Effects of Salts on the Instability of Thiamine in Purified Chick Diets

Abstract

Thiamine was particularly unstable in purified chick diets containing salts V. The ingredient most responsible for this destruction was K₂HPO₄; CaCO₃ and MnSO₄ also contributed to the instability of thiamine. The stability of thiamine was decreased further when the salt mixture was ballmilled. A new salt mixture, devoid of the two most deleterious ingredients of salts V, permitted thiamine stability under the conditions tested. Thiamine mononitrate was somewhat more stable than thiamine chloride hydrochloride under certain conditions, although when the destruction of thiamine was very rapid, its use was of less importance than the composition of the salt mixture. One per cent of glycerol reduced the disappearance of thiamine under a wide variety of conditions. On the other hand, ascorbic acid was protective only under relatively dry conditions, and in a moist environment it sometimes hastened thiamine destruction. The stability of thiamine varied widely with humidity.