Lecithin

“ Milk fat or butter is more digestible than almost any other fat, and its importance therefore can readily be realised. All the above constituents of milk fat are composed of different proportions of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, but milk also contains minute quantities of lecithin, a fat containing phosphorus in addition. Lecithin is also found in the brain and nerve material of animals, in the yolk of egg, and in several plants.
The nitrogenous constituents of milk—casein and albumen—are usually estimated together, and they are reckoned as of equivalent food value. ”

“ Numerous processes have been devised for the preparation of lecithin from egg-yolk or animal tissue. From egg-yolk it may be obtained by making an alcoholic extract and precipitating by cadmium chloride. The precipitate is washed with alcohol and ether, mixed with 80 per cent. alcohol and warmed with the proper amount of ammonium carbonate to remove the cadmium. After filtering hot and concentrating the filtrate the lecithin is thrown down by cooling to a low temperature—10 C. or below. The precipitate is taken up in chloroform and reprecipitated by acetone. ”

“ From tissues it is obtained by extracting with warm alcohol and ether, concentrating the extract, precipitating with acetone and repeating the operations.
Pure lecithin is white, but the commercial preparations are yellowish-brown wax-like solids, which are not soluble in water but form milky emulsions which exhibit the myeline figures under the microscope. The solubility in cold alcohol or ether is slight, but heat aids it. Lecithins are not soluble in acetone. They are hygroscopic and the water mixtures undergo decomposition on standing. They darken on exposure to air and light. ”

“ The facts that in the arrangement (B) the central carbon atom of the glycerol would be asymmetric, and that both lecithin and the glycero-phosphoric acid derived from it by hydrolysis are optically active, prove that formula (B) correctly represents the arrangement of that part of the lecithin molecule; and there is ample theoretical and experimental evidence to prove that the choline linkage is through the alcoholic (OH) group. ”

“ Phosphorized Fats, which include lecithin and lecithans, occur abundantly in the brain and nerve tissues and to a less extent in the cells and tissues of man, animals, and plants of which it seems an essential part. Egg yolk is the most abundant source of phosphorized fat in food material, but milk likewise furnishes an appreciable amount. ”

“ Lecithin, which is found conspicuously in the brain and nerves, is a complex fat containing phosphorus and nitrogen.10 Anæmia and waste follow directly from interference with the digestion and absorption of fats and starch in the intestine, but the most delicate, the most easily-disorganized solid of the body, the nerve-tissue, is the first to feel and to manifest its want of natural supply. ”

“ These substances, complex in nature and of large molecular structure, are all alike in having the physical properties of fats. Further, lecithin and the cerebrosides all contain fatty acid radicles in large amount, and in addition lecithin contains the radicle of glycero-phosphoric acid. Moreover, the cerebrosides contain a carbohydrate group yielding galactose on decomposition, so it is plain to see that the bodies which give character to the myelin material are highly nutritive substances with high calorific power. ”

“ The person who works hard, whether it be manual labour or brain work, needs food and rest at intervals in order that the nerves may recuperate and replenish their stocks of lecithin.
A goodly proportion of uncooked foods rich in phosphorus must be supplied to make good the wear and tear, and the digestion must equally be efficient if these food-stuffs are to become assimilated. ”

“ The Council has decided to admit preparations of pineal gland to New and Non­official Remedies simply for experimental purposes.
Red Bone-Marrow
Red bone-marrow consists largely (more than 90 per cent.) of fat. In new-born animals a third or more of this fat consists of lecithin. The marrow of the bones of new-born animals contains iron (up to 1 per cent. or more) in various forms of organic combination. Both lecithin and iron decrease rapidly in the first weeks after birth. The commercial preparations contain very variable amounts of these constituents. ”

“ This phosphorus has to be supplied to the body with food, and as food, and it cannot be properly utilised or assimilated by the body or used by the nerves to build up their lecithin unless it is eaten in the form of organic compounds.
The tissues of the body are continually dying, as a result of work done, and are continually being replaced by fresh young tissues as needed. It is the function of the nerves to manage this work for us as well as to similarly arrange for reproduction. ”

“ Lecithin, and possibly other fatty compounds, are known108 to be important auxiliaries in the ferment-like actions produced by toxins; cholesterol has a similar effect, and as this body is a constituent of dung, it may play some part in puering. Here, again, is a further problem awaiting investigation.
Loevenhart has shown that the bile salts, sodium cholate, and sodium glycocholate, greatly increase the activity of lipase, and Magnus found that synthetic bile salts have the same effect; such bodies are known as co-enzymes. ”

“ It is not generally known that organized ammonium phosphate (Lecithin) , which is the mineral foundation of the Neurogen I prescribe, will regenerate the nerve cells if consumed in the proper proportions. It is, likewise, little known that although a person with diseased lungs be placed under conditions where he may acquire an ample quantity of pure air—that is oxygen—and may consume as much as four quarts of milk daily, he will nevertheless most certainly be doomed to perish if his food does not contain the elements of iron, lime and sulphur in sufficient quantities. ”

“ All nerves, whether they come from the brain or from the sympathetic system, ranging to their smallest terminals, are built alike of cells, and these cells secrete a complex fatty substance, called lecithin, whose dominant element is phosphorus. ”

“ Not only do the bones of animals furnish phosphates but they are also formed in considerable quantities by the decomposition of substituted glycerids such as lecithin. The ammonia produced by the nitrification of the albuminoid bodies combines with the free phosphoric acid thus produced, forming ammonium or diammonium phosphates. ”

“ It is enjoyed by many people in a smoothie--fresh fruit blended up with water or milk. Eggs contain lecithin, a nutrient that naturally prevents the body from forming harmful fatty deposits in the arteries. ”

“ Nourishing food is all important. Lecithin or the hypodermic injection of spermin or other rich albuminous animal product is useful. A course of bicarbonate of soda and carbonate of iron with or without bitters may be tried. When the animal must be kept on dry winter food, he should have free access to common salt and water. This favors at once absorption, assimilation, and elimination, and by fostering nutrition and the removal of waste matters, it contributes to keep 168the disease in abeyance. ”

“ It must be remembered that no food is usually taken in fever; this would at length quite cut off the usual source of this lactic acid, which is the starch and sugar of the food, and render it necessary that the animal tissues should continue to undergo oxidation, to maintain the animal heat. Now if we compare the commonly received formula of Proteine with those of Lactic acid and Tartaric acid, it will at once be seen, as was pointed out some time ago by Dr. Murray, that the latter contain more Oxygen, in proportion to their Carbon and Hydrogen, than is found in Proteine, or Albumen. ”

“ A trifling amount of urea is also eliminated in the sweat and in the breath as well as in the feces. Proteins increase nitrogenous metabolism and also the metabolism of other foods, but the amount of nitrogen eliminated is just equal to that taken in. Probably some comes from the tissues themselves and not from the food. The oxidation of carbohydrates and fats is measured by the amount of carbon excreted. At first as much is given off as is taken in, but after a while the carbohydrate is stored up as glycogen in the liver and the fats are stored as fat. ”

“ In man, it is estimated on the basis of one or two observations that the amount secreted during 24 hours is about 700 cc., or a pint and a half. Careful experiments, however, tend to show that the quantity of secretion depends in some measure at least upon the character of the food, and also that the composition of the secretion varies with the character of the food. Thus, on a diet composed mainly of meat, the proteid-digesting enzyme is especially conspicuous, while on a bread diet, with its large content of starch, the starch-digesting enzyme is increased in amount. ”

“ These diets fall as shown, into two classes. The first group correspond to those of Osborne and Mendel and are available for general testing of any unknown. The cereal combinations are so constituted that all deficiencies of salts are covered and the proportions of the cereal are so selected as to provide the right proportions of protein, fat and carbohydrate. By adding enough butter fat to supply the "A" the deficiency in the "B" can be tested and by adjusting the amounts of "B" on the dextrin the cereal deficiency in this vitamine can be obtained. ”

“ The solids include mineral salts (the chief of which is sodium carbonate) and four different chemical agents, or enzymes,—trypsin, amylopsin, steapsin, and a milk-curding enzyme. These active constituents make of the pancreatic juice the [pg 156] most important of the digestive fluids. It acts with vigor on all of the nutrients insoluble in water, producing the following changes:
1. It converts the starch into maltose, completing the work begun by the saliva. This action is due to the amylopsin,61 which is similar to ptyalin but is more vigorous. ”

“ More exact methods of determining the amount of acidosis are the determination of the ratio between the total urinary nitrogen and the ammonia, the quantitation of the acetone, diacetic acid and oxy-butyric acid excreted, and the carbon dioxide tension of the alveolar air. These are rather complicated for average clinical use, however.
When the patient is sugar-free he is put upon a diet of so-called "5% vegetables," i.e. vegetables containing approximately 5% carbohydrate. It is best to boil these vegetables three times, with changes of water. ”

“ Acid of milk; Acidum lacticum, L. A sour, syrupy liquid, discovered by Scheele in whey. It is also found in some other animal fluids, and in several vegetable juices, especially in that of beet-root.
Lactic acid is by no means an unimportant constituent of the human organism. It is contained in the gastric juice, and is frequently formed in the sweat. It has also been detected in the saliva of persons suffering from diabetes. A modification of the acid, termed sarkolactic acid, occurs in the fluids of the muscular tissue. ”

“ At the same time, as already stated, it seems more than probable that some formation of these amido-acids always occurs in the intestine, and that these bodies have some specific part to play in the normal processes of metabolism going on in the body. The more one studies the processes of nutrition in general, the more one is impressed with the view that there is a purpose in everything, and that the formation of even such bodies as leucin and tyrosin may be connected with hidden processes, the key to which has not yet been found. ”

“ Gelatin is the best example of this type of protein, but the cereals and beans must likewise be supplemented by other substances; milk being the one most generally used for this purpose. For the purpose of building young tissues, and maintaining those already mature, it is logical to use foods containing the foodstuffs in their best form; that is, those that not only contain the complete protein, but also the requisite mineral salts and vitamines. Foods lacking in some of these respects become adequate when supplemented by these foods which can supply the missing constituents ”

“ Dextrin, as has already been stated, is an intermediate product of the hydrolysis of starch by acid or enzymes.
Glycogen is the form in which the carbohydrates are stored in the body, just as starch is the form in which they are stored in plants. It is found in all parts of the body, but is especially abundant in the liver. Here it is stored in the cell substance rather than in the nucleus. The storage of glycogen in the human body depends largely upon the mode of life and upon the diet. Active muscular work, especially out of doors, uses up the store of glycogen with great rapidity ”

“ It was well known that in rats and man the intestinal flora can be changed from a putrefactive form to a non-putrefactive type by feeding milk sugar or lactose. If this were true, as was admitted by all, and the scurvy due to the absorption of putrefactive products, this absorption might still be the causal factor whether constipation was present or absent. To determine this point he fed his guinea pigs on oatmeal to which he added a carbohydrate diet. When the carbohydrate was lactose he was able to cure and prevent scurvy. ”

“ The greater portion of the lead salt was insoluble in ether and alcohol, its fat was separated and added to the first crop of crystals which fell from the alcoholic solution of the fat from saponification. To ascertain whether any glycerine was in combination with the fatty acids in the adipocire, the aqueous solution from which the crop was precipitated by tartaric acid during the purification of the fat, was heated, filtered from small fat globules, and after removing the tartar deposit, subjected to distillation. The acid residue of the retort was neutralized by carb. ”