Influence of Diet on Intestinal Putrefaction 45 



18 (1978) 



The influence of diet and of B. acidophilus ingestion on in- 

 testinal putrefaction. 



By LUDWIG KAST, JAMES J. SHORT and HILDA M. CROLL 



[From the Departments of Medicine and Biochemistry, New York 

 Pest-Graduate Medical School and Hospital, New York City] 



A series of about two hundred and fifty cases, including normal 

 individuals, a large number of patients representing a variety 

 of pathological conditions, and a group of patients suffering 

 from symptoms supposedly due to intestinal disorders such as 

 constipation, autointoxication, colitis, arthritis, eczema and urti- 

 caria, have been treated by dietary restrictions affecting the pro- 

 tein foods. About six hundred and fifty quantitative determina- 

 tions of the indican, phenols, total nitrogen and creatinine ex- 

 creted in the twenty-four hour urines have been made. It has 

 been found that a decrease in the total nitrogen intake (meat 

 and eggs) results in a corresponding decrease in the putrefactive 

 products excreted by the same patients when on a higher protein 

 diet. The phenols, as determined by the method of Folin and 

 Denis 1 , however, showed much less tendency toward significant 

 changes due to diet than did indican. In as much as Tisdall 2 

 has suggested the non-specificity of this method for determining- 

 phenols, our results would lend support to the conclusion that this 

 method for phenol estimation is of little value. 



The effect of feeding one liter of B. acidophilus milk, prepared 

 according to Rettger and Cheplin 3 from Rettger' s cultures, and 

 100 grams of milk sugar daily, in addition to ordinary diets, 

 was studied in eight patients suffering from constipation, eczema 

 and colitis. Xo milk was allowed in the diet on the control days 

 previous to the feeding of the acidophilus milk. The absolute 

 amount of protein in the daily diet was kept as nearly constant 

 as possible throughout the periods of observation, although there 

 was of necessity a decrease in certain protein foods to allow for 



» Folin, O., and Denis, W., J. Biol. Chem., 1915, xxii, 30.3. 



2 Tisdall, F. F., J. Biol. Chem., 1920, xliv, 409. 



3 Rettger, L. P., and Cheplin, H. A., The Intestinal Flora, Yale University 

 Press, 1921. 



