208 



OLEOMARGARINE. 



to refer the committee to page 209 of the report before the House 

 Committee on Agriculture. I will read a few lines: 



[Extracts from pages 659, 660, and 661 of No. 7, Vol. XI, of United States Experiment Station Record, 



edited by E. W. Allen, Ph. D.] 



' ' The relative digestibility of several sorts of fat ~by man. I, Margarin 

 and natural butter ', H. Luhrig (Ztschr. Untersuch. Nahr. u. Genussmtl. , 

 (1899), No. 6, pp. 484-506). The author reviews the literature of 

 the subject and reports results of 4 experiments on the digestibility 

 of margarin and butter, made with a healthy man, 29 years old, weigh- 

 ing 74 kg. Holstein butter and 3 sorts of margarin were used, called, 

 according to their quality, No. 1, 2, and 3. The tests were quite similar, 

 the fat in each case forming part of a mixed diet of meat, bread, vege- 

 tables, etc. The composition of the margarin and butter was determined 

 and the fat content of all the articles of diet. 



"The average results of the tests follow: 



Average digestibility of margarin and butter. 



"If corrections are made for the fat in the food supplied by other 

 materials than margarin or butter, the average coefficients of digesti- 

 bility in the 4 tests are 97.35, 97.39, 97.90, and 96.53 percent, respect- 

 ively. The author studied the undigested fat in the 4 experiments and 

 determined the amount of true fat in the undigested ether extract. 

 Taking account of these values, the corrected digestibility of the mar- 

 garin and butter fat in the tests reported above is 98.31, 98.25, 98.46, 

 and 97.77 per cent, respectively. In the author's opinion the true 

 undigested fat was not butter or margarin fat, and accordingly he 

 believes that it is safe to conclude that butter and margarin are com- 

 pletely digested. (The fat recovered in the feces is believed to be 

 derived from the digestive juices and metabolic products produced in 

 the body during the experiment.) If it is insisted upon that the two 

 kinds of fat are not completely digested, it must still be granted that 

 as regards digestibility they are practically alike, since the difference 

 is very small. * * * 



"From a study of the chemical characteristics of the undigested fat 

 the author introduces certain corrections in the above values and con- 

 cludes that 97.86 per cent of the butter was actually digested and 97.55 

 per cent of the margarin. From a physiological standpoint the 2 fats 

 are thought to be completely digestible and of equal value. " 



Mr. MILLER. I would like to inform the committee that that article 

 was a contribution by a scientist to the Agricultural Department, and 

 that report is from the experiment station records of the Agricultural 

 Department. Here is a similar article that was given in the testimony 

 before this committee before Christmas. It also came from the experi- 



