The Sulfur Metabolism of Children

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Abstract
During continuous metabolic balance studies of eight normal children, 8 to 12 years old, over 45 days, under controlled conditions of healthful activity and emotional security, sulfur excretion and retention and urinary sulfur partition were studied in relation to nitrogen metabolism. The elimination in the urine represented 77.0 and 82.8% of the sulfur and nitrogen intakes, respectively. Inorganic sulfur composed 84% of the urinary excretion of that element. The average daily excretion of ethereal sulfur was 48 mg., and of neutral sulfur, 70 mg. With increasing age there was generally a decreasing laxation rate, accompanied by increasing urinary ethereal sulfur. Under the conditions of this experiment, only remote relationships were found between neutral sulfur output and age, body weight and surface area, but there was a relation between neutral sulfur and recumbent body length. The average nitrogen-to-sulfur ratios for intake, feces and urine were 13.4, 10.5, and 14.4, respectively. The nitrogen-to-sulfur ratio of the retentions averaged 8.8; however, if the determined sulfur retentions included losses through the skin comparable to values reported in the literature, the average nitrogen-to-sulfur ratio of the true retentions would be raised to a figure nearer the ratio of 15 which has been indicated for the entire body by analyses of muscle tissue.

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