1919] FOODS — HUMAF NUTRITION. 171 



contain the fat of slaughtered animals. They are chiefly composed of coconut 

 fat with admixtures of other vegetable fats or oils to give the proper con- 

 sistency. Peanut or cottonseed oils are used for this purpose. The fats are 

 ripened with milk to which a culture of lactic acid-forming bacteria has been 

 added, in order to impai't the flavor of butter. They are quite perishable 

 products and manufacturers do not encourage jobbers to keep large quantities 

 on hand, preferring to have them supplied with fresh material. Benzoate of 

 soda is used as a preservative in some cases, which is legal, provided the 

 amount does not exceed 0.1 of one per cent, and is so stated. The color dispensed 

 with nut margarins . . . [was] found to be annatto." The results of the 

 analyses of S samples of nut margarin varied considerably. However, the 

 average was found to be as follows: Moisture 10.99 per cent, protein (NX6.25) 

 1.39 per cent, fat 84.76 per cent, free fatty acids, as oleic, 0.61 per cent, ash 

 2.85 per cent, refractometer reading at 40° C. 38.6, and Reichert-Meissel num- 

 ber 6.63. 



Drugs and foods, C. D. Woods {Maine Sta. Off. Insp., 91 {1919), pp. 20).— 

 Data regarding examinations of butter, ice cream, molasses, opened clams and 

 oysters, and a large number of drug products are included in this report. In 

 commenting on the work with ice cream it is stated that the standard was 

 placed high, and that for the most part there had been intelligent desire on 

 the part of ice cream manufacturers to maintain the standard. 



Animal calorimetry. — XV, Further experiments relative to the cause of 

 the specific dynamic action of protein, H. V. Atkinson and G. Ltjsk {Jotir. 

 Biol. Chem., 36 {1918), No. 2, pp. 415-427). — In continuation of work previously 

 noted (E. S. R., 39, p. 772), the authors have investigated further the specific 

 dynamic action of the proteins. In the experiments reported it is shown that 

 200 cc. of 0.4 per cent hydrochloric acid may slightly increase the metabolism 

 of a dog, that aspartic acid, asparagin, and succinic acid exert no specific 

 action upon metabolism, and that acetamid is not deaminized by the dog and 

 does not increase its heat production. 



These results appear to confirm the conclusion previously drawn (E. S. R., 

 33, p. 755) that the processes of deamination and urea formation have nothing 

 to do with the specific dynamic action of protein, and to refute the conclusions 

 of Grafe,* who attributes the stimulating action of proteins to the amino 

 groups. 



The reason for the specific dynamic action of protein, W. E. Btjkge {Amer. 

 Jour. Physiol. 48 {1919), No. 2, pp. 133-140. figs. 3).— Experimental evidence is 

 given to show that the introduction of small amounts of glutamic, aspartic, and 

 succinic acids, asparagin, and acetamid produces no increase in catalase while 

 large amounts do produce an increase in catalase. It is pointed out that this 

 is in keeping both with the observation of Atkinson and Lusk noted above, that 

 small amounts of these substances do not produce an increase in catalase and 

 with Grafe's observation ^ that large amounts increase oxidation. 



It is also shown that the amino group in the protein molecule renders pro- 

 tein, or meat, a more effective stimulant to catalase production and hence to 

 heat production than fat and that the glycerin radical in the fat molecule ren- 

 ders fat more effective than sugar. 



Accessory factors in the nutrition of the rat, A. Harden and S. S. Zilva 

 (Biochem. Jour., 12 {1918), No. 4, pp. 408-415, figs. 7).: — Feeding experiments to 

 test the adequacy for rats of diets lacking in fat-soluble A, water-soluble B, 

 and the antiscorbutic factor, respectively, are reported from which the conclu- 

 sions are drav/n that an antiscorbutic does not fulfill the physiological function of 



1 Deut. Arch. Klin. Med.. 118 (1915), No. 1. 

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