STUDIES ON THE NUTRITION OF TAPEWORMS1

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Abstract
That adult tapeworms may absorb nutrients directly from tissues with which they are in contact is suggested by (1) ability of immature tapeworms to do this, (2) ability of some adult tapeworms to live outside the. lumen of the intestine, and (3) the marked host specificity of adult tapeworms. Expts. with Hymenolepis diminuta in rats show (1) that this tapeworm is totally independent of protein in the host''s diet, but is dependent on carbohydrate and is very sensitive even to partial restriction of it; (2) that it is independent of vitamins A, D, and E, and also of B1, in the diet, but is affected by lack of the vitamin G complex in [female] but not in [male] hosts; and (3) that the effect of lack of vitamin G is less in hosts deprived of protein as well as vitamins than it is in hosts fed a normal amt. of protein. It is suggested that the toxic effects produced by tapeworms may be due to absorption by the worms of proteins and vitamins, and possibly hormones or other substances, from the mucosa, rather than to absorption by the host of toxic products of the worms. Tape-worm toxicity may be in part at least an induced vitamin B deficiency.