THE INFLUENCE OF FEEDING ON CERTAIN ACIDS IN THE FECES OF INFANTS

Abstract

In a number of recent publications¹ my associates and I have reported the influence of various diets on the excretion of volatile, lactic and total titratable acid as well as on the hydrogen ion concentration in the feces of infants. We said little, however, regarding the significance of these chemical observations in respect to current theories of infant feeding. REVIEW OF THE CURRENT LITERATURE During the last two decades, the innumerable theories, clinical observations and experiments have seemed to coalesce into two schools. The first maintains that gastric or intestinal influences of some sort lead to diarrhea and nutritional disturbance. The second maintains that diarrhea is secondary and incidental to a primary disturbance in the general metabolism and nutrition. The first school is the more popular. While the mass of the literature is overwhelming and overlaps to a considerable extent, we have attempted to classify it as follows: