Since the enigmatic disease known as anorexia nervosa is associated with an extreme, lengthy state of starvation, one could expect to find distinct changes in the protein metabolism, for instance. Moreover, it should be possible to obtain an idea of the minimum consumption of body protein during starvation, as well as in realimentation with various amounts of calories. Ever since the investigations of Rubner, this problem has been the subject of numerous discussions. Hitherto, no investigation of this kind seems to have been made in anorexia nervosa.
In order to throw light on this problem, we have studied a case of anorexia nervosa which, owing to its course, proved to be highly suitable for analyses of this kind. It was, in fact, possible to record the changes in nitrogen excretion and the protein loss when the food intake was confined to carbohydrates, administered in the form