V I T A M I N S
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N all wars since history began disease has t e e n the cause of more casualties, both military and civilian, than the weapons of the enemy. During the last "World War it began t o be recognized that some of these diseases, such as scurvy, were caused by a definite deficiency of some essential ingre dient in. the d i e t w h i l e others probably spread because of lowered resistance of the population due to this and other dietary lacks. Because of their relationship to life, these essentials were termed vitamins. Since practically nothing was known about them at the time, little could be done toward correcting these deficiencies. Since then science has made tremendous strides i n the chemistry of vitamins. The structure of most of those isolated has been determined and methods for synthesizing many of? them developed. The mations of the world have not been slow to recognize the importance of the vitamins. In h e r rearmament program Germany included factories for their pro duction along with those for manufacturing guns, explosives and other munitions of Avar. O n e important ingredient in the emergemcy ration of the German parachute troops has teen tablets of synthetic Ascorbic Acid (vitamin C). Our own Government has also recognized the importance of this
vitamin and has included a product con taining synthetic Ascorbic Acid in the ration of those now training for defense of our nation both on land and sea. The United States and the British Empire have also i n c l u d e d the m a i n t e n a n c e of civilian health and morale in their defense plans. Enriched flours and breads, to which a number of the vitamins together with certain minerals have been added, have received official sanction. This development has been hampered by an insufficient sup ply of one of the vitamin ingredients — Riboflavin (vitamin B2). Chas. Pfizer & Co., Inc. have been glad to assist in the Defense Program. We have been one of the largest producers of Ascorbic Acid (vitamin C) for several years. There has been a continual increase in our pro duction of this synthetic vitamin and plans are now in the process of consummation which will still further enlarge our pro ductive facilities. After a research program of several years, the production of Riboflavin (vitamin B2) was started by our Company in 1940. At the present time we are bending every effort toward a great increase in the size of our productive facilities in order to assist in supplying t h e large quantities of this essential vitamin which are needed.
/PFIZERY VQLIÀLITV/
MANUFACTURING
C H A S
CHEMISTS
P F I Z E R
8 1 MAIDEN LANE, NEW YORK
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4 4 4 W. G R A N D A V E . , C H I C A G O , I L L .
1942
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