INGESTION OF MIXED DIETS. 



323 



PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED EXPERIMENTS WITH MIXED DIETS. 



In an earlier publication on fasting, 1 four food experiments with 

 mixed diets were reported following fasts of 4 to 7 days in duration. 

 These have already been discussed in our consideration of the basal 

 metabolism (see pages 55 to 60), but are abstracted here, as they give 

 further information regarding the influence of a mixed diet. As stated 

 in the previous discussion, our earlier plan was to use fasting values as 

 base-lines, and then note the increment in the metabolism due to subse- 

 quent food ingestion. When we attempted to select a base-line, a 

 number of serious objections to this at once presented themselves. In 

 the first place it was noted that the total metabolism for the day almost 

 invariably decreased gradually as the fast progressed. An examina- 

 tion of the data in table 248, which presents in abstract the four food 

 experiments referred to, together with the preceding fasting periods, 

 shows that in practically every instance there was a tendency for the 

 heat production to decrease as the fasting continued. This tendency 

 is most clearly shown in the fasting periods with S. A. B. on January 8 



TABLE 248. Heat production of A. L. L. and S. A. B. without food and after the ingestion 

 of a mixed diet. [Values per 24-hours (7 a. m. to 7 a. m.)] 



'Benedict, Carnegie Inst. Wash. Pub. No. 77, 1907. 2 See table 7, p. 56. 



3 See table 8, p. 57. 4 First day not included because of work done on bicycle ergometer. 



5 See table 9, p. 58. "See table 10, p. 59. 



