Animal Calorimetry

A number of investigators have reported hyperglycemia and glycosuria after carbohydrate ingestion following a fast or a diet deficient in carbohydrates.Hofmeister (1) used the term "hunger diabetes" to describe the glycosuria produced by giving starch to previously fasting animals.Lowered sugar tolerance in rabbits, dogs, and men as a result of fasting for 36 hours or more has been reported by Bang (a), Staub (3), Goldblatt (4), du Vigneaud and Karr (5), and many others, and the similar effect of low carbohydrate diets has been observed by Greenwald, Gross, and Samet (6), Malmros (7), and Tolstoi (8).The nature of the mechanism for normal utilization of carbohydrates, which is impaired by fasting, has aroused much interest.In view of the value which observations of the respiratory metabolism might have in connection with this problem, it seems remarkable that, in comparison with the large number of sugar tolerance studies, very little attention has been paid to the effect of fasting on the respiratory exchange after sugar ingestion and on the ability of the organism to oxidize carbohydrate.The first observations of the respiratory metabolism in this field were made in 1909 by Johansson (9), who found that when 75 gm. of glucose were given to a man who had fasted from l+ to 3 days, no increase occurred in the output of co*.He attributed this to the retention of the glucose as glycogen.F. G. Benedict's well known Subject L. (10) broke his 31 day fast by taking a diet high in carbohydrates.The metabolism on the 1st day of food was not observed, but the respiratory quotient the next night, beginning 36