Excretion of choline in the urine of diabetic patients.

THEe as a dietary factor was first detected in depancreatized dogs which were given insulin over a long period. It was found that choline was able to inhibit the development of fatty liver in such animals. 1 Later it was shown that choline is generally an essential dietary factor, playing an important role in fat metabolism. 2 As diabetes mellitus represents a disease with disturbances not only in the carbohydrate metabolism but also changes in the fat and protein metabolisms, it can be assumed that in this case also the choline plays some part after acting as a general regulator in the fat metabolism. It was shown by Conte-Marotta 3 that choline given orally in large dosage is able to decrease the rate of development of ketone bodies in white rats with phlorhizin diabetes. Paul, Daum and Kemp, 4 on the other hand, were able to show that hyperlipemia in