PROTEIN REQUIREMENT. 877 



The chief results from these investigations are that on partaking of 

 amounts of protein much smaller than VOIT'S figures, without changing 

 the original supply of calories and indeed diminishing the same, the 

 persons experimented upon remained not only in nitrogenous equilibrium, 

 but remained in perfect health and were not only able to perform the 

 ordinary work, but were indeed regularly able to perform much greater 

 work. 



From these investigations, which extended over a long period and 

 were carried on with special care in exactitude, it cannot be denied that 

 man can for a long time exist with much smaller quantities of protein 

 than VOIT'S figures call for, which is also derived from the experience of 

 vegetarians and from people living almost entirely upon vegetable food. 

 On the other hand it must not be forgotten that VOIT'S figures represent 

 average results not theoretically necessary, but which have been shown 

 to be the actual diet developed from habit, custom, conditions of life and 

 climate, with sufficient nourishment and free selection for centuries in 

 Middle and North Europe. A rational change in this food requirement 

 based upon scientific facts is just as difficult to determine as it is to carry 

 out practically. Certain standard figures for the general needs of nutri- 

 tion cannot be established because the conditions in various countries 

 are different and must necessarily be so. The numerous compilations 

 (of ATWATER and others J ) on the diet of different families in America 

 have given the figures 97-113 grams protein for a man, and the very 

 careful investigations of HULTGREN and LANDERGREN have also shown 

 that the laborer in Sweden with moderate work and an average body 

 weight of 70.3 kilos, with optional diet, partakes 134 grams protein, 79* 

 grams fat, and 522 grams carbohydrates. The quantity of protein 

 is here greater than is necessary, according to VOIT. On the other hand 

 LAPICQUE 2 found 67 grams protein for Abyssinians and 81 grams for 

 Malaysians (per body weight of 70 kilos), materially lower figures. 



If we compare the figures on page 874 with the average figures pro- 

 posed by VOIT for the daily diet of a laborer, it would seem at the first 

 glance as if the food consumed in certain cases was considerably in excess 

 of the need, while in other cases, as, for instance, that of a seamstress 

 in London, it was entirely insufficient. A positive conclusion cannot, 

 therefore, be drawn if we do not know the weight of the body, as well 

 as the labor performed by the person, and also the conditions of living. 



1 Atwater, Report of the Storrs Agric. Expt. Station, Conn., 1891-1895 and 1896; 

 also Nutrition investigations at the University of Tennessee, 1896 and 1897; U. S. 

 Dept. of Agriculture, Bull. 53, 1898. See also Atwater and Bryant, ibid., Bull. 75; 

 Jaffa, ibid., 83; Grindley, Sammis, and others, ibid., 91. 



2 Hultgren and Landergren, 1. c.; Lapicque, Arch, de Physiol. (5), 6. 



