A Technic for Determining the Rate of Absorption of Fats

Abstract

A method for determining the comparative rate of absorption of fat from the alimentary tract has been described in detail. The method involves the feeding of a definite quantity of fat and subsequent analysis of the intestinal residues. Concomitant use of the chylomicron method and the haemolipokrit method for determining blood fat did not give comparable results. The former was found to have little or no quantitative value. The haemolipokrit method gave concordant results on duplicate samples of serum but was not found satisfactory for studying the rate of absorption of fats because different fats appeared in the blood at rates quite different from those with which they disappeared from the alimentary tract. No definite or striking correlations between the grams of fat absorbed and the variables—body weight, body surface, or length of intestines—were found.