10 BT7LLETIX 505, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Summary oj digestion experiments uith peanut oil in a simple mixed diet. 
Experi- 
ment Xo. 
Subject. 
Protein. 
Far Carbo- . h 
* at ' hydrates. Ash - 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
30 J. X.F 
69.2 
97.5 
96.8 
55.2 
31 
W. E. L 
73.9 
97.6 
98.4 
69.4 
32 
W. A. D 
81.4 
96.1 
96.3 
52.4 
36 
J.X. F 
77. 2 
93.7 
96.0 
52.4 
37 
T.V.C... 
Average 
76.2 
95.3 
96.7 
44.5 
75. 6 
96.0 
96.8 
•54.8 
Approximately 98 grams of peanut oil or 97 per cent of the total 
amount of fat in this diet was eaten per subject per day. and as the 
coefficient of availability, 96 per cent, implies, the fat was very com- 
pletely assimilated. This value is increased somewhat by correct- 
ing for metabolic products, from which it is calculated that peanut 
oil is 98.3 per cent digested. 
The protein and carbohydrate in the ration were also well utilized, 
for by way of comparison it has been found that in the total food of 
the ordinary mixed diet 92 per cent of the protein, 95 per cent of the 
fat. and 97 per cent of the carbohydrate are retained by the body. 1 
As the subjects reported no unusual effects as a result of eating 
this diet, and as no laxative effect was observed, it is apparent that 
peanut oil of good quality is a useful food, which can be eaten in 
the same quantities and can be as thoroughly digested as those fats 
and oils at present most commonly used in the diet. 
COCONUT OIL. 
Coconut oil is obtained from the fruit of the palm Cocos wucifera. 
In recent years it has become rather widely known and is assuming 
considerable importance as a culinary and table fat. It is used in 
the commercial baking trade more commonly than it is for household 
purposes and to some extent hi the preparation of butter substitutes. 
The digestibility of coconut oil has not been extensively studied. 
Bourot and Jean- carried on a series of experiments with subjects 
who received foods prepared first with natural butter and then with 
coconut butter. They concluded that the vegetable product was 
somewhat more thoroughly assimilated than was butter, the former 
being 98 per cent and the latter 96 per cent digested. 
In a series of tests of 28 days' duration, divided into a fore period 
of 7 days, a 14-day experimental period, and an after period of 7 days, 
Von Gerlach 3 found that purified coconut oil, called •'sanella." and 
true butter were both 97 per cent digested. 
Luhrig 4 reports a similar study in which different amounts of 
so-called coconut butter designed for use as a butter substitute were 
1 Connecticut Starr's Sta. Rpt. 1901, p. 245. 
2 Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. [Paris], 123 (1896), Xo. 16, pp. 587-590. 
3 Ztschr. Phys. u. Diatet. Ther., 12 (1908-9), Xo. 2, pp. 102-110. 
* Ztschr. Untersuch. Xahr. u. Genussnnl., 2 (1899), Xo. 8, pp. 622-632. 
