424 V. BLOOD LIPIDS 



b. The Effect of Carbohydrate Deficiency. In an earlier section, it was 

 explained that serum lipids in man are increased on a carbohydrate-low 

 diet (see page 417). The interpretation of the reason for such a change 

 was that it was due to the high fat levels ordinarily found in these carbo- 

 hydrate-low diets. However, this dietary regimen will likewise produce 

 ketosis, and, in fact, the diet is frequently referred to as a "ketogenic" 

 diet. In experiments on epileptic children, McQuarrie et al. m found serum 

 cholesterol values as high as 555 milligram per cent. Lipid phosphorus 

 also increased, as evidenced by the cholesterol : lipid phosphorus level, 

 which varied greatly in the patients studied. The ratio of lecithin to 

 cholesterol was always higher at or near the time of the convulsions. 

 Likewise, in the experiments reported by Tolstoi, 369 a serum cholesterol 

 level as high as 800 milligram per cent was noted, while values of 400 and 

 600 milligram per cent were found on other occasions. In the case of two 

 subjects observed by Tolstoi, who partook of an exclusive meat-fat diet 

 for a year, ketonuria was constantly present. It is therefore evident that 

 the hyperlipemia observed on the protein-fat diets may as readily be at- 

 tributed to the attendant ketonuria as to the high fat intake. However, 

 it is possible that both factors are involved, and that one condition may 

 reinforce the other. 



(4-) The Effect of Overnulrition on the Level of Blood Lipids 



Overnutrition, as evidenced by obesity, does not appear to produce any 

 special characteristics of the blood lipid patterns, 213>255 ' 409,410 or results in 

 only slight hyperlipemia. 411 Arnoldi and Collazo 412 reported that the blood 

 lipids of obese individuals were lower than the normal. A similar finding 

 was reported somewhat later in hogs, by Knauer, 413 who found that low 

 blood lipid values were the rule during fattening. Hetenyi 411 likewise 

 noted a greater depression in blood fatty acids in obese persons maintained 

 for eight days on highly inadequate diets than in normal persons who had 

 received similar diets. 



However, some of the more recent results have not demonstrated a de- 

 pressed fat level in the blood of overweight individuals, but rather normal 

 values. Thus, Gildea el al. 268 found that the serum lipids were the same in 

 obese children and adults, of both sexes, as in corresponding individuals of 



408 M. Bruger and C. A. Poindexter, Arch. Internal Med., 53, 423-434 (1934). 



410 W. Denis, J. Biol. Chem., 29, 93-110 (1917). 



411 G. Hetenyi, Deut. Arch. klin. Med., 179, 134-141 (1936). 



412 W. Arnoldi and I. A. Collazo, Z. ges. exptl. Med., 40, 323-340 (1924). 



413 H. Knauer, Z. physiol. Chem., 176, 151-172 (1928). 



