230 



III. DIGESTIBILITY OF FATS 



cacao butter (m.p., 28°C). Moreover, cacao butter, butterfat, and 

 coconut oil, each melting below body temperature, had widely different 

 coefficients of digestibility. These authors" suggest that some factor 

 other than melting point, possibly the stearic acid content, determines 



58 62 M 



M.P. °C. 



Fig. 1. The relationship of melting point to digestibility of simple triglycerides 

 (■), and of samples of hydrogenated lard (A) when calcium and magnesium were 

 present in the diet. The result of tests with calcium-magnesium low diets is rep- 

 resented in each case by similar characters which are not rilled in. The numbers 

 beside each character indicate the number of carbon atoms in the fatty acid com- 

 ponent of the simple triglycerides. 6 



digestibility. However, the experiments of Mattil and Higgins, 100 quoted 

 below, do not indicate that the stearic acid content is the factor which 

 governs the digestibility of fats. 



(5) The Effect of Structural Configuration 



Natural fats are known to exist largely in the form of mixed triglycerides, 

 rather than as simple triglycerides. Mattil and Higgins 100 reported that, 

 when identical amounts of oleic and stearic acid were fed to rats as mix- 



100 K. F. Mattil and J. W. Higgins, ./. Nutrition, 29, 255-260 (1945). 



