Some Trends in Current Researches on the Vitamin B Complex *

In describing the present situation with respect to our knowledge of the vitamin B complex** three topics appear to merit special attention because of the emphasis they are receiving in current research. The problems of the physiological role of the antineuritic vitamin and the exact chemical nature of this dietary essential still remain unsolved; and at the present time, much attention is being paid to those phenomena suggestive of the existence of several physiologically active substances in what was formerly called vitamin B. No attempt will be made here to review the very extensive literature describing the studies aimed at elucidation of the physiological function of antineuritic vitamin B. These may be found elsewhere. Let it suffice to point out that vitamin B has been conceived as indispensable for such widely different processes as 1, the mechanisms of biochemical oxidations and reductions, 2, immunity reactions, 3, the body's supply of enzymes and hormones, and 4, the metabolism of carbohydrate, protein, and other substances. In spite of much research on these various topics, the precise physiological role of this vitamin remains a mystery. One of the earlier views concerning beriberi considered this disease as essentially a toxemia caused by a poison present in rice. Braddon4 devoted his extensive monograph to an exposition and defense of this thesis. The discovery of the antineuritic vitamin and