochloride. _]_2_. iv N.» ow m» mm vm mm on mm 3 ¢~ um ow m. w. w. N. O_ w w v w O _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2.5 ~ fl 3cm m _uoE 5.595 n; m 23E 5E9... En ~ _oo2_ E022 E n 32c 560E Ev n E22 v2.9.1.6 =_>u:op_m g m EoE i603 Em 25E ~ .3: E8 oEEuIC I uuzutcm- r62 U n 30E .5695 5v ______._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ ¢¢~¢o¢wmon¢m~nomw~w~¢-~8Q93yo_mw E05 .2. wEntoohzz _13_ Apparently more of the vitamin-bearing portion of the corn grain is removed in the making of grits than of meal (Table 2). Especially is this true of the thiamine, which was so low in non-enriched grits that it is considered a trace only. The riboflavin and niacin contents of non-enriched grits were found to be from one-half to two-thirds as much as in the non- enriched meals. Hence the need of enrichment is greater for grits than for corn meal. The single replication for determination of riboflavin and niacin in the enriched grits shows that minimum federal standards for these vitamins were exceeded. The much wider range of thiamine values found for the enriched grits than for the meals is thought to be due mainly to the granular na- ture of the grits which precluded obtaining homogeneous sam- ples, and the relatively small size of samples. Wide variation occurred between duplicate and triplicate 5-gram samples as well as between samples on different days. Without knowl- edge of the manner in which the thiamine was incorporated into the premix, the speculation is ventured that thiamine may have been less uniformly distributed in the premix than the riboflavin and niacin. This suggestion appears to have support in the narrow range of thiamine values in the boiled grits—from 0.60 to 0.67 mcg/ g for four replications in 3 days. The graphic presentation of the vitamin content of non- enriched and enriched raw cereals (Figure 1) permits com- parison of the effect of using the Merck premix and the 3rd lot of Clemson premix to enrich corn meal. In these two en- riched meals, riboflavin contents were similar. Merck-en- riched meal was higher in niacin by 21 percent and in thia- mine by 77 percent than the meal to which the 3rd lot of Clem- son premix was added. The graphs emphasize the far great- er content of niacin than of the other two vitamins in both en- riched corn meal and grits. Those Who originally determined the proportions of vitamins in the premixes aimed at an abund- ance of niacin as a measure to combat pellagra among popu- lation groups eating large amounts of corn meal and grits.” However, enrichment of meal with Merck premix effected comparable increases in thiamine (4.7 x non-enriched) and niacin (4.3 x non-enriched). The riboflavin of enriched meal was 3.7 times that of the non-enriched. Enrichment (Clem- son) of grits made its content per gram of niacin and of ribo- flavin approximately the same as in enriched (Merck) corn “Private communication from Dr. E. J. Lease, South Carolina Agricul- tural Experiment Station, Clemson, S. C. "cool. The cold mold of grits was removed from the can __14__ meal; but when grits were not enriched, they were practical devoid of thiamine. 1 p Vitamin Content of Corn Bread and Grits 1. The food preparations chosen to compare non-enrich and enriched corn meal and grits after cooking were c0 bread, made by the standard sour milk recipe, and short co i ed grits. After removing samples from some batches, the l mainder of the boiled grits was -poured into No. 2 tin cans V’ slices 5/ 8-inch thick cut off to fry. Frying was done in a 6 iron skillet with just enough fat to keep the grits from sti ing. Only two batches of non-enriched meal and the y, ponding enriched meals (different Clemson premixes) employed for this phase of the study. Table 3 shows that the benefits of enrichment carry into the cooked preparations. As with the raw enriched eals, niacin content was much higher in the corn bread =[ cooked grits than were thiamine and riboflavin (Figure The relatively greater increase of niacin content of the p Table 3. Content of thiamine, riboflavin and niacin in correspondii non-enriched and enriched corn bread and cooked grits Thiamine Riboflavin Niacin F d t‘ n oo DreDra 1o fgélgf mcg/g ljgfilg-f mcg/g ljéléliil-l’ mgg/‘W, cations Range I Av. cations Range I Av. cations Range I Corn bread ' White meal . ‘ Batch 1 Non-enriched 3 .94 Not determined Not determin Enriched, ‘l 1st premix 4 1'17 1.21 Not determined Not determined (Clemson) 1'25 ‘ Batch 2 ‘v Noon-enriched 3 113i -*" 3 lJSi L“ 3 éifié Enriched, 2 2 1319 ,2 2nd premix 3 1.12 3 2.12 3 14455 l i (Clemson) c‘ Grits _= Boiled 30 min. .03 ;'_' '- N on-enriched 1 I trace 1 .1 1 1 ‘ Enriched 4 ~60 .63 1 .61 1 (Clemson) '67 Fried after boiling 30 min. _05 Non-enriched 1 ztmce 1 .16 1 Emiched 2 '80 .84 1 .83 1 1“. (Clemson) '89 _15__ riched cooked foods is explained in part by the greater abund- . ance of niacin in the premix, and in part by variation in the I stability of the vitamins. Niacin and riboflavin are least and similarly affected by the cooking processes, and thiamine most. In comparison with the raw cereals, the corn bread and cooked grits contained much less of each of the vitamins per gram, except that the difference was less marked for ribo- flavin in corn bread. Compare Figures 1 and 2. The lower content of vitamins in the cooked foods is due largely to the higher water content. However, in corn bread, the eggs and milk increase the vitamin content, especially riboflavin. Thus, Micrograms per gram O 2 4 6 8 I0 l2 l4 l6 I I I I I I I I >7 _ 2 . com 2nd premix, meal broad x Meal 2 Y//////» 2nd premix, meal 2 2nd premix, meal 2 Non- enriched Non-enriched = trace - Thiamine Riboflavin Enriched Niacin l l I 0 2 4 6 8 l0 l2 l4 l6 Micrograms per gram Figure 2. Content of thiamine, riboflavin and niacin in non-enriched and enriched corn bread and cooked grits. _16__ even the non-enriched corn bread is a better food than the vita- i min content of the meal would suggest. In the high quality] proteins of milk and eggs is another advantage of combining -; them with enriched cereals. Retention of Vitamins in Corn Bread and Grits Retention of each vitamin was calculated on the total :1 batch moist basis. Because of the great variation in thia- _- mine content between individual samples of raw enriched grits, the average mcg/g of all samples of them was used with the value for each batch of cooked grits to calculate re- ‘ tention of this vitamin. For fried grits, retention was based on the weight of raw grits represented by the weight of boil- ‘ ed grits which was fried. Table 4 shows the data for comparison of retention in non- enriched and enriched food preparations. The difference in 1 thiamine retention between the non-enriched and the enriched * breads was found by group comparison (13) to be not signifi- * cant statistically. Differences in retention of the magnitude observed (average 87 percent for non-enriched and 89 for en- i riched) would be of no practical importance in dietary eval- i uation. With only a trace of thiamine in non-enriched grits, i Table 4. Average retention of vitamins in corn bread and grits prepared from the corresponding non-enriched and enriched cerea-l l Retention, % Food preparation l Thiamine Riboflavin Niacin Corn bread White meal Batch 1 N on-enriched 88 Not determined Enyighed, 89 Not determined 1st premix Batch 2 Non-enriched 86 96 95 Enriched, 90 93 98 2nd premix Grits Boiled 30 min. Non-enriched trace 104 100 Enriched 102 113 103 Fried after boil- ing 30 minutes Non-enriched trace 96 105 Enriched 92 106 104 __]_7_ no calculation of retention can be made. Thiamine in enrich- ed grits boiled 3O minutes was not affected by the cooking, but the same grits after frying showed a slight loss of the vitamin (92 percent retention). The higher thiamine content .' per gram in the fried grits is due to loss of water during fry- , mg. ., Reports have been found from only two other laboratories on thiamine in corn meal and grits in cooked form. At the South Carolina Station (9), cooked enriched grits contained only 9 percent less thiamine than the raw, 5 percent having F‘: been lost by washing the raw grits and 4 percent by cooking i: 1 hour in a double boiler. Hoffmann-LaRoche Laboratories " (3) found similar retentions for natural occurring and syn- thetic vitamins in corn bread made with sweet milk and Whole grain meal. Retentions in their non-enriched breads ranged from 91 to 96 percent; in the enriched, from 89 to 92 percent. Baking had little effect on either the riboflavin or niacin content of corn bread, Whether non-enriched or enriched meal was used. Range of retention in bread for both vitamins was 93 to 98 percent. The cooking processes were even less de- 5 structive of riboflavin and niacin in boiled and fried grits. = The results with both corn bread and grits demonstrate l? that vitamin retentions were the same Whether the vitamin a is a natural constituent of the cereal or is added by enrich- i ment. The amount of vitamin in the raw cereal did not in- fluence the percentage retention. 1 Although thiamine mononitrate is more stable than thia- mine hydrochloride, use of the mononitrate in the premix did ¢ not improve thiamine retention (Table 5). i: Effect of Cooking Procedures on Enriched Corn Meal and Grits Having determined that enrichment of corn meal and grits did not influence the retention of thiamine, riboflavin and niacin, further experiments were confined to the enrich- . ed cereals. Determinations of riboflavin and of niacin Were I omitted from experiments with sweet milk corn bread and . long cooked grits because similar preparations (sour milk ‘i corn breads and long cooked mush) showed little if any loss 3' in cooking. Thus, there are more data on thiamine than on l} riboflavin and niacin in enriched preparations. Content of Vitamins in Selected Preparations . Data on the content of each vitamin and the range and A average in micrograms per gram for each kind of preparation, _18_ Table 5. Retention of thiamine hydrochloride and of thiamine mono nitrate in corn meal mush and corn bread Retention, % No. of Preparation repli- Thiamine Thiamine cations hydrochloride mononitrate Range Average I Range Average Mush White meal 2 9&9 100.9 boiled 30 min. 102's 951 3 1062 100.1 Corn bread 2nd premix 6 89.6 white meal ' 3rd premix white meal 2 8L5 yellow meal 2 4 893 85.7 5th pli-llliXl 83.0 yellow meal 2 8&7 84.9 ‘These corn breads were in another study. along with the number of replications in each case, are sh ,_ in Table 6. Three types of corn breads (Clemson premix sour milk, sweet milk and low leavening—showed a sim ' content of thiamine, riboflavin and niacin. But in high-ll‘ ening corn bread, only the niacin was in agreement with Q, other Clemson premix breads. The riboflavin was sligh lower and the thiamine amounted to merely a trace, less j one-twelfth as much as in the other three breads. The __ milk and sweet milk standard corn breads made with l- carrying Merck premix were in close agreement for each min. But the content of each vitamin was higher in the Me premix breads than in those made with meals enriched Clemson premix. The Merck-enriched breads had about 0 fourth more riboflavin and niacin per gram than the Cle f premix breads, and approximately two-thirds more thiam’ This is strong evidence that, other things being equal, more of these B vitamins in the raw stage, the more alsoa ter cooking. 5 Of the other ready-to-eat preparations, pone most ne approached the good corn breads in vitamin content, with , boflavin slightly less, thiamine slightly more and niacin a a one-half more than in the corn breads. Spoonbread, sh‘ cooked mush and short cooked grits were fairly similar‘ each other with respect to each vitamin. Their content i each vitamin was roughly one-third to one-half that in the corn breads, with one exception--the riboflavin content of spoonbread, on account of the milk and eggs in it, were sim- ilar to the higher riboflavin content of the corn breads. Long cooked grits and mush had less thiamine than the short cook- ed. The higher per gram content of each vitamin in fried than in boiled grits was due to loss of water during cooking. The actual loss of thiamine caused by frying showed up in the lower total content per batch of fried than of the correspond- ing boiled grits. A comparison was made of yellow and white corn meal mush. These particular batches of meal were enriched with the same proportion of Clemson premix (3rd lot), and all de- tails in the cooking processes were the same for the two meals. Short cooked mush was kept bubbling over direct heat from a gas burner. The constant temperature reached at 10 to 15 minutes after bubbling began was 94-95° C. Constant temper- ature level while cooking in the double boiler was 83-84° C. Mushes of the two colors had similar content of ribo- flavin and of niacin. Table 6 shows that this white mush had a higher thiamine content per gram than the yellow. How- ever, two other batches of yellow meal were used later in another study. One of these was found to be as high in thia- mine as the white meal in this study, the other had more thia- mine. The foregoing comments upon the content of the vita- mins on a per gram basis in corn meal and grits after cook- ing do not constitute a dietary evaluation of the several prep- arations. The data in Table 6 are essentially for the calcu- lation of retention and, along with the designated size of serv- ings, they have been used for estimation of vitamin contribu- tion when a given preparation is eaten in normal amounts. Retention of Vitamins in Selected Preparations Retentions were calculated on the total batch moist basis. Table 7 gives the retention data along with the pH values before cooking for corn bread, pone and spoonbread, and af- ter cooking for mush and grits. The data in Table 7 indicate that pH of batter has a bear- ing on retention of thiamine in corn bread. With pH values between 5.4 and 6.2, inclusive, average retentions for sour ‘milk standard corn bread were 89 and 85 percent, for low: __2()_ leavening 89 percent, and for sweet milk breads 84 and 851 percent, all comparable values. However, in high leaveningl bread, with pH 6.6 and 6.7, retention was only 7 percent. Evi- j. dently, between pH of 5.4 and 6.6, there is a critical value at i which thiamine in corn bread is rapidly destroyed in the bak-. ing process. This point is under investigation. Table 6. Content of vitamins in enriched corn meal and grits preparations Thiamine l Riboflavin | Niacin Food preparatiunl 1:863? mcg/g 15805121" meg/g 1331f mcg/g “ cations fingel Av. cations Range} Av. cations, Range] Av. Corn bread - saunrdirricllk 1 1g; 1.11 a Z12‘; 2.12 a 131;; 13.91 i Sweet milk 1 07 standard 4 1:20 1.13 Not determined Sour milk 10W leflvening a 1;}; 1.11 2 hi? 1.92 s 13.49 Sourdmilk 1 91 _ stan ard 4 ' Merck premix, 1,96 1.94 1 2.51 1 16-93 p_ Sweet milk 1.19 u 2.6a 1s.s4 .. standard 5 1.91 1-92 2 2.13 2-69 2 11.68 17-15 Merck premix? . .09 .09 1.58 _ “ Efélifmgllzning 3 .10 =11“. s 1.92 1-72 1 11-11 1 Pone 1.63 L46 213g 3 s L70 1.61 2 L85 1.11 s 2M3 23.23 I - .52 _5 2.11 6,41 ' Spoonbread a .66 9 3 2.24 2'18 3 6,69 6'57 Mush " Short cooked 43 .61 5,75 5 87 ,_ white meal 7 :48 .44 3 .69 .65 3 5.95 ' i? n 1 s 13 25 1 ¥ ye ow mea .28 . .58 1 5.23 Long cooked 33 ' - ' .59 .s3 5-93 . white meal 4 _33 .35 3 .70 3 6.92 6 32 f .1" yellow meal 2 J»; .17 1 ,49 1 539 GfltS 4 .60 .63 1 V‘ Short cooked J57 '61 1 6'89 Long cooked 4 -55 Not determined Fried from .80 . short cooked 2 .88 '84 1 '83 1 10:22 Fried from .62 - long cooked 4 .79 .71 Not determined ‘White meal for all except spoonbread, and mush as indicated. 2All other preparations enriched with Clemson premix. __.2]___ Table 7. Retention of vitamins in enriched corn meal and grits preparations Retention, % ffffiaafioni PH Thiamine Riboflavin Niacin _Rangel Av. l Range] Av. I Rangel Av. Corn bread Before cooking Sour milk 5.4 to 6.0 V 87 90 96 my standard Av., 5.9 92 99 9s 99 100 99 Sweet milk 82 Not determined 5 standard 6'1 & 6'2 87 84 p; Sour milk . _ 86 g9 92 98 i, low leavening 5 4 s‘ 5 5 90 99 96 98 98 Sour milk 1 repli- I 1 repli- ‘ standard 5.8 & 5.9 83 85 cation 98 cation 95 Merck premix’ Av., 5.9 87 only only Sweet milk standard 6.0 & 6.05 82 35 107 102 93 95 Merck premix’ Av., 6.01 89 98 98 7 82 104 9°" milk 6.6 a 6.7 1 7 9s 99 11s 199 high leavening 86 92 93 Pone 6'0 8‘ 6'2 96 91 10s 99 102 99 _ 6.5 & 6.1 94 95 99 Spoonbread 96 89 97 _ 91 104 101 Mush After cooking 102 Short cooked 6.2 & 6.4 95 10o 104 109 m0 white meal 195 ' 117 105 1 repli- 1 repli- yellow meal 6.6 & 6.7 131 100 ":31?" 12o c221?“ 112 Long cooked 6, 79 76 98 103 10° 107 white meal 5 31 m6 115 66 1 repli- 1 repli- Yellflw "I681 6-3 81 5-9 68 67 cation 108 cation 112 only only Grits 1 repli- 1 epl'- Slwrt ¢00ked 5-55 13g 102 cation 113 czitiorl 103 only only LOIIK COOlKGd 6.65 74 Not determingd Fried9 from 1 repli- 1 repli- short cooked 6.65 90 92 cation 106 cation 104 94 only only Fried from 57 67 long cooked 6.65 72 Not determined ‘White meal for all except spoonbread, and mush as indicated. ‘All other preparations enriched with Clemson premix. “Calculation of retention in fried grits was based o’n raw grits represented by amount of boiled grits used to fry. p ed yellow mush (41/2 and 51A; hours in a double boiler after *1 __22_ A variance analysis Was made of the thiamine retentio by the five groups of corn breads which contained from 84 89 percent of the content of this vitamin in the correspondi batters. The variation Within the groups was greater th between the groups, the respective mean squares being 19. and 5.96. ‘ Thiamine contents of other corn meal preparations d cate that pH is not the only factor influencing retention. Po t‘ retained from 86 to 96 percent of the thiamine in the uncoo? ed mixture. The pH values were 6.0 and 6.2, which are wit in the safe range for corn breads. In contrast, spoonbre with the same pH as for high leavening corn bread (6.5 a 6.7), retained in the cooked product 89 percent, or as mu as the best average retention in good corn breads. Also bop mush and grits with pH ranging from 6.2 to 6.7, showed co - plete retention after 30 minutes boiling. It is hoped that t studies in progress will throw light on these results. ~ Other conditions being the same, prolonging the cooki . time lowered the thiamine retention. Grits cooked in a doub boiler 5 and 7 hours, after having boiled 30 minutes, contain’ only two-thirds of the thiamine in the raw cereal. Long coo minute boiling) contained two-thirds and white mush thr fourths as much thiamine as the corresponding meal. It questionable whether the difference noted in retentions these yellow and white mushes represents a characteris p difference. There were toofew replications for yellow mu for statistical analysis. It does not seem justifiable to l tribute this difference between white and yellow mush to n7 color of the meal as this difference is slightly less than t i‘ variation within the four replications of white mush and i.“ tween highest and lowest retentions for pone, spoonbread a boiled grits. Recooking, as in frying of grits, lowered the thiami content—from 102 percent in grits boiled 30 minutes to percent after subsequent frying, and in long cooked grits fro 74 to 67 percent. Retention in fried grits was based on co tent of the raw grits represented by the amount of boiled gri used to fry. . The data for riboflavin and niacin are interpreted to mea, that in all preparations the cooking process has little or n. effect on the retention of these two vitamins (Table 7). ' Comparison with Other Studies Vitamin retentions found in this study for corn meal a l grits preparations agree with those reported by other Wor __23_ ers for other whole grain and enriched cereals. In all studies, retentions were calculated on the moist (not dried) basis. s. Aughey and Daniel (2) found complete retention of thia- mine in rolled oats and cracked wheat boiled 2 minutes, plus g g double boiler cooking of the oats for 2 hours and of the wheat for 30 minutes. The wheat ground into flour and made into water bread retained 86 percent of the thiamine. Munsell, et al, (11) enriched farina by the addition of wheat germ and of two different mixtures of vitamins and minerals. After cooking for 5 minutes directly over an elec- eric burner, retentions for the three ways of enriching rang- ed from 92.7 to 101.0 percent for thiamine, 83.6 to 109.7 per- cent for riboflavin and 86 to 102.3 percent for niacin. Lincoln, et al, (10) determined retention of thiamine in quick-cooking farina, cracked wheat, oatmeal and enriched r farina after cooking in flowing steam at 100 to 101° C. for intervals of 5, 15, 30, 60 and 120 minutes. After cooking for 5 minutes, thiamine was lowered only in cracked wheat, to 95.7 percent. After 15 minutes, retentions ranged from 87.0 to 97.8 percent. With still longer cooking, retentions were progressively less and were related to pH values. After 120 1i minutes cooking, quick cooking farina retained 59 percent (pH 6.85); cracked wheat, 73 percent (pH 6.30); oatmeal, 80 percent (pH 6.20); and enriched farina 85 percent (pH 5.80). The two lowest pH values are in the same range as those favorable to retention of 82 to 92 percent in the stand- j ard recipe corn breads in this study. Loss of thiamine after 15 minutes cooking of cereals by Lincoln, et al, may be due f to the higher temperature than that used for mush and grits. The Texas study, and those cited, show that short cook- l, ing of breakfast cereals does not affect the amount of thia- mine, riboflacin and niacin. Whatever may be added by en- >5 richment means just that much improvement in dietary value if the cereal is cooked 30 minutes or less in a utensil over di- ‘ rect heat. The findings on retention of the three vitamins in corn meal and grits preparations indicate that there need be con- cern only for the preservation of thiamine in ordinary cook- ' ing procedures. Measures favorable to thiamine retention in A attractive and palatable products include a cooking period no longer than necessary to obtain a high quality product and, _{ with cornbread, to keep the pH of the batter below 6.2. This . will be done if no more than 4.5g (11/2 teaspoons) of baking I powder to 2 cups of cereal (meal plus flour) and no more than _24._. 1.9g (1/2 teaspoon) soda to 11/2 cups sour milk are used in mak- j ing the corn bread. These proportions were exceeded for bak- j ing powder in 46 out of 75 recipes collected from Texashomes, y and for soda in 32 out of 74 recipes. The high leavening pro-1 portions used in this study were exceeded in 27 home recipes. A Hence, with nearly half of the recipes, an unduly great de- struction of thiamine would be expected, and with approxi» mately one-third of them the benefits of thiamine enrichment would probably be nullified. Those who make corn bread need to learn how to combine l palatability and attractiveness with the best retention of thia- ~ mine obtainable. Short cooked mush and grits, with complete v retention of all three of the B vitamins, are very palatable, attractive products. They are stiff enough when cold to slice for frying. If the diet is low in thiamine, it would be better . to serve mush and grits after only 30 minutes boiling, rather _, than as a fried product. a Dietary Contributions The dietary contribution of the corn meal and grits prep- ~ arations was estimated by comparing the content of each vi- i tamin in one serving of the food with the amounts recommen- , ded by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research g Council (6) as a desirable daily intake for a physically active ‘ man and for a moderately active woman. ‘ The spoonbread recipe provided six servings; all others four servings, except pone. The pone recipe was for two _ servings, as a matter of convenience, without sacrificing either ‘ laboratory requirements or similarity to home procedure. The , servings were moderate to generous in size. Most of the judges agreed with the authors that the designated servings < are representative of actual practice, especially in families. where corn meal and grits preparations are eaten frequently. 1 The calculated dietary contributions are shown in Table 8. For the enriched corn bread, only those from the Merck i enriched meals were used. For pone, mush and spoonbread, the average values of each preparation made with meals en- 1 riched with Clemson premix were converted to the values ex- 1 pected if the meal had been enriched with Merck premix. The higher proportion of the recommended allowances for a woman than for a man supplied by each food prepara- tion is due to the smaller allowances for a woman, but the a same size of servings as for a man. __25__ _One serving of the enriched corn bread furnishes ap- proximately one-fifth of a man’s and one-fourth of a woman’s allowance of thiamine and riboflavin, and approximately one- sixth of a man’s and one-fifth of a Woman’s allowances of nia- cin. In relation to allowances, there is no greater abundance of niacin than of thiamine and riboflavin in the corn bread, as is true of the absolute content per gram of both bread and corn meal. Enriched corn bread contributes about 2 times as much thiamine, about 11/2 times as much riboflavin and 3 times as much niacin as the non-enriched. Only two-thirds as much enriched pone by weight as of enriched corn bread is needed to supply approximately the Table 8. Dietary contributions from one serving of corn meal and grits preparations in comparison with recommended daily allowances‘ G Percentage of allowance? Sig?“ For physically ‘ For moderately Food preparation Se...“ active man active woman ing3 Thia- ‘ Ribo- Thia- Ribo- mine flavin Niacin l mine flavin l Niacin Corn bread Sour milk Non- standard enriched 148 9 13 5 12 16 6 Sour milk standard Enriched 148 19 21 17 24 25 21 (Merck premix) Sweet milk standard Enriched 148 19 22 17 24 26 21 (Merck premix) Pone Enriched 95 17 12 17 22 14 22 Spoonbread Enriched 100 10 16 8 12 20 9 Mush Short cooked Enriched 190 10 6 9 12 7 11 Long cooked Enriched 185 7 6 9 9 7 11 Grits Short cooked Non- enriched 172 none 1.1 1.1 none 1.3 1.3 Short cooked Enriched 172 7.3 5.8 7.9 9.1 6.9 9.9 Long cooked Enriched 144 5.3 Not determined 6.6 Not determined Fried from Non- short cooked enriched 115 none 1.0 1.1 none 1.2 1.4 Fried from V short cooked Enriched 115 6.5 5.3 7.8 8.1 6.4 9.8 Fried from long cooked Enriched 101 4.7 Not determined 5.9 Not determined lRecommended mg per day: 1.5 1.8 15 1.2 1.5 12 zNearest whole number except for grits where one decimal place used to show effect of cooking. “One serving is 1/2 batch of pone; 1/ 6 of spoonbread; V; of each other preparation. ___.26__ same proportion of the allowances for thiamine and niacin. But for riboflavin, the enriched pone is of about the same , value as the non-enriched bread. This would be true even though the same weight of pone and corn bread were eaten, The reason is that the milk and egg in corn bread supply rel- . atively more riboflavin than of thiamine and niacin. Enriched spoonbread and short cooked mush per serving, supply about half as much of thiamine and niacin as does en- riched bread. This is due chiefly to the greater water con-i» tent in spoonbread and mush. For the same reason, the con- Q tribution of riboflavin from mush is about one-third of that‘ from enriched bread; but spoonbread with eggs and milk in ; it would provide four-fifths as much riboflavin as the bread.‘ Long cooked enriched mush and short cooked enriched i; grits are similar in the proportion of the allowance of thia- i Percentage of allowance for physically active man O 2 4 6 8 IO I2 l4 I6 I8 2O 22 I I I I I I I I I I I ' Sour milk Sour milk Sweet milk . 111.‘.;-;~:1;;;<¥.'¢~:.~_..-~ -..':::,-':~I'-.* -" Souy milk Sour milk Sweet milk Sour mil k --= Sour milk Sweet milk . 1?» ,4, ; * _ ,_ Non - enriched Non-enriched= none} Boned 3Q mm - Thiamine Boiled 3O min. 8i fried Riboflavin Enriched Long-cooked Long cooked 8i fried Niacin Grits }8oiled 3O min. - Boiled 3O min. 8i fried }Boiled 3O min. Boiled 3O min. 8| fried I l l l l I l O 2 4 6 8 IO l2 l4 I6 I8 20 22 Percentage of allowance for physically active man Figure 3. Percentage of allowances of thiamine, riboflavin and niacin! for a physically active man from one serving of non-enriched and of enriched corn bread and cooked grits. a __27__ mine, riboflavin and niacin that they supply—from 6 t0 9 per- cent for a man and from 7 to 11 percent for a woman. Contributions from enriched long cooked and from fried grits are the smallest of any enriched preparation, only 5 and 6 percent of a man’s allowance for thiamine and riboflavin and 6 to 8 percent for a woman’s. Niacin contribution is a little better, 8 percent for a man, 10 percent for a woman. The servings of enriched short cooked, long cooked and fried grits represent the same weight of raw grits; therefore, the meth- od of cooking and not the size of serving accounts for th small differences in contributions. - Non-enriched grits, no matter how cooked, were so low in all vitamins as to be negligible from a dietary standpoint. Enrichment of grits changed “no value” to “fair value.” Figure 3 aids in comparing the percentage of daily recom- mended allowances supplied by non-enriched and enriched corn bread and cooked grits. This figure and the data in Table 8 emphasize that a goodly content of each vitamin in the raw cereal is a primary essential, although other factors have an influence on the vitamin value of the ready-to-eat prepara- tion. The other factors include the amount of cereal used in the preparation; the addition of vitamins in other ingredients, as by egg and milk in corn bread and spoonbread; the amount of Water in the cooked food; the percentage retention of the vitamins and the amount of the food eaten. Compared with recommended allowances, enriched corn bread is an excellent source of all three vitamins. Even if the generous serving were reduced to half that size, enriched corn bread would be a good source of thiamine, riboflavin and nia- cin. Enriched pone is an excellent source of thiamine and niacin, and good for riboflavin. Enriched spoonbread and short cooked mush are good sources of thiamine and niacin; but for riboflavin, spoonbread is excellent, mush only fair. Grits, per serving of the designated size, even when enriched, can be rated only a fair source of the three vitamins, except good in niacin for a woman. If, as is frequently done, two or more servings of one or more of such enriched corn meal and grits preparations are eaten daily, they would supply a high- ly important part of the recommended allowances. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS This study was made to determine the extent to which the increase in vitamin content due to enriching corn meal and grits improves the vitamin value of the cereals when prepar- ed for eating. __28_ The corn meal and grits were obtained from Texas mills, as non-enriched degermed products. A portion of each batch was enriched in the laboratory with a commercial enriching, mixture. Corn bread, corn pone, spoonbread, mush, boiled’ grits and fried grits each made by a standardized recipe with enriched cereal or the corresponding non-enriched, were ana- lyzed for thiamine, riboflavin and niacin. Retention of each vitamin in each preparation was calculated on the total batch fresh basis. Enriched corn meal, with vitamin content a little abovei minimum federal standards, contained 4.7 times as much thia- mine, 3.7 times as much riboflavin and 4.3 times as much nia-. cin as the corresponding non-enriched meal. Without enrich- ment, grits were practically devoid of thiamine. Enriched grits had 5.0 times as much riboflavin and 7.0 times as much niacin as the non-enriched. Corn meal and grits after enrich : ing were comparable in their vitamin contents. The increase in vitamin content due to enrichment mad) no difference in the percentage retention of any of the vita-l mins. Results were similar with yellow and white meal. Non; of the cooking processes changed the content of riboflavi and niacin. ; There was complete retention of thiamine in mush an grits boiled 30 minutes; but after further cooking 4 to 7 hou = in a double boiler, only two-thirds to three-fourths of the thi mine remained. Frying of cold boiled grits reduced the thiai mine content, but to a less extent than did prolonged cookin in a double boiler. Thiamine retention in corn bread was r. lated to pH of the batter. With pH from 5.4 to 6.2 for so .- milk, sweet milk and low leavening corn breads, thiamine tentions ranged from 84 to 89 percent. But corn bread mad With excessive leavening (pH of batter 6.6 and 6.7) retain only 7 percent of the thiamine. In pone, spoonbread and sho _ cooked mush and grits, high thiamine retention (89 to 10 percent) was associated with a range of pH values as wide .:; those accompanied by both the good and the very low rete t tions in corn breads. Compared with recommended daily allowances, enrich corn bread is an excellent source of all three B vitamins, - is pone for thiamine and niacin, and spoonbread for riboflav in. One serving of enriched corn bread (148 g) furnishes all proximately one-fifth of a man’s and one-fourth of a woman’ allowance of thiamine and riboflavin, and approximately on» sixth of a man’s and one-fifth of a woman’s allowance of ni L cin. One serving of enriched pone (95 g) is similar to en riched corn bread in its contribution of thiamine and niaci ' _.29.__ but for riboflavin it is only half as good. The milk and eggs used in corn bread and spoonbread raise the content of each vitamin, especially riboflavin, and by their high quality pro- teins further increase the food value of these cereal prepara- tions, making them the better to combat pellagra and pro- mote general good health. . Spoonbread and short cooked mush, which contain more a water than corn bread and pone, make a good contribution of lthiamine and niacin—in one serving about one-tenth of the i allowance. Short cooked mush is only fair for riboflavin. 1; A single serving of enriched long cooked mush, and of short cooked, long cooked or fried grits, makes only fair contribu- tions to the allowances of each vitamin. When, as is frequently done, two or more servings of en- firiched corn meal and grits preparations are eaten daily, their importance in making up a good diet will be the greater. How- ever, cooking methods must be used that ensure the best re- ‘ tention of thiamine. Owing to the popularity in Texas of corn meal and grits , dishes, it is highly desirable to have only the enriched cereals available. As with enrichment of flour and oleomargarine, Texas might well join other Southern States in having a law ‘requiring enrichment of corn meal and grits. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS g The authors are grateful to: the Bewley Mills of Fort , Worth, Texas, and the Quaker Oats Company of Sherman, l Texas, for making available the non-enriched degermed cere- . als; E. J. Lease of the South Carolina Agricultural Experiment i Station, and Merck and Company, Inc., Rahway, N.J., for sup- i plying the premixes; George W. Cox, M. D., State Health Of- f ficer and Loucille Langham Taylor, formerly Nutrition Con- _ sultant in the Texas State Department of Health, for supply- ing information on the records concerning pellagra; and the Texas State Nutrition Council which contributed to some of , the expenses of the study. .~ For assistance in routine work, appreciation is expressed to: J. G. Peniston and Willie Yeager of the Subsistence De- partment of the Texas A&M College, for permitting use of an institutional size mixer to enrich the several batches of pcorn meal; Ethel T. Grimes, Lillie Belle Bass and Helen M. 1 Forsthoff for technical assistance in the laboratory, for help in analyzing the data and in preparing the manuscript; and to ‘William H. Smith, Jr. for advice on techniques in analytical procedures. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. . Food and Nutrition Board, National Research Council. _3()_ REFERENCES Andrew, John S., and N ordgren, Robert. The application of t thiochrome method to the thiamine analysis of cereal and cer i products. Cereal Chem., 18:686-695. 1941. , " Aughey, Elizabeth and Daniel, Esther Peterson. Effect of coo ' - upon the thiamine content of foods. J. Nutr., 19:285-296. 19, Bauernfeind, J. C. Thiamine stability in enriching whole corn me“ Hoffmann-LaRoche, Inc. Laboratories, Mimeographed Repo _ March 1946. A Cheldelin, Vernon H., E-ppright, Margaret A., Snell, Esmond E., H Guirard, Beverely M. Enzymatic liberation of B vitamins c-f plant and animal tissues. 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The 51' tensioner, 35 (No. 8):11, June 1949. -; Whitacre, Jessie. Enrichment of corn meal and grits in Texas: Recapitulation. Tex. Agr. Exp. Sta. Popular Article, No. 19 What’s Cooking, published by Texas State Nutrition Counci (No. 3):5-8, Feb. 1950. '