Human vitality and efficiency under prolonged restricted diet / by Francis G. Benedict [and others].

Date:
1919
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Human vitality and efficiency under prolonged restricted diet / by Francis G. Benedict [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Since the metabolism of Mr. Fletcher has been a matter of unusual interest, the results thus far obtained with him are summarized in table 1, these including the early observations at Wesleyan University in 1903, the observations made by Zuntz and Schirokich in February and March, 1912, and those made at the Nutrition Laboratory in May of the same year. TABLE 1.—Basal metabolism of Horace Fletcher (lying). Heat Observation. Body- : Per weight é Body- : Per Date. Age. without Height. surface.! Per kilo- square : gram clothing. 24 a meter Days. | Periods. | hours 4 per 1 hours hour. yrs kilos cm sq. Mm. cals. | cals. | cals Nov. 10-13, 19037. .| 54 T1=6 168 1.81 o s: 16107122 OA sr) Feb. 16-21, 1912°. .| 63 |ca. 76.0 166 1.84 3 6 1458 | 19.2 | 33.0 Mar. 8-16, 1912°. .| 63 76.1 166 1.84 6 12, 1471. 1°19. 3233-3 May 7, 1912'..| 63 82.1 166 1.90 1 4. 1615} 19.7 4.35.4 1 Body-surface computed from height-weight chart of Du Bois. Arch. Intern. Med., 1916, 17, p. 863. 2 Benedict and Milner, U. S. Dept. Agr., Office Exp. Stas. Bul. 175, 1907, pp. 51, 84, and 199. Values obtained between 1 a.m. and7a.m. Strictly speaking, subject not in post- absorptive condition, as a predominatingly carbohydrate supper, containing about 500 calories, was eaten at 7 p. m. 3 Zuntz and Schirokich, Separate from Med. Klinik, 1912, No. 32, 5 pp. Subject had been living on a continued scanty protein-poor diet (potato and butter). 4 Benedict, Emmes, Roth, and Smith, Journ. Biol. Chem., 1914, 18, p. 142. While unquestionably during the study of Zuntz and Schirokich the subject was living on a scanty protein-poor diet and had been for some time, we have no positive information as to his dietetic habits during May of 1912, when he was studied at the Nutrition Laboratory. From the body-weight in May one would be inclined to think that he had been living upon a rather liberal diet, the weight being 82.1 kg. as compared with 76 kg. in February and March. Nine years before (in 1903), when the body-weight was 71.6 kg., the metabolism as determined at Wesleyan University was distinctly higher. It is clear, therefore, that the evidence presented by Mr. Fletcher may not be taken alone as indication of a reduced metabolism resulting from chronic undernutrition. While there is no doubt that the protein intake during a considerable period of time may have been low, the fluctuations in body-weight indicate somewhat wide variations in the dietetic habits of this subject as to the energy intake. In the 1903 study, in the selected period between 1 and 7 a. m., when the subject was in bed inside the respiration calorimeter and without food, we find that the heat production per kilogram of body-weight was