Scientific American Supplement, No. 821, September 26, 1891Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 821, September 26, 1891
Various
Science -- Periodicals
Hoffman also deprived dogs of fat for a month, causing them to lose as
high as twenty-two pounds weight, then began nourishing with bacon fat
with but little lean; the quantity of fat formed in five days, in the
dog that lost twenty-two pounds, was more than three pounds, which could
have been derived only from the bacon fat.
It has been stated, however, that alimentary fat seems to preserve from
destruction the fat of the organism which arises from other sources. Be
this as it may, it is a fact that the pre-existence of fat furthers the
accumulation of more adipose; or in other words, fat induces fattening!
That adipose may be formed through the transformation of albuminous
matters (meat) is an extremely important corollary, one established
beyond cavil by Pettinkofer and Voit, in an indirect way, by first
estimating the nitrogen and carbon ingested, and second the amount
eliminated. Giving a dog meat that was wholly deprived of fat, they
found it impossible to recover more than a portion of the contained
carbon; hence some must necessarily have been utilized in the organism,
and this would be possible only by the transformation of the carbon into
fat! It goes without saying, however, that the amount of adipose thus
deposited is meager.
Other facts also plead in favor of the transformation of a portion of
albumen into fat within the economy, notably the changing of a portion
of dead organism into what is known as "cadaveric fat," and the very
rapid fatty degeneration of organs that supervenes upon certain forms of
poisoning, as by phosphorus.
The carbohydrates, or more properly speaking hydrocarbons, are regarded
by all physiologists as specially capable of producing fat, and numerous
alimentary experiments have been undertaken to prove this point.
Chaniewski, Meissl, and Munk obtained results that evidenced,
apparently, sugar and starch provide more fat than do the albuminoids.
Voit, however, disapproves this, maintaining the greater part of the
hydrocarbons is burned (furnishes fuel for the immediate evolution of
force), and that fat cannot be stored up unless a due proportion of
albuminoids is also administered. He believes the hydrocarbons exert a
direct influence only; being more oxidizable than fats, they guard the
latter from oxidation. This protective role of the hydrocarbons applies
also to the albuminoids.
We may believe, then, that the three great classes of aliment yield fat,
in some degree; that alimentary fat may be fixed in the tissues; and
that hydrocarbons favor the deposition of adipose either directly or
indirectly.
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