This book begins by reviewing the chemistry and the physiological role of each vitamin together with the pathological conditions resulting from respective deficiencies. Subsequent chapters discuss the action of cooking on the vitamin content of foods and the role of vitamins in nutrition in infancy, childhood and pregnancy and for physical fitness, subjects of importance to the pediatrician. The last half of the book deals with the role of vitamins in disorders of the various systems and organs of the body, oral structures, gastrointestinal tract, liver, nervous system, skin, eyes, endocrine glands, hemopoiesis, and finally, rheumatic affections and infections. In relation to the last a chapter reviews the interaction of vitamins and chemotherapeutic agents.
An addendum brings the book up to 1949 by including information reported in 1948 concerning vitamins B12. cobalt and folic acid in megaloblastic anemias, folic acid antagonists in the treatment of cancer, vitamins P and E