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NUTRITIVE VALUE OF MUSTARD By B. B. BRAHMACHARI, d.p.h. Director of Public Health Laboratory, Bengal

As I have shown in my article on the value of the food of Bengal (Brahmachari, 1932), , i.e., the oil expressed from the of the mustard plants, and are the only two fats which enter, as such, into the dietary of the people of Bengal, and, of the two, mustard oil is the more important. It is taken throughout the province, in towns as well as in villages, with their daily food by the rich as well as the poor, while ghee is used more in towns than in villages, and is more or less limited to the well-to-do and the middle class

Weight increaseincrease inin two ratsrats on basicbasic dietdiet and mustard oiloil plus spinach.

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160

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80

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people. As a rule mustard oil is cooked with the other food articles; but occasionally it is also taken mixed with boiled potatoes and other 328 THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE [June, 1934

increaseincrease inin ratsrats ofof aa basicbasic dietdiet toto whichwhich differentdifferent vegetables, boiled eggs, roasted brinjals, etc. WeightWeight oilsoils havehave beenbeen added,added, asas .fat. Though of such importance as food, it does not seem to have been studied from the point of view of its nutritive value. In my article referred to above, it was shown that mustard oil does not contain any . In studying the vitamin value of the kacha ghee, i.e., ghee that has not been hard boiled, we had to test this oil again on three rats as control. The basal diet was the same, viz,

Casein ...... 19 units

Starch ...... 55 ?

Yeast .. .. 5 ? Salt mixture (McCollum and Simmonds, 1918) .. 5 ? To this was added, as the fat portion of the diet, 16 units of mustard oil. OC1CBE" The three rats were all of the same litter, all females, born on the 23rd May, 1932. The The nutritive value of mustard oil as com- experiment was started on the 14th July next, pared with that of the other edible and i.e., when they were seven weeks old and all fats.?For the experiment, we used the same as the fat the weighed 70 grammes. They fared as follows :? diet before, being represented by

Weight in grammes on various dates

Serial number 14/7 21/7 28/7 5/8 12/8 19/8 2G/8 3/9 12/9 1G/9 20/9

1 70 40 GO 50 50 GO 50 50 50 50 50

2 70 50 GO 50 50 GO GO 70 GO GO GO

3 70 50 GO 50 60 GO 70 70 GO 60 60

On the 20th September, i.e., after a period of respective fats under experiment. The casein, to nine weeks, they were below the weight at which however, was not soxhleted nor heated in they had started and were developing xeroph- destroy the vitamin that might be contained The thalmia. As their subsequent fate was obvious, the trace of milk fat remaining in it. the experiment was discontinued. result is shown in the following table :?

Weight in grammes on various dates Date of Fat birth given 21/10 27/10 3/11 10/11 18/11 25/11 2/12 9/12 16/12 23/12

Male 18-8-32 Ghee 50 60 70 80 100 110 120 140 150 160 Female 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 110 120 130 Male Arachis 50 65 80 110 125 145 150 165 175 170 oil. Female 50 65 70 80 90 100 110 120 145 littered Male 21-8-32 Sesame i 50 65 75 90 110 120 120 130 140 150 oil. Female 50 70 80 85 105 110 110 120 littered Male Linseed 60 70 80 80 105 120 120 125 130 130 oil. Female 40 50 60 60 70 75 90 littered Male Coconut 60 70 85 100 120 130 140 160 175 185 oil. 100 125 Female ? 50 60 65 75 90 100 115 115 Male Mustard 50 50 50 60 60 70 60 80 90 90 oil. died Female 40 24/10 SINGH DISEASE : LOGANAPAN, EYLES & 329 Jtjne, 1934] WEIL'S C. So I next with Growth of the rats was quite A, B and proceeded salfactory^oconui same litter born on 19th Decem- with all the fats except mustard oil. six rats of the under the same diet con- ?il is shown McCarrison (1929) to ber 1932, placing them by 1 in , but adding of some vitamin A, but to be poor taining mustard oil, enough an S A. The was sesame linseed oil spinach for vitamin experiment gingelly (i.e., oil), ' very on the 13th February, 1933, i.e., when nut- (i.e., the arachis oil) to contain ,, started due 8 weeks with the So the growth under them is largely they were old, following trace of milk fat which was in the casei results :?

Weight in grammes on various dates

6/3 13/3 20/3 27/3 3/4 10/4 18/4 13/2 20/2 27/2

100 120 125 125 140 150 150 170 Male .. .. 70 70 90 100 110 120 130 littoroi' .. 50 .. 50 female 90JO 120 130 140 150 160 170 170 .. .. 70 70 J*ale 60 80 85 100 ;io 150 litterof' .. 50 .. 50 female 10? 130 140 150 160 170 170 200 Male . 70 90 70 100 115 120 130 140 150 160 Male .. ! ] 40 60

Conclusion.?We may fairly conclude that mustard oil? removed> nor rendered as in the Previous inert, is destitute of vitamin the ({) entirely A, under th/Xperiments: so> Poor growth tends to inactivate vitamin A in other ?il with the same casein is (ii) analoeonq ,fV(l food articles given along with P,lenomenon observed by it, Fridericin noo/f (Hi) but, as fat, is as nutritive as other ' e found that adding fats, ^ydrop-pnof edJ t by sufficient vitamin A is oiI ^ a diet in which the provided sup- vitamin w Wha.le in other of vitamin plied articles food. A of thn ?s fuPPlied by fat the the was ^activated. In this case References miiafo-!? ?f B. B. ? aPPears to have inactivated the Brahmachari, (1932). Indian Med. Gaz., vitaminn Aa ??} in the casein. Vol. LXVII, p. 377. L. S. (1924). Journ. rpi , Fridericia, Biol.Chem., Vol.LXII, p. 471. ?f mustard oil when given R. Food. Macmillan and alona ' McCarrison, (1929). Co., w!ihtWV)C-llue A.? Sninaoh io \L?clent quantity of vitamin Ltd., Madras. to be ricli in McCollum, E. V.. and Simmonds, N. (1918). Jonrn. . vitamins; McCarri^nn 1nown Biol. 55. ^ crosses Chem., Vol. XXXIII, p. rich in vif .0Ws with three {i.e., tamm) under each of the three