Date of Award
8-1938
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Degree Discipline
Chemistry
Abstract
Although special interest has not been placed on mineral contents of vegetables in former years, they have been found to play an important role in nutrition and health maintenance in more recent years. Elvehjen (16) has reported that iron used in the body for maintenance and nutrition is obtained from food stuff, vegetables being the chief source. Bronson (18) and Sherman (3) found that fresh vegetables and fruits were often regarded as a food of low nutritive value because of their high water content and low portions of proteins and fats, but that it was largely these properties which made them important as sources of mineral foods. Peterson and Elvehjen (2) reported that green leafy vegetables are the best sources of iron in the diet. They report the results of about one hundred fifty determinations of iron in common food in which the highest percentage of iron was found in leafy vegetables. They also found a direct relation between iron content and the presence of chlorophyll. Further still, they point out that orange juice contains only 0.00028 percent iron while the orange pulp contains 0.00066 percent iron; the iron remains largely with the pulp on pressing. A similar relation exists between the juice and pulp of tomatoes. McHargue (15) reports that copper is also a normal constituent of plants. It is present in lettuce, cabbage, the germ of white and yellow corn, the germ of wheat, wheat bran etc. McHargue (15) also observes and reports that there is no form of plant or animal life in which copper cannot be found in minute amounts when ever sought for by the right methods. Bronson (18) reports that copper occurs in greatest concentration in plant life in young and tender green leaves and shoots and in the germs of the seed. Russell Stage Institution of Pathology, in 1933, ran an analysis of iron content of foods used in Belleuae Hospital, New York City, New York. They found that some of the foods served in this hospital vary remarkedly in iron content from those of the standard table of Sherman ('32), Rose ('29), Luchsenring and Flor ('32) and Levine and his co-workers ('32). They also found that there is a greater varation in foods of higher iron content than in those of lower iron content. Davidson and Peclerc (1) found that there is appreciable varation in the mineral content of the same vegetable when grown under different conditions. They also found that each vegetable studied has its own range of varation.
Some work has also been done in this laboratory regarding iron and soils. A soil analysis of Waller County was made by Johnson, in which he concluded that Waller County soil was low in nitrogen, low in phosphoric acid and calcium and slightly acidic. With reference to iron, Jones made a study on calcium, iron, protein, nitrogen and sulphur content in some Texas vegetables. He concluded that considerable varation was found in different samples of the same vegetable; each sample had its own range of varation; and that analytical data showed that mineral content of vegetables should be studied with the object of determining range of varation rather than a fixed value.
Committee Chair/Advisor
W. A. Lynk
Committee Member
R. P. Perry
Publisher
Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College
Rights
© 2021 Prairie View A & M University
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Date of Digitization
8-10-2021
Contributing Institution
John B Coleman Library
City of Publication
Prairie View
MIME Type
Application/PDF
Recommended Citation
Shavers, M. H. (1938). A Redetermination of the Copper and Iron Content of Some Texas Vegetables. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/pvamu-theses/212