Vitamin A Concentration of Cod Liver Oil correlated with Age of Cod

Abstract

ACTING upon the previous recommendation of the Imperial Economic Committee for the consideration of research to throw light on “the nature of the variations in the vitamin content of cod liver oil produced from fish from various sources and a study of the underlying causes of such variations”, the Empire Marketing Board in 1930 published the report of Drummond and Hilditch (E.M.B. 35) on the “Relative Value of Cod Liver Oils from Various Sources”. These investigators established the superior richness of the liver oils of Newfoundland cod from actual observations on Newfoundland, Scottish, Icelandic and Norwegian samples, and in their study of the causes of the variations reported as follows: “There appear to be two important factors influencing the concentration of vitamin in the liver. The first is the nature of the food supply, and the second is the quantity of oil stored in the liver”. They concluded that, “The richest vitamin oils will, therefore, be obtained in areas where abundant food supplies for the fish are available and at seasons when the oil content of the livers tends to be low”.