DIGESTIBILITY OF SOME NUT OILS. 15 
Summary of digestion experiments with hickory-nut oil in a simple mixed diet. 
Experiment No. 
Subject. 
Protein. 
Fat. 
Carbo- 
hydrates. 
Ash. 
601 
A. J.H 
Per cent. 
87.0 
79.7 
64.2 
70.3 
Per cent. 
98.4 
97.1 
96.5 
96.8 
Per cent. 
99.2 
98.1 
96.4 
97.1 
Per cent. 
1A.1 
602 
P.K 
67.5 
603 
J. CM 
39.7 
604.. . 
C. J.W 
58.2 
Average 
75.3 
97.2 
97.7 
60.0 
The average coefficient of digestibility of the fat eaten, of which 
over 98 per cent was hickory-nut oil, was 97.2 per cent, while 75.3 per 
cent of the protein and 97.7 per cent of the carbohydrates were 
retained in the body. The value for the digestibility of hickory -nut 
oil alone, obtained by making allowance for the metabolic products 
and the undigested fat resulting from the accessory foods of the diet, 
is 99.3 per cent. The subjects consumed an average of 95 grams of 
hickory-nut oil daily without any physiological disturbances. Thus 
it may be reasonably concluded that if hickory-nut oil were available 
in quantity it would prove very satisfactory for food purposes. 
PECAN OIL. 
This oil is obtained from the nuts of Carya pecan, which are native 
and also largely cultivated in North America. Pecan oil, although 
it possesses the characteristics of a salad oil, is not expressed for 
edible purposes on a commercial basis. However, since the wide use 
of the kernels as food entails a corresponding consumption of the oil, 
and since the expressed oil appears to be well suited for table pur- 
poses, it seemed desirable to include pecan oil among the nut oils to 
be studied. 
No reports of digestion experiments made with pecan oil were 
found in the literature. Jaffa 1 reports four experiments made to 
study the relative digestibility of the nuts eaten with fruits. Of a 
total of 78 grams of fat eaten per man per day, 74 grams was derived 
from pecans, which were included in a simple diet containing com- 
mon fruits and nuts. The total fat of the diet was found to be 85 per 
cent digested, but since over 94 per cent of the entire fat eaten was 
supplied by the pecans this value should, so far as these results are 
concerned, approximate the coefficient of digestibility of the oil in 
pecans. The low value, 85 per cent, may be due partly to the subjects 
not masticating the nuts to such a degree of fineness that the body 
could completely assimilate the fat in them. 
Four experiments were made in the present series to determine the 
digestibility of pecan oil when eaten under conditions identical with 
1 Loc. cit. 
