Publishes in the medical journal Lancet the results of dietary therapy and formula treatment developed by himself, Evelyn Hickmans, John Gerrad, and Louis Woolf
(Folling had called it "Imbecillitas Phenylpyruvica")
He was "also among the first to suggest a diet of fruit, sugar, and olive oil,and vitamins to treat it (PKU). It lead to malnutrition, however, and had to be abandoned."
Developed a simple and inexpensive test using filter paper that made possible the early detection of PKU (and other disorders). The early detection enabled the start of dietary treatment prior to the onset of harmful effects of PKU.
The test became known simply as "The Guthrie Test".
Principle investigator for the National Collaborative Study for Children Treated for Phenylketonuria. A 16 center study of 211 children for 16 years that would ultimately lead to the widespread recommendation of "diet for life" in the US.
First mentions what will be called "maternal PKU" based on his experience with a mentally retarded woman with PKU who had 3 severely retarded children all who did not have PKU. He speculates that the mother's high blood phenylalanine levels had caused brain damage to the developing fetus.
Numerous people from a wide array of professions and countries have dedicated much of their professional lives to the advancement of the knowledge of PKU.
