The protein content of liver and muscle as a measure of protein deficiency in human subjects

Waterlow, John C

The major nutritional problem in underdeveloped countries is deficiency of protein. At the present time there is no way of assessing with any accuracy the degree to which a human being is depleted of protein.Until this gap in scientific and medical knowledge is filled, it will be difficult to plan preventive measures in the most effective way. In clinical work the problem becomes one of finding some objective measure that will indicate the severity of malnutrition. With this aim analyses have been made of biopsy and autopsy specimens of the liver from malnourished children. The degree of fatty infiltration of the liver seems to be of little importance. There is a large loss of liver protein, which however, shows no clear relation to the general condition of the patient. It is suggested that in chronic malnutrition the main loss of protein is from muscle, rather than from liver. This is confirmed by the results of preliminary measurements on fatal cases. Measurement of the protein depletion of the tissues may provide a baseline for assessing the value of simpler tests, of the kind that can be applied in the field. (AU)

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The protein content of liver and muscle as a measure of protein deficiency in human subjects

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