CHAPTER V 

 EFFECTS OF INANITION ON THE BODY AS A WHOLE (Continued) 



Effects of Partial Inanition 



Under this heading will be considered the changes produced by deficiencies in 

 the various essential food factors — protein, fats, carbohydrates, inorganic salts, 

 vitamins and water. Some of these have already been referred to incidentally 

 under total inanition. In many cases, indeed, it is quite probable that the 

 effects of total inanition, especially when incomplete (general underfeeding), 

 are in reality due not to caloric insufficiency, but to the inadequacy of some one 

 of the special dietetic factors, in accordance with Liebig's" law of the minimum." 

 During protracted underfeeding, the limiting factor will be that essential which 

 is the first to become exhausted in the body so that the deficiency becomes 

 manifest. The time required for exhaustion of the various essential substances 

 will depend upon (i) the amount of each substance which is stored in the body 

 as available reserve; (2) the rapidity with which each substance is consumed in 

 the body (which in turn depends upon various factors influencing metabolism) ; 

 and (3) the intake of each substance in the food, in case of incomplete inanition. 

 The exact character of the deficiency in total inanition, either complete or incom- 

 plete, is therefore exceedingly variable according to the species, age, individual, 

 environment, etc. 



Exhaustion of all the essential food substances in the body at the same time 

 is practically impossible; and the depletion of but a single substance is rare under 

 ordinary circumstances. What usually happens during under-nutrition is that 

 more than one substance becomes exhausted, or falls below the minimum 

 required, so the symptoms are likely to be those of a mixed deficiency. The 

 variation in the factors which become exhausted may explain why the " defi- 

 ciency diseases" are so variable in their character, with more or less resemblance 

 to total inanition on the one hand, and to the various individual forms of partial 

 inanition on the other. Of interest in this connection is the claim of F. Mtiller 

 {'97) that several emaciating conditions (infectious fevers, malignant growths, 

 severe diabetes, etc.) exhaust the protein content of the body more than does 

 ordinary inanition. Opitz (Zentralbl. f. Gyn., 1924, 48:2) holds that the so- 

 called toxicoses of pregnancy are essentially deficiency manifestations of inani- 

 tion in the maternal organism. The general pathology of partial inanition is 

 discussed by Weill and Mouriquand ('19). 



The cause of death from inanition, either total or partial, has often been dis- 

 cussed but is still uncertain (Howe '12). Various theories have been proposed. 

 It was early recognized that death is not due simply to exhaustion of stored food 

 materials, since fat may persist in appreciable amount. Collard de Martigny 

 (1828) ascribed death from starvation to impoverishment of the blood, resulting 



