INGESTION OF CARBOHYDRATES. 



245 



TABLE. 182. Influence of ingestion of 100 grams laclose on the respiratory quotient 



in respiration experiments. 



'Average of two quotients, 0.86 and 0.84. 



2 Average of four quotients, 0.88, 0.88, 0.90, and 0.94 (3 to 5-minute periods). 



'Average of two quotients, 1.01 and 1.01 (5-minute periods). 



COMPARISON OP RESPIRATORY QUOTIENTS OBTAINED WITH VARIOUS PURE CARBOHYDRATES. 



A comparison of the respiratory quotients obtained after the inges- 

 tion of various sugars is made in table 183, in which the number of 

 experiments, the average post-absorptive values, the average quotients 

 with their time relations, and the total rise are given for each of the 

 sugars studied, only the results obtained with 100 grams being included 

 in tliis summary. Except in the case of dextrose, the preliminary post- 

 absorptive values were practically the same. That for dextrose, 0.80, 

 was the lowest; the highest average basal quotient, 0.85, was obtained 

 with levulose. The quotients after the ingestion of a carbohydrate 

 show a rise in the first 20 minutes, with dextrose the only exception; 

 the average quotient for dextrose fell from 0.80 to 0.76 during this 

 period. Reference to table 179, from which this figure is drawn, 

 shows that in three of the four experiments included in the average 

 there was a positive decrease in the first period and that in the fourth 

 experiment there was a rise of but one point. The explanation of 

 the exceptional values found with dextrose is not simple. While we 

 are much averse to using the commonplace sentence frequently em- 

 ployed by observers to explain anomalies, ?'. <?., "similar values are 

 found by investigators X, Y, and Z," we should state that this par- 

 ticular point has also been observed and discussed by Durig, 1 who says 

 that it is due to an increase in the oxygen consumption and not to a 

 modification of the respiration or an increase in the work of respiration 

 following a preliminary over- ventilation. 



After the first 20 minutes the course of the respirator y quotient was 

 much the same for all of the sugars, namely, a distinct increase followed 

 by a decrease. The levulose quotients indicate a much greater and 

 more immediate effect than do the dextrose experiments, the maxi- 



'Togel, Brezina, and Durig, Biochem. Zeitschr., 1913, 50, p. 308. 



