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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
|fl|| BULLETIN No. 1033 AH 
Washington, D. C. 
PROFESSIONAL PAPER 
July 27, 1922 
DIGESTIBILITY OF COD-LIVER, JAVA-ALMOND, TEA- 
SEED, AND WATERMELON-SEED OILS, DEER FAT, AND 
SOME BLENDED HYDROGENATED FATS. 
By Hakry J. Deuel, Jr., formerly junior chemist, and Arthur D. Holmes, 
formerly specialist in charge of nutrition experiments, Office of Home 
)) Economics, States Relations Service. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Purpose of investigations 1 
Experimental method 2 
Experiments 3 
Cod-liver oil 3 
Java-almond oil 5 
Tea-seed oil 6 
Pa?e. 
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 x 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, 2 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 
1 Jour. Biol. Chem., 45 (1920), No. 1, pp. 145-152. 
2 Jour. Physiol., 54 (1920), No. 4, p. XXX. 
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