Knowra Marguerite Davis Marguerite Davis Marguerite Davis was an American biochemist whose experiments with Elmer McCollum helped identify vitamin A and showed that dietary fats contain essential nutrients.
Vitamin A : A fat-soluble nutrient required for vision, immune function, growth, and epithelial health. Davis and McCollum’s rat-feeding experiments identified a growth-promoting factor later named vitamin A.
Elmer McCollum : An American biochemist who studied dietary requirements and co-discovered vitamin A with Marguerite Davis. He collaborated with Davis on the experiments that distinguished growth-promoting factors in foods.
Frederick Gowland Hopkins : A British biochemist whose work established that foods contain essential accessory factors beyond proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. His earlier nutrient theory helped frame the questions Davis investigated experimentally.
Thomas Burr Osborne : An American biochemist who studied the nutritional properties of plant proteins and worked with Lafayette Mendel. His laboratory’s diet studies paralleled the nutritional research Davis conducted with McCollum.
Vitamin deficiency : A harmful state caused by inadequate intake or absorption of one or more vitamins. Her experiments showed that diets lacking particular food fractions could impair growth.
Rat-feeding experiments : Animal studies that compare diets to test how specific food components affect growth and health. Davis and McCollum used rats to test the effects of butterfat, lard, and other dietary fractions.
Christiaan Eijkman : A Dutch physician whose research on beriberi helped reveal that diet can prevent deficiency disease. His findings formed part of the evidence that prompted the search for indispensable dietary factors.
Lafayette Mendel : An American biochemist known for research on nutrition, growth, and the biological value of proteins. His work with Osborne helped establish experimental methods for studying dietary requirements.
Nutrition science : The study of how food, nutrients, and eating patterns affect health and bodily function. Her work helped turn nutrition into an experimental science centered on specific nutrients.
Dietary fat : Fat consumed in food, supplying energy and helping absorb fat-soluble vitamins. Comparisons of fats helped reveal that some carried an essential growth-promoting factor.
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