An analysis of the effect of fat in the diet on recovery in infectious hepatitis.

NCREASING attention has been given in recent years to the dietary treatment of diseases of the liver. Information supplied from the growing fields of nutrition and metabolism has resulted in the abandonment of nearly all the older methods employed in the therapy of hepatic insufficiency, and in the adoption of numerous new measures which in many instances have provided a sharp contrast to those which were formerly in use. Proof of the essentially rational nature of the concepts which form the basis of current therapy in diseases of the liver has been afforded by the achievement of increasing success in a field of medical endeavor which was once outstanding for its spectacular failures., The medical literature on diseases of the liver abounds with specific guides, frequently diametrically opposed in character, for the selection of an optimum diet for the treatment of hepatic insufficiency in man. Until the turn of the century, diets prescribed for patients with liver disease were generally low in all constituents. Carbohydrate was avoided because it was believed that intestinal fermentation might arise and