Background
Parsons was born in Arkansas City, Kansas. Her father was a physician, who made house calls in the prairie.
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Helen Parsons
Edit Profilebiochemist nutritionist university professor
Education
She studied home economics in teachers" college, eventually attending Kansas State Agricultural College. She studied under Elmer McCollum, observing original work on vitamin A and the naming of fat-soluble A and water-soluble B. In 1916, she received her master"s degree on the dietary properties of potatoes.
Career
She developed early work in B vitamins. Her family believed in education and had a scholarly tradition. She farmed during high school and saved money from a tomato crop to attend teachers" college in Pittsburg, Kansas.
In 1913, she went to the University of Wisconsin to begin graduate study.
There, Abby Marlatt, head of home economics, offered her an assistantship for graduate study. Published in 1918, she showed that the dietary properties of the potato are much like that of cereal grains.
Working in McCollum"s lab, Parsons had access to the nation"s first colony of white rats for use in nutrition experiments. In the following year, Parsons went with McCollum to Johns Hopkins University to work in the School of Hygiene and Public Health.
Here, Parsons made a major breakthrough.
Unlike humans or guinea pigs, rats did not need the anti-scorbutic substance in their diets. Anti-scorbutic agents assist in counteracting scurvy. She hypothesized that the rat does use water-soluble C but gets it in some way other than in food.
In 1920, Parsons returned to Wisconsin to take a faculty position and conduct research on Vitamin C requirements.
Parson began her doctoral research under Lafayette Mendel at Yale University. She received the Mary Pemberton Nourse Fellowship from the American Association of University Women.
At Yale, Parsons noted that high amounts of phosphorus and egg white incurred changes in rats" kidneys. They developed severe dermatitis and neurological dysfunction, and failed to thrive.
She finished her Doctor of Philosophy in 1928, and with the help of Marlatt, obtained funding by the 1925 Purnell Acting for a project
She returned to Wisconsin as an associate professor and continued her work on egg white. In 1942, Parsons" second series of papers was on live yeast interfering with utilization of dietary thiamin by humans. Companies had been advertising live yeast as a good source of vitamins, but they found that live yeast interfered with the utilization of thiamin from other dietary sources in humans and rats.
She retired in 1956, spending time to garden and receiving accolades for her local work.
