302 ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS 



at the age of 3 weeks, this infant was fed on a diet composed mostly of skim 

 milk and added carbohydrate, with supplements of minerals and vitamins 

 so that the food intake was complete in so far as other dietary essentials 

 were known. Development of this child was satisfactory, and his appetite 

 remained good. Owing to marked abdominal enlargement, at various inter- 

 vals it was necessary to remove the chylous fluid from the peritoneal cavity, 

 thereby causing marked fluctuations in his weight curve. During the mid- 

 summer season when the child was about 7 months of age, he developed 

 marked prickly heat. The eruption later took on the appearance of a chronic 

 dermatitis which persisted for a period of about 3 months, long after other 

 infants in the same ward who also had suffered from prickly heat were free 

 from eruption. Later the infant developed impetigo along with several other 

 infants in the same ward. Again the eruption persisted and was much more 

 resistant to treatment than in the other infants. On several occasions small 

 eczematous patches developed, but these responded readily to local treat- 

 ment. There was no family history of eczema, asthma, or hay fever. The 

 vitamin A and /3-carotene values in the blood were similar to those of 

 control subjects. The iodine number of the total fatty acids of the serum 

 was much lower than that of normal infants of a similar age. There was no 

 change in the serum fatty acids or their iodine number following a cream 

 meal. Observations were terminated when the child died during an operation 

 in which an attempt was made to establish a continuity between the venous 

 circulation and the peritoneal cavity by means of reflecting the internal 

 saphenous vein superiorly. As reported by Brown and coworkers,*^ the 

 fourth patient was an adult male subject who was maintained on low fat 

 diet for a period of 6 months. His total intake was not more than 1 g. of 

 fat daily. A study of the respiratory quotient during the low fat period 

 showed an increase similar to that observed in rats. The iodine number of 

 the total fatty acids of the serum was definitely less while on the low fat 

 diet. The linoleic and arachidonic acid content of the serum determined as 

 tetra- and polybromides at the end of the low fat period were 3.2 and 1.9 % 

 of the total fatty acids, respectively. Six months after the normal diet was 

 resumed, these values were 5.7 and 3.2 %, respectively. 



Summary. Although experimental observations are scanty and of rela- 

 tively short duration, the effects of a low fat diet in human subjects appear 

 to be the following: Highly unsaturated fatty acids are not synthesized; 

 respiratory ciuotients follow the pattern of those of experimental animals 

 on low fat diets; possibly there is increased susceptibility to infection 

 (skin and respiratory) ; there may be a tendency to develop a mild derma- 

 titis; growth and development are not greatly affected; and the appetite 

 in most instances remains fairly satisfactory. 



" W. R. Brown, A. E. Hansen, G. O. Burr, and I. McQuarrie, J. Nutrition 16, 511 

 (1938). 



