RICE AS FOOD: INVESTIGATION OF THE NITROGEN AND 

 PHOSPHORUS METABOLISM ON A DIET CONSIST- 

 ING PRINCIPALLY OF RICE AND OTHER 

 VEGETABLE FOODSTUFFS. 



By Hans Aeon and Felix Hocson. 



(From the Department of Physiology, College of Medicine and Surgery, University 



of the Philippines.) 



INTRODUCTION. 



Eice is probably the most prominent vegetable food of man. A rough 

 estimate shows that in Asia alone at least 400 million Indians, Chinese, 

 Japanese, and Malays consume rice. Only a small quantity of other 

 food is eaten by the lower classes of these people, because their low earning 

 power does not permit a richer diet. The question has been considered 

 frequently whether such a diet is a sufficient one, and it gains further 

 importance because of the close connection which has been proved to 

 exist between the consumption of certain classes of rice and the existence 

 of those polyneuritic diseases which are commonly termed beriberi. 



The variations in the composition of the different varieties of rice are 

 not so great biit that from our standpoint we can speak of rice in general. 

 However, the different methods of treatment and milling alter consider- 

 ably the composition of the grain, as has been pointed out in a previous 

 paper.^ ' 



We have determined the phosphorus content of 28 different classes of 

 rice during the past two years. The following table shows plainly that 

 the phosphorus content within narrow limits is determined by the grade 

 of milling. The whiter the rice the poorer it is in phosphorus. 



^This Journal, Sec. B (1910), 5, 81-98. 

 106073 2 361 



