Study & Research America 1920-1929: Medicine and Health

1879-1967
Biochemist

Rickets.

Existence of Vitamins.

Vitamin D Found to Prevent Rickets.

A Balanced Diet.

A Noteworthy Career.

McCollum's valuable contributions in the field of nutrition were recognized throughout his career. He was a professor of agricultural chemistry at the University of Wisconsin and an emeritus professor of biochemistry at Johns Hopkins University, where the McCollum-Pratt Institute was created in his honor. McCollum also published The Newer Knowledge of Nutrition in 1918 which greatly influenced dietitians of the time. The identification of vitamins A, B, and D, the essential eradication of rickets, the vitamin nomenclature as used today, and general knowledge of how diet affects human health can all be attributed to the work of Elmer McCollum.

Sources:

Elmer V. McCollum, From Kansas Farm Boy to Scientist (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1964);

McCollum, A History of Nutrition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1957); McCollum, The Newer Knowledge of Nutrition (New York: Macmillan, 1922);

M. K. Wisehart, "What to Eat," American Magazine, 95 (January 1923): 14-15, 112.

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