DIHYDROXYACETONE STUDIES: II. Its Respiratory and Carbohydrate Metabolism in Diabetes Mellitus.

In the first paper (1) it was shown that in normal persons dihydroxyacetone given by mouth in 25 or 50 gram doses caused a more rapid and a greater carbohydrate combustion than the same dose of glucose. The elevation of the total metabolism was more marked after the dihydroxyacetone and there was little if any increment increase in the blood sugar. In this report similar studies have been applied to cases of diabetes mellitus. The methods employed have been the same. There have been compared in the same cases the respiratory exchange and the blood sugar curves after lke doses ofglucose and dihydroxyacetone. Fifteen experiments upon seven cases of diabetes mellitus are reported. In all cases except one the amount of glucose or dihydroxyacetone ingested was 25 grams. In the one exception it was 50 grams. Comparable experiments after like amounts of glucose and dihydroxyacetone were performed in four instances; cases I, II, III, and IV. In the remaining six experiments dihydroxyacetone alone was given. In case I a three hour control experiment after water alone is included.