66 THE PROTEIN ELEMENT IN NUTRITION 



amount of moisture alone having been got rid of. Strumpell 

 showed long since under such conditions, when pulses are not 

 given in a state of fine division and when badly cooked, that the 

 loss of protein may rise to 40 per cent. However, parching was 

 the customary method of preparing gram dal for consumption, 

 and it was therefore desirable to determine the protein and 

 carbohydrate absorption under local conditions. Over a large 

 number of observations the protein absorption was never found 

 to fall below 61 per cent., the average working out at 65 per cent. 

 Of all the varieties of dal experimented with, arhar dal was 

 found to give the highest coefficient of protein absorption. 

 Under favourable conditions, when combined with first quality 

 of wheat, over 86 per cent, of its protein is taken up by the 

 intestinal tract. This variety is the favourite form of dal with 

 the wheat-eating population of India, and it is quite probable, 

 in the light of Pawlow's investigations, that the desire for this 

 food material is a factor that must be taken into consideration 

 in any explanation of the high degree of protein absorption 

 shown by arhar dal. Although it was impossible to obtain 

 uniform results for the absorption of the protein of the foodstuffs 

 in the bulky dietaries of Bengal gaols, when the volume of these 

 diets was decreased to rational proportions, the coefficient of 

 protein digestibility of arhar dal worked out to be practically 

 identical with that given in the above table.* Under similar 

 conditions of decreased bulk the absorption of the protein of 

 mung dal the favourite form with the rice-eating Bengali 

 was found to be on the average about 85 per cent.f 



With regard to the other varieties of the pulses, massur, kalai, 

 and mattar dais, no exact figures representing the percentages of 

 protein absorption could be determined, as these varieties were 

 only used in the bulky rice dietaries of the Bengal gaols. None 

 of them appeared to give as good results as arhar and mung dais, 

 but without experiments under conditions where the volume of 

 the dietaries is such as the stomach can successfully cope with, 

 it is not possible to determine accurately the degree of protein 

 absorption. These dais are not made use of in the less bulky 

 wheat diets of the United Provinces^ 



* Scientific Memoirs, Government of India, No. 37, p. 147. f IbM, P- 149 - 



