Effects of semistarvation and water deprivation on adrenal cortical function and corticosteroid metabolism

¹ U.S. Army Medical Nutrition Laboratory, Fitzsimons Army Hospital, Denver, Colorado

The urinary excretion of 17-KS and 17-OH-CS and the level of circulating unconjugated 17-OH-CS in the plasma were determined in 12 healthy young subjects during a 16-day period of acute undernutrition. In half the group, the intake of water was also significantly restricted during the first 5 days. The data indicate that although the urinary excretion of steroid metabolites decreased rapidly during the first 6 days of undernutrition and then stabilized at a level approximately half that seen in the control period, the level of circulating unconjugated 17-OH-CS in the plasma was not depressed by this degree of acute undernutrition and protein deprivation. Dehydration increased the level of circulating unconjugated 17-OH-CS, indicating that the pituitary-adrenal axis could respond to ‘stress’ when the diet was calorically inadequate and protein-deficient. These findings have been interpreted as indicating that acute undernutrition and protein deprivation alter the catabolism of adrenal steroids, but that the level of circulating hormonally-active corticosteroids reaching the tissues of the organism is probably adequate.