2 BULLETIN 687, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



fats, including olive, cottonseed, peanut, coconut, and sesame oils 

 and cocoa butter,^ and oils expressed from the following common 

 nuts : Almond, black walnut, Brazil nut, butternut, English walnut, 

 hickory nut, and pecan.^ The results showed that when incorporated 

 in a simple mixed diet these fats could be eaten in fairly large quan- 

 tities without digestive disturbances and were very completely di- 

 gested. 



In continuation of these investigations this paper reports studies 

 of the thoroughness of digestion of corn, soy-bean, sunflower-seed, 

 Japanese mustard-seed, rapeseed, and charlock-seed oils. Edible 

 corn oil has been on the market for a number of years, but the other 

 oils of this group have been used in this countrj?- for food purposes in 

 only a limited way as compared with olive, cottonseed, peanut, and 

 coconut oils. However, all of these oils are so used in other coun- 

 tries and their oil-bearing seeds are produced to a greater or less 

 extent in the United States. 



For the purpose of this investigation good grades of corn, rape, 

 and charlock oils were purchased in the open market. The sunflower 

 oil (supplied by the Drug Plant Laboratories of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry) was expressed at a commercial mill from seed grown un- 

 der known conditions. The mustard and soy-bean oils were ex- 

 pressed from first-quality seed in the laboratories of the Bureau of 

 Chemistry. All of these oils were assumed to be representative of 

 those ordinarily procured by the average consumer. In order that 

 the oil of each kind studied should be of uniform composition, a 

 quantity sufficient for the purpose of the investigation was obtained 

 at the beginning of the experimental work and was thoroughly 

 mixed before it was used for the test reported here. 



EXPERIMENTAL METHODS. 



The same experimental methods were employed in this investiga- 

 tion as in the studies previously reported, so that the coefficients of 

 digestibility here reported should be directly comparable with those 

 obtained for the fats already studied. The fat was incorporated in 

 a cornstarch pudding or blancmange, which was heavily flavored 

 with caramel to mask any characteristic flavor of the fat under con- 

 sideration. A sufficient quantity of blancmange to supply all the 

 subjects for the entire test was prepared at the beginning of the 

 experimental period. It was very thoroughly mixed in order to in- 

 sure uniform composition and a sample was reserved for analysis. 

 This blancmange formed the principal part of a simple mixed diet, 

 the foods eaten with it including wheat biscuits, oranges, and sugar, 



lU. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 505 (1917). 

 '^V. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 630 (1918). 



