Pernicious Anemia

Dr. Karl Koessler of Chicago utilized the new knowledge of vitamin E (see above) in devising a dietary treatment for pernicious anemia which he reported to the Chicago Society of Internal Medicine last week. Victims of pernicious anemia cannot, for reasons not yet entirely solved, manufacture red blood cells. To aid this manufacture Drs. George R. Minot and William P. Murphy devised a diet rich in iron compounds--liver, kidneys, gizzards. Dr. Walter W. Palmer of Manhattan proved this diet beneficial (TIME, Dec. 20). One reason for its good effects was that the liver, in particular, contained, besides iron, vitamin E. Dr. Koessler made certain of both the iron and the vitamin E in the foods he gave 30 of his anemic patients. All improved; none had relapses in two years. "The foods of greatest value in this new treatment," he reported "are butter, milk, cream, egg yolks, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, oranges, grapefruit and pineapples. Of meats the edible viscera, which are commonly eaten only rarely, are of the greatest value; liver, lungs, sweetbreads, kidneys, beef heart and brain."