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The percentage of fat absorbed from the alimentary canal of rats was determined at 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 hours after feeding definite quantities of fat. It was found that: 1) partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, as sold commercially for home and bakers’ use, were absorbed as rapidly as lard or corn oil, and 2) that butter oil, halibut liver oil, and cod liver oil were absorbed uniformly at a more rapid rate than lard, corn oil, or the partially hydrogenated fats.

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.

Excellent growth and reproduction were secured in rats consuming a meat ration supposedly well fortified with the necessary vitamins and mineral matter and having lean muscle beef as the main protein constituent. Disasters in lactation, i.e., cannibalism and failure of the milk supply, were numerous among the rats fed the meat ration, whereas no difficulties were encountered with the rats fed the control ration.

The influence of water, bile salts, sodium benzoate, ethyl alcohol, peptone, sucrose, KCl, CaCl2, NaH2PO4, glycerol and sodium glycerophosphate on the rate of absorption of fats has been determined. In general the feeding of small amounts of any one of these substances had little or no effect, but larger amounts invariably decreased the rate of fat absorption.

1Avitaminotic A, B or D animals absorb fat less rapidly than normal animals, which effect is not specific for any one of the vitamins tested.2The addition of vitamins A, B or D to a fat had no effect upon its rate of absorption by normal rats.3Anemic animals, those fasted 6 days, or those fed a limited quantity of a complete diet also absorbed fat less rapidly than controls.4As the experiments on anemia and semi-starvation showed that the rate of fat absorption was influenced by the nutritional state of the animal, it cannot be concluded that the vitamin deficiency experiments revealed any specific effects of vitamins on fat absorption.