CONSUMPTION OF FOOD IN THE HEALTHY 15 



ief investigations of the practical laws of nutrition. We need not, with 

 liiger, assign to albumin a pre-eminent importance " as the only and imme- 

 ate source of muscular power," but, for the permanent nutrition of the 

 salthy and the sick, we must still insist upon greater amounts of albumin 

 lan proved sufficient to maintain the albumin condition of the body in the 

 :periments above cited. 



In fact it is hardly possible to transfer the conditions of an experiment 

 I practice, and to iind a diet that will give a sufficient degree of energy to 

 le body, that will agree, that will continuously be palatable and can be 

 gested, yet will contain such slight amounts of albumin as were, for exam- 

 .e, present in the experiments of Siven. 



This, however, may be seen from all of the previously mentioned experi- 

 ents — that the N-equilibrium can only be maintained on such a low proteid 

 let when we have a sufficient calory supply. In most experiments the calory 

 ilue of the food reaches the amount which Voit requires for the " medium 

 orker " (with nine to ten hours' daily labor), although the persons experi- 

 lented upon did not perform very laborious work; in a few experiments 

 decidedly exceeds this amount. 



Therefore, only with a superfluous calory administration can the albumin 

 letabolism be diminished to such slight values. 



The calory carriers, carbohydrates and fat, are therefore albumin savers, 

 Qd for practical nutrition this is perhaps the most important conclusion of 

 lese investigations regarding the albumin minimum. 



E. THE REQUIREMENTS FOR ALBUMIN DEPOSITION 



According to Voit's law, the addition of albumin to a diet already suffi- 

 ient increases albumin metabolism to such an extent that after a few days 

 F-equilibrium is again reached, yet no decided accumulation of albumin 

 ccurs. But we should note here in the increase of the energy value of the 

 3od by the addition of fats and carbohydrates a process to diminish albumin 

 letabolism, so that when albumin administration remains the same, albumin 

 eposition must be the consequence. This gives us reason to hope to increase 

 le body albumin by forced feeding. 



Unfortunately the energy supply contained in the superfluous food which 

 ! utilized in albumin deposition is not very great, as is shown by Voit's 

 ivestigations in the dog. With the addition of carbohydrates upon an aver- 

 ge 91.5 per cent., and with the addition of fats upon an average 95 per 

 3nt. of the superfluous potential energy accumulates in the form of fat, and 

 nly 8.5 (or in fact only 5 per cent.) in the form of albumin. In man 

 ecording to the investigations of v. N"oorden,^ at most 10 per cent, of the 

 Liperfluous energy supply is utilized to store up albumin in the body. 



The experiments of Krug ^ upon himself, under v. N"oorden's direction, 



1 V. Noorden, " Verhandlung. der physiol. Geselschaft,'' im Arch. f. Anat. u. Physi- 

 logie, 1893. 



2 Krug, " Ueber Fleischmast beim Menschen.'' v. Noorden's Beitriige z. " Lehre vom 

 toflfwechsel," Heft 2. 



