Metabolic Diabetes Mellitus Research Articles

THE TOTAL ENERGY REQUIREMENT IN DIABETES MELLITUS

Although the work on the various phases of metabolism in diabetes mellitus has become voluminous, there are but few records of the respiratory metabolism and of the total energy requirement. The statement commonly made in text-books and literature on the subject, that there is practically no change from the normal, is based almost entirely on the observations made in a severe case of diabetes by Pettenkofer and C. Voit1in 1867. In the original article no caloric estimations were made and incorrect conclusions were drawn, which were subsequently corrected by C. Voit2and F. Voit.3Graham Lusk,4using unpublished figures obtained from Erwin Voit, gives the caloric determination of the same case as 34 calories per kilo. None of these authors give the figures of the reckoning. Ebstein,5in 1898, determined the twenty-four-hour carbon dioxid output in a case of severe diabetes, but did