KETOSIS IN RELATION TO THE HEPATIC RESERVES OF GLYCOGEN

Abstract

The susceptibility of children to the development of ketosis has been the subject of considerable study, especially with relation to the significance of ketone bodies in the production of acidosis and of cyclic vomiting. Since the publication of Gee's report in 1882 "On Fitful or Recurrent Vomiting," much has been written concerning the subject of cyclic vomiting, but it was not until 1903 that the importance of ketonemia in the syndrome was emphasized by Edsall.¹ There was relatively little clinical investigation in this connection until 1924, when Shaw and Moriarty² demonstrated that children have a greater tendency to have acidosis than do adults. They observed that during a fast of ten to fourteen days epileptic children rapidly acquired ketosis and acidosis. The level of the blood sugar dropped at the same time, reaching a minimum between the third and the eighth day of fasting. On subsequent days there