In conditions of nutritional imbalance or exposure to such environmental stresses as work, heat, and cold, renal functional changes resembling pathological alterations may be observed in healthy young male subjects. In this paper we shall discuss physiological changes which must be accounted for in evaluating the results of routine urinalysis and quantitative tests, such as urea clearance, creatinine clearance, and osmotic clearance.
Qualitative Findings
Reaction.
—Diets which are acid in ash or ketogenic often drive the urinary pH down as low as 5.5 and the titrable acidity as high as 50 mEq/day. By contrast, diets of alkaline ash often drive the urinary pH as high as 8.0. In such specimens the titrable acidity is zero.
Glycosuria.
—Glycosuria in healthy young men is extremely rare. In approximately 1600 tests of 211 male subjects exposed to environmental extremes of heat and cold and also exposed to extreme nutritional stress, such as starvation