THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

1230 YORK AVENUE : NEW YORK, N.Y.10021 ete ihn Me ES

cor iD,
JUL - 3 1979
Lice OF THe PRES

  
    

     

2 July 1979

 

Dr. Joshua Lederberg
President Tne TB aera
The Rockefeller University

Dear Dr. Lederberg:

Dr. Kappas, showed me your note concerning the study by Mucklow et
al. comparing antipyrine clearances in meat eaters and lactovegetarians.
The study is of interest, but it does not identify precisely which
dietary factors were responsible for the differences observed. Although
little information is given in this abstract, the subjects were probably
not on carefully controlled diets provided by a Diet Kitchen, and the
intakes of dietary protein, carbohydrate, and fats were probably assessed
by retrospective dietary histories. Age and racial differences were
also not controlled for in their study. This is in contrast to our
studies in which we have fed carefully calculated and weighed diets to
normal volunteers, and have used each subject as his or her own control.

We have not looked at the effects of age in our studies. There is
published evidence that antipyrine clearance rates decrease with age.
This age effect does not appear very marked, and occurs on a background
of large interindividual variations due to environmental and genetic
factors. Intraindividual changes with time can also be significant if
environmental and nutritional influences are not constant.

Thanks for sending us this information.

Yours sincerely,

Aye
Karl E. Anderson, M.D.
Associate Professor