Abstract
BECAUSE, in contrast with animal protein, plant protein is poor in some of the B vitamins although rich in others, it is important to supply the missing types to human and animal diets when plant protein is consumed. Recently it has been found that micro-organisms build up all the members of the vitamin B group and that their protein is of the same high nutritive value as animal protein. These facts have been the basis of recent work at the Chemical Research Laboratory, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, which has led to the production of 'Food Yeast'. For the factory in Jamaica, an organism has been developed at the Laboratory from a yeast used during the War of 1914-18 for feeding purposes ; though at the time nothing was known about its vitamin content. The organism developed is double the size of that originally tried. This facilitates large-scale manufacture and the product is somewhat richer in some of the B vitamins than the original type. When dry it contains as much as 50 percent of high-grade protein, approaching in nutritive value to meat and fish protein. Its vitamin B content is definitely higher than that of animal protein, including liver.
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Food Yeast. Nature 151, 274 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151274a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151274a0
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Czechoslovak Medical Students at Oxford
Nature (1943)