“At present it is only possible to state that in Marmite, and probably in other yeast extracts, there appears to be a curative agent for this dread disease which equals liver extract in potency, and has the advantage in India of being comparatively cheap and of vegetable origin”.
Following on these successes, Alexander Goodall, M.D., M.R.C.P., applied the method to all his “maintenance” cases of pernicious anaemia. He writes:-.
“Without exception these have done well. Several of these were originally of great severity; in two cases recovery took place in a primary condition, and in another it occurred in a relapse after taking liver treatment”.
He concludes:-.
“There is, I think, little to choose between the effects of whole liver, liver extract, stomach, stomach extracts, and Marmite given by the mouth. One point of difference in the case of Marmite emerges in the primary and relapse cases, and that is the persistence of a high colour-index. . . . This feature many be regarded as unfavorable to Marmite, but the end-result is just as good as that effected by liver.”
The only difficulty encountered in giving Marmite was the occasional occurrence of nausea if large doses were required. “Most patients found it palatable and welcome it as a change from liver.” For maintaining health a teaspoonful twice or three times a day was found to be sufficient and it is worth noting that the saltiness, which is perhaps the main objection to Marmite, has been overcome recently in a similar product of yeast, possessing the same properties in other respects, called “Yeastrel”.
While liver therapy and its allied forms of treatment have almost entirely held the field, and have been eulogized and in both lay and medical Press, hardly any attention has been paid to a form of treatment which is entirely unconnected with animal experimentation and the commercialism with which the latter has become inextricably associated.
I refer to the application of ultra-violet light. The use of certain wave-lengths in lessening nausea and vomiting and improving the blood-picture had been remarked by Leo O. Donnelly, M.D., in 1924, but later investigations, confined for the most part, it appears, to America, have established the treatment on a sound scientific basis which is in striking contrast to the nebulous and contradictory theorizing of the liver therapists. Not only are the clinical symptoms of the disease abated and the blood-picture restored to normal, but the toxaemic condition of the blood which lies at the root of the disorder is eradicated.
It will be interesting to see if the merits of this more scientific and aesthetic form of treatment will be fully and carefully explored in this country.
There can only be two possible reasons for failing to do so: one is that the method lacks the one thing which commands instant recognition from present-day medical science, namely, a basis in animal experiment; the second is that the commercial undertakings responsible for producing the necessary apparatus appear to be less vociferous than those concerned with selling animal excreta and other products at fancy prices, and so are less effective in impressing the medical profession by means of advertisements and offers of free samples.
