808 NUTRITION AND HEAT REGULATION. 



If fat were replaced by the alcohol the amount of C0 2 should be reduced 

 about 10 per cent., while if the sugar were replaced the reduction should 

 amount to 31 per cent. That such a reduction is not actually observed is 

 explained by the fact that the alcohol leads to more muscular activity and 

 a greater loss of heat from the congested skin, thus indirectly augmenting 

 the oxidations of the body. 



To determine whether the combustion of the alcohol protects the 

 proteid material from metabolism to the same extent as is done by 

 carbohydrates and fats experiments have been made in which the 

 individual was brought into nitrogen equilibrium on a mixed diet. 

 Then for a given period a portion of the carbohydrate was omitted 

 and alcohol in isodynamic amounts was substituted. The result 

 was an increase in the nitrogen excretion, showing that the alcohol 

 did not protect fully the proteid tissue. In a third period the 

 first diet was resumed, and after nitrogen equilibrium had again 

 been established the same proportion of carbohydrate was omitted 

 from the diet, but this time alcohol was not substituted. If the 

 diet was poor in proteid it was found that less proteid was lost from 

 the body when the alcohol was omitted than when it was used. 

 Hence alcohol not only did not take the place of the carbohydrate 

 in protecting the proteid but actually caused an increased proteid 

 consumption.* Other observers (Neumann, Rosemannf) have 

 found that, although the effect described may occur in the first 

 few days, yet if the alcohol diet is maintained the injurious effect 

 exercised by it disappears, the body ceases to lose its proteid 

 tissue, and may even lay on proteid. These results, taken with 

 those given above, indicate, therefore, that the alcohol may actually 

 take the place physiologically of fat or carbohydrates as a source 

 of energy and as a protector of proteid metabolism. { Under these 

 circumstances, therefore, it acts as a true foodstuff. It is perhaps 

 scarcely necessary to emphasize the fact that this scientific con- 

 clusion does not mean that alcohol can be regarded as a prac- 

 tical food. Its expensiveness, its dangers when the dose is too 

 large, etc., prevent us from regarding it in this light. As Rosemann 

 says, however, it is possible that on account of its ready absorption 

 and palatableness it may form a useful substitute for the solid, 

 non-nitrogenous foodstuffs in sickness. This suggestion seems 

 to be supported by many reports of cases in which alcohol has served 

 as the sole or main nutriment during the critical periods of fevers 

 and in other conditions, but it needs to be tested more carefully by 

 direct experiments before it can be accepted generally for prac- 

 tical purposes. 



* See Miura, " Zeitschrift fur klin. Medicin, " 20, 1892. 



t See Rosemann, " Archiv f. die gesammte Physiologie, " 86, 307, 1901, 

 and 100, 348, 1903, for discussion and literature. 



% See also At water and Benedict, " Memoirs of National Academy of 

 Sciences," 1902 ; and Atwater, "The Nutritive Value of Alcohol, " in " Physi- 

 ological Aspects of the Liquor Problem," vol. ii, 1903. 



