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ESSENTIALS OF CHEMICAL PHYSIOLOGY 



Eecent research has shown that, for a certain time at any rate, a 

 man will maintain his weight and health on diets even scantier than 

 those of Voit and Ranke. The most convincing of these experiments 

 have been performed by Chittenden upon himself and others. 

 Chittenden urges that the normal diet should contain only about 

 half the customary quantity of protein. The body certainly does 

 not assimilate the larger amount usually taken, for the greater part 

 of the nitrogenous constituents is converted into armno-acids, which 

 are rapidly transformed by the liver into urea and cast out of the 

 body, leaving the non-nitrogenous remainder to be utilised as fats 

 and carbohydrates are, for the production of heat and energy. 

 Whether Chittenden's views will meet with general acceptance is at 

 present doubtful, although his work will bring home to many people 

 that temperance is necessary in food as well as in drink. The 

 majority of well-to-do people certainly eat an excess of meat, and so 

 throw an unnecessary strain upon their digestive and excretory 

 organs. One should hesitate, however, in accepting Chittenden's 

 conclusions to the full, for it is doubtful if the minimum is also the 

 optimum diet. It may be that there is a real need for an excess of 

 protein beyond the apparent minimum. In diamond mining a large 

 quantity of earth must be crushed to obtain the precious stones. It 

 may be that among the many cleavage products of protein the 

 majority may be compared to this waste earth, and we get rid of 

 them as quickly as possible in the excretions, but some few may be 

 unusually precious for protein synthesis in the body, and that, in 

 order to get an adequate supply of these, a comparatively large 

 amount of protein must be ingested. 



