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Science, nutrition, and yeast
While a laboratory assistant at Johns Hopkins University, Parsons worked on several topics, but she was most proud of the research she did on vitamin C metabolism in rats, guinea pigs, and prairie dogs. Using her ingenuity and creativity, Parsons came up with a test for the presence of vitamin C activity in the animals. As a result, she was able to demonstrate that rats could produce their own source of vitamin C, unlike humans, guinea pigs, or prairie dogs. Parsons published two papers on the topic, one by herself and the other with McCollum. Her findings were a success, and her paper made a "big splash" in the scientific communities. After her graduate research, Parsons became intrigued by the unanswered question of the relationship between vitamin B absorption and yeast, so she decided to investigate the issue. Her findings affected the consumption of yeast throughout the world. In the thirties and forties, it was popular to drink live yeast cocktails as a source of protein and vitamins. Yeast companies advertised these cocktails and the nutritional benefits a person could obtain from quaffing such live microbial mixtures. However, a 1933 scientific paper cast doubt on the actual nutritional benefits of yeast. With this in mind, Parsons began her yeast research. Unfortunately for the yeast company that funded her to support its own research, Parsons found that live yeast actually "ate" B vitamins and prevented the body's absorption of them. In 1942, she published the first of a series of papers about the yeast issue, "Human Utilization of Thiamin and Riboflavin in Yeast," which demonstrated that people lost much more thiamin when they consumed live versus dried yeast. In fact, Parsons discovered that people on the live yeast diet actually began to experience B-vitamin withdrawal symptoms. The increased understanding of vitamins and anti-vitamins Parsons contributed to the field of nutrition affected people on an international level. In 1944, the American Home Economics Association recognized Parsons' achievements by naming her one of the recipients of their research award, the Borden Award. After Parsons' retirement, her alma mater, Kansas State, granted her the Distinguished Service Award in 1957, given for outstanding service in home economics. Parsons and three other women were the first to receive the award. |
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