THE INFLUENCE OF CHRONIC UNDERNUTRITION 



ON METABOLISM 



Prof. N. Ziintz recently reported^ the results of an investigation 

 which the writcr of this note undertook under his personal guidance 

 at the Tierphysiologisches Institut, Berlin, and which was later con- 

 tinued by Dr. Diakow of St. Petersburg. 



The subject of these experiments, a female mongrel weighing 

 lo kg., had been kept on a controlled diet ( 1 50 gm. of horse meat and 

 80 gm. of rice) for nearly a month, during which period three res- 

 piration experiments were performed with the Regnault-Reiset appa- 

 ratus. Although the food was not quite sufficient to completely 

 Cover the energy requirement of this dog, the latter had been putting 

 on nitrogen, but towards the end of the preliminary period a State 

 of equilibrium was attained. 



Beginning February 23, 1912, the diet had been considerably 

 reduced (60 gm. of meat and 35 gm. of rice) and for over a year, 

 until the animal's death, it remained below the actual need of the 

 organism. 



A respiration experiment, performed about three weeks after 

 the insufficient feeding had been begun, showed a shortage of 220 

 cal. per day, which had been drawn f rom the dog's substance. Con- 

 sidering that, as the nitrogen determination in the urines showed, 

 only 7.5 cal. had been derived from the protein material (corre- 

 sponding to 9 gm. of flesh), the remaining 212.5 cal. must have 

 been furnished by 22.4 gm. from the fat depot of the organism. 

 The total metabolism had changed, in the meantime, from 553 

 cal. to 394 cal. per day. 



The limits of this review will not permit discussion of each ex- 

 periment. The average number of cal. liberated by our dog, in the 

 course of the subsequent six weeks, was 149 cal. in excess of the 

 supply per day. As there had been very little loss of nitrogen, it 

 may be assumed that all the extra energy was derived from body 



1 Zuntz (Versuche von S. Morgulis and M. Diakow), Einfluss chronischer 

 Unternährung auf den Stoffwechsel : Biochemische Zeitschrift, 1913, Iv, p. 341. 



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