I. THE EFFECT OF THE FERMENTING AND DRYING OF CACAO ON THE VITAMIN D POTENCY OF CACAO SHELL.
II. THE ORIGIN OF VITAMIN D IN CACAO SHELL.
THE authors have shown [1934] that one sample of the testa or "shell" of the ordinary dried fermented cacao beans from the Gold Coast had a vitamin D potency of 28 International Units (i.u.) per g. 10 months later another sample of cacao shell was exanlined by them and found also to contain 28 i.u. per g. As this is quite an exceptional potency for a vegetable product, further investigation was made with the object of determining whether the vitamin D was present in the seed or was produced during the preparation for the market.
[...]
SUMMARY.
1. It is improbable that either vitamin D or ergosterol is present in the fresh shell of the cacao bean.
2. During fermentation, yeast containing ergosterol develops in the pulp on
the shell.
3. During drying inthetropical sun the ergosterol is converted into vitamin D.
4. Hence the order of vitamin D potency of the shell of the cacao bean is:
(1) artificially dried-absent; (2) not deliberately fermented but slightly fer-
mented during sun-drying-fairly high, approaching the potency of dairy butter;
(3) fermented and sun-dried-very high, twenty or thirty times the potency of dairy butter.
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Biochem. 1935 xxix
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