Guinea-pigs living on a diet restricted in quantity but not deficient in vitamin C survived inoculation with T.B. but half as long as others which had received a similar diet in abundance.Sodium chaulmoograte did not inhibit the development of the omental tumour that appears in rats after intraperitoneal inoculation with tubercle bacilli.On the other hand, there was some evidence for assuming that a large excess of fat-soluble vitamins in the diet, as supplied by cod-liver oil, inhibits the formation in rats of these tuberculous tumours, but such evidence was by no means conclusive.Similar inhibition of omental infection was obtained on exposing rats to ultra-violet light.Ultra-violet irradiation or the inclusion of large amounts of cod-liver oil in the diet of the rats produced a slight but constant leucocytosis.No evidence was obtained that lack of fat soluble vitamins in their diet renders tubercle infected rats susceptible to tuberculin shock.
Diet and Tuberculosis