UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



ETIN No. 1033 ^^^^, 



OX#*^A, 





Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



July 27, 1922 



DIGESTIBILITY OF 

 SEED, AND water: 

 SOME BLENDED 



LIVER, JAVA-ALMOND, TEA- 

 LON-SEED OILS, DEER FAT, AND 

 FATS. 



By Harry J. Deuel, Jr., formerly junior chemist, and Arthur D. Holmes, 

 formerly specialist in charge of nutrition experiinents, Office of Hotne 

 Economics, States Relatione Service. 



CONTENTS. 



Purpose of investigations . 



Experimental method 



Experiments 



Cod-liver oil 



Java-almond oil 



Tea-seed oil 



Page. 

 Experiments^ — Continued. 



Watermelon-seed oil 7 



Deer fat 8 



Blended hydrogenated fats 9 



Summary of results 15 



PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATIONS. 



An abundant supply of fat is of major importance in the consider- 

 ation of nutrition, whether of the individual or the nation. Not only 

 are fats wholesome, palatable, and most useful in cooking, but many 

 also carry fat- soluble vitamin A. 



Our older ideas regarding the indispensable role of fat in the diet 

 must be somewhat modified if we accept the results of certain recent 

 studies. Osborne and Mendel ^ conclude from experiments on rats 

 that " if true fats are essential for nutrition during growth, the mini- 

 mum necessary must be exceedingly small " and Drummond,^ on 

 the basis of similar studies, states that unless minute amounts of fat 

 play as important a role in metabolism as do minute quantities of 

 vitamins, it is reasonable to suggest that pure fats are dispensable 

 constituents of the diet. Such findings, however, do not greatly 

 lessen the importance of fats as a foodstuff. During the recent war, 

 in the countries where the fat supply was far below normal, great 

 discomfort and a serious lowering of health and of resistance to 



iJour. Biol. Chem., 45 (1920), No. 1, pp. 145-152. 

 2 Jour. Physiol., 54 (1920), No. 4, p. XXX. 

 105934—22 



