The daily minimum requirements of the various vitamins have been worked out in both growing child, adult and pregnant and nursing mother. These statements of our vitamin needs are no more valid than statements of our daily calorie needs; they are no more reliable than the statements of our daily protein needs.

Recent experiments by workers in the Department of Home Economics of the University of Chicago showed that the accepted standards of riboflavin requirements for young women are too high. The fact is that no reliable standards of requirements for any of the vitamins have been worked out and it is more than probable that all the, at present, accepted standards are too high, as they are for other nutrient factors. Vitamin requirements are correlated with the intake and utilization of other nutrients. They do not work in a vacuum.

To secure an adequate supply of all needed vitamins it is not necessary to know the amount of each vitamin contained in each food consumed; it is needful only that we have a broad understanding of what constitutes the so-called "protective" foods. To put this more simply, it is necessary that you understand that you should have a daily supply of fresh, uncooked fruits and vegetables. Other so-called protective foods, such as milk and eggs, are not essential if the fresh fruits and vegetables are taken in abundance.