Elmer McCollum
Encyclopedia
Elmer Verner McCollum was an American
biochemist
known for his work on the influence of diet
on health
.
, where he spent his first seventeen years. He worked at odd jobs to finish high school and college, graduating from the University of Kansas
in 1903 and earning his doctorate at Yale University
in 1906. McCollum got his Ph.D. from Yale in 2 years, but stayed at Yale
for another year working with T. Osborne and L. B. Mendel on problems of plant protein
composition and diet. This deeply influenced Mccollum's future career. Mendel helped McCollum secure a faculty position at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
.
McCollum first proposed that the nutritive failure of certain diets was due to a lack of "palatability." He proposed that if a diet could be made to taste good, and the animals ate larger quantities of food, the diets would be adequate. This hypothesis
, and the supporting data, were criticized by both Osborne and Mendel, who demonstrated that plant protein diets were not adequate unless protein-free milk
was added as a supplement
. In some of their papers, Mendel and Osborne suggested that McCollum had been careless in some of his experiments. McCollum acknowledged this error and rededicated himself to more careful analyses including an analysis of the growth-promoting factors in protein-free milk, which then led to the isolation of the first known fat-soluble vitamin
which he later called Vitamin A
.
His experiments with the diets of small animals also lead the discovery of the water soluble vitamin B. He later showed that B is not a single compound, but a complex. McCollum and biochemist-in-training Marguerite Davis gave the "factors" letter names, because their structures had not yet been determined to give them proper chemical names. He showed that Vitamin D
prevents rickets
, a bone disease
. Other sources, such as Patricia Swan's article in The Journal of Nutrition (1994 American Institute of Nutrition.J. Nutrition 124: 455-460.), and a McCollum biography by Simoni, R. D. and Vaughan, M. (2002) Nutritional biochemistry and the discovery of vitamins. The work of Elmer Verner McCollum". J. Biol. Chem. 277(19) ascribe the first use of letter names for vitamins to Cornelia Kennedy, who used them in her master's thesis for the University of Wisconsin in 1916, citing research published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry (McCollum and Kennedy 1916).
McCollum opposed Casimir Funk's 1912 name vitamines (from vital amines) because he thought they were no more "vital" than other nutrients and because they are not true amines. The name was changed to its current spelling in 1920.
In 1917 Johns Hopkins University
recruited McCollum as the first chair and professor in the newly established Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
, although he almost didn't get the job. At 6 feet and just 127 pounds, the nutritionist looked "frail" to the faculty members who interviewed him.
He published 150 papers at Johns Hopkins, reporting research work on tooth decay, vitamins D and E, and the role of trace minerals in nutrition, including aluminum, calcium, cobalt, fluorine, phosphorus, potassium, manganese, sodium, strontium and zinc. McCollum worked with Herbert Hoover
's U.S. Food Administration to alleviate starvation in Europe in the aftermath of World War I
. His classic textbook The Newer Knowledge of Nutrition went through multiple editions.
McCollum's book The Newer Knowledge of Nutrition (1918) influenced many dietitians.
After his 1946 retirement, he wrote The History of Nutrition and an autobiography. McCollum received many awards, honors and medals in his life and died in 1967 rich in rewards. His home in Baltimore is a National Historic Landmark, and the American Society for Nutrition sponsors a McCollum lecture and gives the E.V. McCollum Award each year to "a clinical investigator who is perceived currently as a major creative force, actively generating new concepts in nutrition."
McCollum was a great believer in nutrition through food. To his dying day, McCollum regarded drugstore vitamin pills and supplements as snake-oil quackery. He died on November 15, 1967 at the age of 88. Shortly before his death, he remarked: "I have had an exceptionally pleasant life and am thankful."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
biochemist
Biochemist
Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. Typical biochemists study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. The prefix of "bio" in "biochemist" can be understood as a fusion of "biological chemist."-Role:...
known for his work on the influence of diet
Diet (nutrition)
In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. With the word diet, it is often implied the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management...
on health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
.
Life and education
McCollum was born on a farm near Fort Scott, KansasFort Scott, Kansas
Fort Scott is a city in and the county seat of Bourbon County, Kansas, United States, south of Kansas City, on the Marmaton River. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,087. It is the home of the Fort Scott National Historic Site and the Fort Scott National...
, where he spent his first seventeen years. He worked at odd jobs to finish high school and college, graduating from the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
in 1903 and earning his doctorate at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1906. McCollum got his Ph.D. from Yale in 2 years, but stayed at Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
for another year working with T. Osborne and L. B. Mendel on problems of plant protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
composition and diet. This deeply influenced Mccollum's future career. Mendel helped McCollum secure a faculty position at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
.
Career
As a faculty member in agricultural chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, he established the nation's first colony of white lab rats to use for his nutrition experiments.McCollum first proposed that the nutritive failure of certain diets was due to a lack of "palatability." He proposed that if a diet could be made to taste good, and the animals ate larger quantities of food, the diets would be adequate. This hypothesis
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι – hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose". For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it...
, and the supporting data, were criticized by both Osborne and Mendel, who demonstrated that plant protein diets were not adequate unless protein-free milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
was added as a supplement
Dietary supplement
A dietary supplement, also known as food supplement or nutritional supplement, is a preparation intended to supplement the diet and provide nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids, or amino acids, that may be missing or may not be consumed in sufficient quantities in a person's diet...
. In some of their papers, Mendel and Osborne suggested that McCollum had been careless in some of his experiments. McCollum acknowledged this error and rededicated himself to more careful analyses including an analysis of the growth-promoting factors in protein-free milk, which then led to the isolation of the first known fat-soluble vitamin
Vitamin
A vitamin is an organic compound required as a nutrient in tiny amounts by an organism. In other words, an organic chemical compound is called a vitamin when it cannot be synthesized in sufficient quantities by an organism, and must be obtained from the diet. Thus, the term is conditional both on...
which he later called Vitamin A
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a vitamin that is needed by the retina of the eye in the form of a specific metabolite, the light-absorbing molecule retinal, that is necessary for both low-light and color vision...
.
His experiments with the diets of small animals also lead the discovery of the water soluble vitamin B. He later showed that B is not a single compound, but a complex. McCollum and biochemist-in-training Marguerite Davis gave the "factors" letter names, because their structures had not yet been determined to give them proper chemical names. He showed that Vitamin D
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble secosteroids. In humans, vitamin D is unique both because it functions as a prohormone and because the body can synthesize it when sun exposure is adequate ....
prevents rickets
Rickets
Rickets is a softening of bones in children due to deficiency or impaired metabolism of vitamin D, magnesium , phosphorus or calcium, potentially leading to fractures and deformity. Rickets is among the most frequent childhood diseases in many developing countries...
, a bone disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
. Other sources, such as Patricia Swan's article in The Journal of Nutrition (1994 American Institute of Nutrition.J. Nutrition 124: 455-460.), and a McCollum biography by Simoni, R. D. and Vaughan, M. (2002) Nutritional biochemistry and the discovery of vitamins. The work of Elmer Verner McCollum". J. Biol. Chem. 277(19) ascribe the first use of letter names for vitamins to Cornelia Kennedy, who used them in her master's thesis for the University of Wisconsin in 1916, citing research published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry (McCollum and Kennedy 1916).
McCollum opposed Casimir Funk's 1912 name vitamines (from vital amines) because he thought they were no more "vital" than other nutrients and because they are not true amines. The name was changed to its current spelling in 1920.
In 1917 Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
recruited McCollum as the first chair and professor in the newly established Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
JHSPH Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology was established in 1916, as the Department of Chemical Hygiene. That same year, the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health was founded, as it was named then...
, although he almost didn't get the job. At 6 feet and just 127 pounds, the nutritionist looked "frail" to the faculty members who interviewed him.
He published 150 papers at Johns Hopkins, reporting research work on tooth decay, vitamins D and E, and the role of trace minerals in nutrition, including aluminum, calcium, cobalt, fluorine, phosphorus, potassium, manganese, sodium, strontium and zinc. McCollum worked with Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
's U.S. Food Administration to alleviate starvation in Europe in the aftermath of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. His classic textbook The Newer Knowledge of Nutrition went through multiple editions.
McCollum's book The Newer Knowledge of Nutrition (1918) influenced many dietitians.
After his 1946 retirement, he wrote The History of Nutrition and an autobiography. McCollum received many awards, honors and medals in his life and died in 1967 rich in rewards. His home in Baltimore is a National Historic Landmark, and the American Society for Nutrition sponsors a McCollum lecture and gives the E.V. McCollum Award each year to "a clinical investigator who is perceived currently as a major creative force, actively generating new concepts in nutrition."
McCollum was a great believer in nutrition through food. To his dying day, McCollum regarded drugstore vitamin pills and supplements as snake-oil quackery. He died on November 15, 1967 at the age of 88. Shortly before his death, he remarked: "I have had an exceptionally pleasant life and am thankful."
Books
- The Newer Knowledge of Nutrition, 1918
- Food, Nutrition and Health, 6th edition 1947
- A History of Nutrition, 1957
- From Kansas Farm Boy to Scientist, 1964
External links
- March 3, 1879: Birth of the B's (Thought for Food)
- A Tribute to Elmer V. McCollum (pdf)
- Elmer Verner McCollum Biography (1879-1967)
- http://www.aolsvc.worldbook.aol.com/wb/Article?id=ar712871
- Eskind Biomedicalo Library – ASNS 75th Anniversary
- Nutritional Biochemistry and the Discovery of Vitamins: the Work of Elmer Verner McCollum – The Journal of Biological Chemistry