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DIETETICS
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DIETETICS , the See also:science of See also:diet, i.e. the See also:food and See also:nutrition of See also:man in See also:health and disease (see NuTRXTION). This See also:article deals mainly with that See also:part of the subject which has to do with the See also:composition and nutritive values of foods and their See also:adaptation to the use of See also:people in health. The See also:principal topics considered are: (1) Food and its functions; (2) See also:Metabolism of See also:matter and See also:energy; (3) Composition of food materials; (4) Digestibility of food; (5) See also:Fuel value of food; (6) Food See also:consumption; (7) Quantities of nutrients needed; (8) Hygienic See also:economy of food; (9) Pecuniary economy of food. I. Food and its Functions.—For See also:practical purposes, food may be defined as that which, when taken into the See also:body, may be utilized for the formation and repair of body See also:tissue; and the See also:production of energy. More specifically, food meets the requirements of the body in several ways. It is used for the formation of the tissues and fluids of the body, and for the restoration of losses of sub-stance due to bodily activity. The potential energy of the food is converted into See also:heat or See also:muscular See also:work or other forms of energy. In being thus utilized, food protects body substance or previously acquired nutritive material from consumption. When the amount On alternate days. See also:Black See also:bread See also:Meat . See also:Kvass (See also:beer) Sour See also:cabbage See also:Barley Salts . See also:Horse-See also:radish See also:Pepper . See also:Vinegar
7 lb.
7 1b.
7.7 quarts.
• 241 gills =122i oz. 241 gills = 1221 oz.
• I04 oz.
28 grains.
28 grains.
5i gills =261 oz.
of food taken into the body is in excess of immediate needs, the surplus may be stored for future consumption.
See also:Ordinary food materials, such as meat, See also:fish, eggs, vegetables, &c., consist of inedible materials, or refuse, e.g. See also:bone of meat and fish, See also:shell of eggs, rind and See also:seed of vegetables; and edible material, as flesh of meat and fish, See also: The edible material is by no means a See also:simple sub-stance, but consists of See also:water, and some or ail of the compounds variously designated as food stuffs, proximate principles, nutritive ingredients or nutrients, which are classified as protein, fats, carbohydrates and See also:mineral matters. These have various functions in the nourishment of the body. The refuse commonly contains compounds similar to those in the food from which it is derived, but since it cannot be eaten, it is usually considered as a non-nutrient. It is of importance chiefly in a See also:consideration of the pecuniary economy of food. Water is also considered as a non-nutrient, because although it is a constituent of all the tissues and fluids of the body, the body may obtain the water it needs from that drunk; hence, that contained in the food materials is of no See also:special significance as a nutrient. Mineral matters, such as sulphates, chlorides, See also:phosphates and See also:carbonates of See also:sodium, See also:potassium, See also:calcium, &c., are found in different combinations and quantities in most food materials. • These are used by the body in the formation of the various tissues, especially the skeletal and protective tissues, in digestion, and in metabolic processes within the body. They yield little or no energy, unless perhaps the very small amount involved in their chemical transformation. Protein 1 is a See also:term used to designate the whole See also:group of nitrogenous compounds of food except the nitrogenous fats. It includes the albuminoids, as See also:albumin of See also:egg-white, and of See also:blood serum, myosin of meat (muscle), casein of See also:milk, globulin of blood . and of egg yolk, See also:fibrin of blood, See also:gluten of flour; the gelatinoids, as See also:gelatin and allied substances of connective tissue, collagen of tendon, ossein of bone and the so-called extractives (e.g. creatin) of meats; and the amids (e.g. asparagin) and allied compounds of vegetables and fruits. The albuminoids and gelatinoids, classed together as proteids, are the most important constituents of food, because they alone can See also:supply the nitrogenous material necessary for the formation of the body tissues. For this purpose, the albuminoids are most valuable. Both See also:groups of compounds, however, supply the body with energy, and the gelatinoids in being thus utilized protect the albuminoids from consumption for this purpose. When their supply in the food is in excess of the needs of the body, the surplus proteids may be converted into body See also:fat and stored. The so-called extractives, which are the principal constituents of meat See also:extract, See also:beef See also:tea and the like, See also:act` principally as stimulants and appetizers. It has been believed that they serve neither to build tissue nor to yield energy, but See also:recent investigations 2 indicate that creatin may be metabolized in the body. The fats of food include both the See also:animal fats and the See also:vegetable See also:oils. The carbohydrates include such compounds as starches, sugars and the fibre of See also:plants or See also:cellulose, though the latter has but little value as food for man. The more important See also:function of both these classes of nutrients is to supply energy to the body to meet its requirements above that which it may obtain from the proteids. It is not improbable that the atoms of their molecules as well as those from the proteids are built up into the protoplasmic substance of the tissues. In this sense, these nutrients may be considered as being utilized also for the formation of tissue; but they are rather the See also:accessory ingredients, whereas the proteids are the essential ingredients for this purpose. The fats in the food in excess of the body requirements may be stored as body fat, and the surplus carbohydrates may also be converted into fat and stored. 1 The terms applied by different writers to these nitrogenous compounds are conflicting. For instance, the term " proteid " is sometimes used as protein is here used, and sometimes to designate the group here called albuminoids. The See also:classification and terminology here followed are those tentatively recommended by the Association of See also:American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. 2 Folin, Festschrift See also:fur See also:Olaf Hammarsten, iii. (See also:Upsala, 1906). To a certain extent, then, the nutrients of the food may substitute each other. All may be incorporated into the protoplasmic structure of body tissue, though only the proteids can supply the essential nitrogenous ingredients; and apart from the portion of the proteid material that is indispensable for this purpose, all the nutrients are used as a source of energy. If the supply of energy in the food is not sufficient, the body will use its own proteid and fat for this purpose. The gelatinoids, fats and carbohydrates in being utilized for energy protect the body proteids from consumption. The fat stored in the body from the excess of food is a reserve of energy material, on which the body may draw when the quantity of energy in the food is insufficient for its immediate needs. What compounds are especially concerned in intellectual activity is not known. The belief that fish is especially See also:rich in See also:phosphorus and valuable as a See also:brain food has no See also:foundation in observed fact. 2. Metabolism of Matter and Energy.—The processes of nutrition thus consist largely of the transformation of food into body material and the See also:conversion of the potential energy of both food and body material into the kinetic energy of heat and muscular work and other forms of energy. These various processes are generally designated by the term metabolism. The metabolism of matter in the body is governed largely by the needs of the body for energy. The science of nutrition, of which the See also:present subject forms a part, is based on the principle that the transformations of matter and energy in the body occur in accordance with the See also:laws of the conservation of matter and of energy. That the body can neither create nor destroy matter has See also:long been universally accepted. It would seem that the transformation of energy must likewise be governed by the See also:law of the conservation of energy; indeed there is every See also:reason a priori to believe that it must; but the experimental difficulties in the way of See also:absolute demonstration of the principle are considerable. For such demonstration it is necessary to prove that the income and See also:expenditure of energy are equal. Apparatus and methods of inquiry devised in recent years, however, afford means for a comparison of the amounts of both matter and energy received and expended by the body, and from the results obtained in a large amount of such See also:research, it seems probable that the law obtains in the living organism in See also:general. The first See also:attempt at such demonstration was made by M. Rubner 3 in 1894, experimenting with See also:dogs doing no See also:external muscular work. The income of energy (as heat) was computed, but the heat eliminated was measured. In the See also:average of eight experiments continuing See also:forty-five days, the two quantities agreed within 0.47 %, thus demonstrating what it was desired to prove —that the heat given off by the body came solely from the oxidation of food within it. Results in accordance with these were reported by Studenski 4 in 1897, and by Laulanie 5 in 1898. The most extensive and See also:complete data yet available on the subject have been obtained by W. O. Atwater, F. G. See also:Benedict and associates 6 in experiments with men in the respiration calorimeter, in which a subject may remain for several consecutive days and nights. These experiments involve actual weighing and analyses of the food and drink, and of the gaseous, liquid and solid excretory products; determinations of potential energy (heat of oxidation) of the oxidizable material received and given off by the body (including estimation of the energy of the material gained or lost by the body); and measurements of the amounts of energy expended as heat and as external muscular work. By See also:October 1906 eighty-eight experiments with fifteen different subjects had been completed. The See also:separate experiments continued from two to thirteen days, making a See also:total of over 270 days. 3 Ztschr. Biol. 30, 73. 4 In See also:Russian. Cited in See also:United States See also:Department of See also:Agriculture, See also:Office of Experiment Stations, Bul. No. 45, A See also:Digest of Metabolism Experiments, by W. O. Atwater and C. F. Langworthy. 6 See also:Arch. physsol. norm. et path. (1894) 4. 6 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Experiment Stations, Bulletins Nos. 63, 69, I09, 136, 175. For a description of the respiration calorimeter here mentioned see also publication No. 42 of the See also:Carnegie Institution of See also:Washington. In some cases the subjects were at See also:rest; in others they per- body. The See also:variations for individual days, and in the average for formed varying amounts of external muscular work on an individual experiments as well, were in some cases appreciable, apparatus by means of which the amount of work done was amounting to as much as 6 %, which is not See also:strange in view of the measured. In some cases they fasted, and in others they received . uncertainties in physiological experimenting; but in the average Food Material. Refuse. Water. Protein. Fat. See also:Carbo- Mineral Fuel Value hydrates. Matter. per lb. % % % % % % Calories. Beef, fresh (See also:medium fat)- 16.3 52.6 15.5 15•o .. o•8 910 Chuck See also:Loin 13.3 52.5 16.1 17.5 .. 0.9 1025 Ribs 2o•8 ' 43.8 13'9 21.2 . 0.7 1135 See also:Round . 7.2 60.7 19.0 12.8 .. 1•o 890 See also:Shoulder 16.4 56.8 16.4 9.8 .. 0.9 715 Beef, dried and smoked 4'7 53.7 26'4 6.9 • • 8.9 790 Veal- 14.2 6o.1 15.5 7'9 • . 0.9 625 See also:Leg Loin 16.5 57.6 16.6 9.0 .. 0.9 685 See also:Breast 21.3 52.0 15.4 11•0 .. o•8 745 Mutton- 18.4 51.2 15.1 14.7 .. o•8 890 Leg . Loin 16•o 42.0 13.5 28'3 .. 0.7 1415 Flank . 9.9 39.0 13.8 36.9 .. o•6 1770 Pork- 19'7 41.8 13'4 24.2 .. o•8 1245 Loin See also:Ham, fresh 10.7 48'0 13'5 25.9 o•8 1320 Ham, smoked and salted 13.6 34'8 14.2 33'4 • • 4.2 1635 Fat, See also:salt . .. 7.9 1'9 86'2 • . 3'9 3555
See also: 0.8 220 Cod, salted 24.9 40.2 16•o o•4 .. 18.5 325 See also:Mackerel, fresh 44'7 4o'4 10.2 4.2 .. 0.7 370 See also:Herring, smoked 44'4 19'2 20'5 8'8 .. 7'4 755 See also:Salmon, tinned .. 63.5 21.8 12'1 .. 2.6 915 Oysters, shelled 88.3 6•o P3 3'3 1.1 225 See also:Butter . . .. 11•o t•o 85•o .. 3'0 3410 See also:Cheese .. 34'2 25.9 33'7 2.4 3.8 1885 Milk, whole .. 87•o 3.3 4.0 5•o 0.7 310 Milk, skimmed .. 90'5 3'4 0.3 5'1 0.7 • 165 Oatmeal . .. 7'7 16'7 7'3 66.2 2•1 1800 See also:Corn (See also:maize) See also:meal .. 12.5 9'2 1'9 75'4 1•o 1635 See also:Rye flour . .. 12.9 6.8 0.9 78.7 0.7 1620 See also:Buckwheat flour .. 13.6 6.4 1.2 77.9 0.9 16o5 See also:Rice .. 12.3 8•o 0.3 79.0 0.4 1620 Wheat flour, white .. 12.O 11.4. I•o 75.1 0.5 1635 Wheat flour, See also:graham .. 11.3 13.3 2.2 71.4 1.8 1645 Wheat, breakfast food .. 9.6 12.1 i•8 75.2 1.3 168o Wheat bread, white . .. 35'3 9'2 1'3 53.1 1.1 1200 Wheat bread, graham .. 35'7 8.9 1.8 52.1 I.5 1195 Rye bread .. 35.7 9'0 o'6 53'2 I.5 1170 See also:Biscuit (crackers) .. 6.8 9.7 12.1 69.7 I.7 1925 See also:Macaroni . . . .. 10.3 13'4 0.9 74'1 1'3 1645 See also:Sugar . . .. .. .. .. Ioo•o .. 1750 See also:Starch (corn starch) 90.0 .. 168o Beans, dried . .. 12.6 22.5 1.8 59.6 3.5 , 1520 Peas, dried . . .. 9.5 24.6 1•o 62•o 2.9 1565 See also:Beets . 20.0 70.0 1.3 0.1 7.7 0.9 16o Cabbage . 15•0 77'7 1.4 0.2 4.8 0.9 115 Squash . 50.0 44.2 0.7 0.2 4'5 0.4 too Potatoes . 20.0 62.6 i•8 0•I 14'7 o•8 295 Sweet potatoes 20.0 55.2 1.4 0.6 21.9 0'9 440 Tomatoes . 94'3 0.9 0'4 3'9 0.5 too Apples . 25.0 63.3 0.3 0.3 Io•8 0.3 190 Bananas . 35.0 48.9 o•8 0.4 14.3 o•6 26o Grapes 25.0 58•o 1•o 1.2 14'4 0.4 295 Oranges • . 27.0 63.4 o•6 o•i 8.5 0.4 15o Strawberries 5.0 85.9 0.9 0.6 7.0 o•6 15o Almonds . 45.0 2.7 11.5 30.2 9.5 1.1 1515 See also:Brazil nuts 49.6 2.6 8.6 33'7 3'5 2'0 1485 Chestnuts . 16•o. 37.8 5.2 4'5 35.4 1.1 915 Walnuts . 58.1 I•o 6.9 , 26.6 6.8 0.6 .1250 diets generally not far from sufficient to maintain See also:nitrogen, and. usually See also:carbon, See also:equilibrium in the body. In these experiments the amount of energy expended by the body as heat and as external muscular work measured in terms of heat agreed on the average very closely with the amount of heat that would be produced by the oxidation of all the matter metabolized in the of all the experiments the energy of the expenditure was above 99.9% of the energy of the income,-an agreement within one part in See also:i000. While these results do not absolutely prove the application of the law of the conservation of energy in the human body, they certainly approximate very closely to such demonstration. It is of course possible that energy may have given off from the body in Other forms than heat and external muscular ' actually digested and absorbed. Thus, two foods may contain work. It is conceivable, for example, that intellectual activity equal amounts of the same nutrient, but the one most easily may involve the transformation of See also:physical energy, and that the digested will really be of most value to the body, because less energy involved may be eliminated in some See also:form now unknown. effort is necessary to utilize it. Considerable study of this See also:factor But if the body did give off energy which was not measured in is being made, and much valuable See also:information is accumulating, these experiments, the quantity must have been extremely small. but it is of more especial importance in cases of disordered It seems See also:fair to infer from the results obtained that the See also:meta- digestion. holism of energy in the body occurred in conformity with the law The digestibility of food in the sense of thoroughness of of the conservation of energy. digestion, however, is of particular importance in the present 3. Composition of Food Materials.—The composition of food discussion. Only that portion of the food that is digested is determined by chemical analyses, the results of which are and absorbed is available to the body for the See also:building of tissue conventionally expressed in terms of the nutritive ingredients and the production of energy. Not all the food eaten is thus previously described. As a result of an enormous amount of actually digested; undigested material is excreted in the faeces. such investigation in recent years, the kinds and proportions of The thoroughness of digestion is determined experimentally by nutrients in our See also:common sorts of food are well known. Average weighing and analysing the food eaten and the faeces pertaining See also:Kind of Food. Protein. Fat. Carbo- Kind of Food. Protein. Fat. Carbo- hydrates. hydrates. % % % % % % Meats 98 98 .. Corn meal 8o .. 99 Fish 96 97 .. Wheat meals without See also:bran 83 • • 93 Poultry 96 97 .. Wheat meals with bran 75 .. 92 Eggs 97 98 White bread 88 .. 98 See also:Dairy products 97 96 98 Entire wheat bread 82 .. 94 Total animal food of Graham bread 76 .. 90 mixed diet 97 97 98 Rice 76 91 Potatoes 73 .. 98 Fruits and nuts 8o 86 96 Beets, carrots, &c. . 72 .. 97 Sugars and starches .. .. 98 Cabbage, See also:lettuce, &c. .. 83 Total vegetable food of Legumes 78 90 95 mixed diet . 85 90 97 Oatmeal . 78 90 97 Total food of mixed diet . 92 95 97 to it. The difference between the corresponding ingredients of the two is commonly considered to represent the amounts of the ingredients digested. Expressed in percentages, these are called coefficients of digestibility. See Table II. Such a method is not strictly accurate, because the faeces do not consist entirely of undigested food but contain in addition to this the so-called metabolic products, which include the residuum of See also:digestive juices not resorbed, fragments of intestinal epithelium, &c. Since there is as yet no satisfactory method of separating these constituents of the excreta, the actual digestibility of the food is not determined. It has been suggested that since these materials must originally come from food, they represent, when expressed in terms of food ingredients, the cost of digestion; hence that the values determined as above explained represent the portion of food available to the body for the building of tissue and the yielding of energy, and what is commonly designated as' digestibility should be called availability. Other writers retain the term " digestibility," but See also:express the results as " apparent digestibility," until more knowledge regarding the metabolic products of the excreta is available and the actual digestibility may be ascertained. Experimental inquiry of this nature has been very active in recent years, especially in See also:Europe, the United States and See also:Japan; and the results of considerably over i000 digestion experiments with single foods or combinations of food materials are available. These were mostly with men, but some were with See also:women and with See also:children. The larger part of these have been taken into See also:account in the following estimations of the digestibility of the nutrients in different classes of food materials. The figures here shown are subject to revision as experimental data accumulate. They are not to be taken as exact See also:measures of the digestibility (or availability) of every kind of food in each given class, but they probably represent fairly well the average digestibility of the classes of. food materials as ordinarily utilized in the mixed diet. 5. Fuel Value of Food.—The potential energy of food is commonly measured as the amount of heat evolved when the kinds and amounts of nutrients it contains, but also upon the , food;iscompletely oxidized. In the laboratory this is determined ease and convenience with which the nutrients may be digested, by, burning the food in See also:oxygen in a calorimeter. The results, and especially upon the proportion of the nutrients that will be which are known as the heat of See also:combustion of the food, are values for percentage composition of some ordinary food materials are shown in Table I. (Table I. also includes figures for fuel value.) It will be observed that different kinds of food materials vary widely in their proportions of nutrients. In general the animal foods contain the most protein and fats, and vegetable foods are rich in carbohydrates. The See also:chief nutrient of lean meat and fish is protein; but in medium fat meats the proportion of fat is as large as that of protein, and in the fatter meats it is larger. Cheese is rich in both protein and fat. Among the vegetable foods, dried beans and peas are especially rich in protein. The proportion in oatmeal is also fairly large, in wheat it is moderate, and in maize meal and rice it is rather small. Oats contain more oil than any of the common cereals, but in none of them is the proportion especially large. The most abundant nutrient in all the cereals is starch, which comprises from two-thirds to three-fourths or more of their total nutritive substance. See also:Cotton-seed is rich in edible oil, and so are See also:olives. Some of the nuts contain fairly large proportions of both protein and fat. The nutrient of potatoes is starch, present in fair proportion. Fruits contain considerable carbohydrates, chiefly sugar. See also:Green vegetables are not of much account as See also:sources of any of the nutrients or energy. Similar food materials from different sources may also differ considerably in composition. This is especially true of meats. Thus, the leaner portions from a fat animal may contain nearly as much fat as the fatter portions from a lean animal. The data here presented are largely those for American food products, but the available analyses of See also:English food materials indicate that the latter differ but little from the former in composition. The analyses of meats produced in Europe imply that they commonly contain somewhat less fat and more water, and often more protein, than American meats. The meats of English production compare with the American more than with the See also:European meats. Similar vegetable foods from the different countries do not differ so much in composition. 4. Digestibility or Availability of Food Materials.—The value, of any food material for nutriment depends not merely upon the expressed in calories, one calory being the amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water one degree centigrade. But it is to be observed that this unit is C Nutrients. Heat of Fuel Value. Combustion. One See also:gram of protein Calories. Calories. One gram of fats 5.65 4'05 One See also:grain of carbohydrates 9.40 8.93 4' 15 4'03 employed simply from convenience, and without implication as to what extent the energy of food is converted into heat in the body. The unit employed in the measurement of some other greater than that which the body will actually derive from it. In the first See also:place, as previously shown, part of the food will not be digested and absorbed. In the second place, the nitrogenous compounds absorbed are not completely oxidized in the body, the residuum being excreted in the urine as See also:urea and other bodies that are capable of further oxidation in the calorimeter. The total heat of combustion of the food eaten must therefore be diminished by the heat of combustion of the oxidizable material rejected by the body, to find what amount of energy is actually available to the organism for the production of work and heat. The amount thus determined is commonly known as the fuel value of food. Rubner's1 commonly quoted estimates for the fuel value of the nutrients of mixed diet are,—for protein and carbohydrates 4'1, and for fats 9.3 calories per gram. According to the method of See also:deduction, however, these factors were more applicable to digested than to total nutrients. Atwater 2 and associates have deduced, Different Circumstances. Nutrients and Energy per Man per See also:Day. Number of Studies. Carbo- Protein. Fat. hydrates. Fuel Value. Persons with Active Work. Grams. Grams. Grams. Calories. English royal See also:engineers I 132 79 612 3835 Prussian machinists . I 129 107 657 4265 See also:Swedish See also:mechanics . 5 174 105 693 4590 Bavarian lumbermen . 3 120 277 702 6015 American lumbermen 5 155 327 804 6745 See also:Japanese rice cleaner I 103 I I 917 4415 Japanese jinrikshaw runner I 137 22 1010 5050 See also:Chinese See also:farm labourers in See also:California . I 132 90 621 398o American athletes 19 178 192 525 4740 American working-men's families 13 156 226 694 565o Persons with Ordinary Work. II 112 32 553 3060 Bavarian mechanics . Bavarian farm labourers 5 126 52 526 3200 Russian peasants .. 119 31 571 31 Prussian prisoners . 1 117 28 62o 3320 Swedish mechanics . 6 123 75 507 3325 American working-men's families 69 105 135 426 3480 Persons with See also:Light Work. 21 93 107 358 288o American artisans' families English tailors (prisoners) I 121 37 509 2970 See also:German shoemakers I 99 73 367 2629 Japanese prisoners . I 43 6 444 2110 Professional and Business Men. 13 75 15 408 2190 Japanese professional men. Japanese students . 8 85 u8 537 2800 Japanese military cadets . I I 98 20 611 3185 German physicians . 2 121 90 317 2685 Swedish medical students . 5 117 Io8 291 2725 Danish physicians I 124 133 242 2790 American professional and business men and 51 98 125 411 3285 students . Persons with Little or no Exercise. 2 90 27 427 2400 Prussian prisoners . Japanese prisoners . 1 36 6 360 1725 Inmates of See also:home for aged—Germany 1 85 43 322 2097 Inmates of hospitals for insane—America . 49 8o 86 353 2590 Persons in Destitute Circumstances. 13 63 43 372 2215 Prussian working people . See also:Italian mechanics 5 70 36 384 2225 American working-men's families I I 69 75 263 2085 form of energy might be used instead, as, for example, the See also:foot-ton, which represents the amount of energy necessary to raise one ton through one foot. The amount of energy which a given quantity of food will produce on complete oxidation outside the body, however, isfrom data much more extensive than those available to Rubner, factors for total nutrients somewhat See also:lower than these, as shown Ztschr. Biol. 21 (1885), p. 377. 2 See also:Connecticut (See also:Storrs) Agricultural Experiment Station Reboil (1899), 73. in Table III. These estimates seem to represent the best average factors at present available, but are subject to revision as knowledge is extended. The heats of combustion of all the fats in an ordinary mixed diet would average about 9.40 calories per gram, but as only 95% of the fat would be available to the body, the fuel value per gram would be (9.4oXo•95=) 8'93 calories. Similarly, the average heat of combustion of carbohydrates of the diet would be about 4.15 calories per gram, and as 97% of the total quantity is available to the body, the fuel value per gram would be 4.03. (It is commonly assumed that the resorbed fats and carbohydrates are completely oxidized in the body.) The heats of combustion of all the kinds of protein in the diet would average about 5.65 calories per gram. Since about 92% of the total protein would be available to the body, the potential energy of the available protein would be See also:equivalent to (5.65X0.92=) 5.20 calories; but as the available protein is not completely oxidized See also:allowance must be made for the potential energy of the incompletely. oxidized See also:residue. This is estimated as equivalent to 1.15 calories for the 0.92 gram of available protein; hence, the fuel value of the total protein is (5.20-1.15 = ) 4.05 calories per gram. Nutrients of the same class, but from different food materials, vary both in digestibility and in heat of combustion, and hence in fuel value. These factors are therefore not so applicable to the nutrients of the separate articles in a diet as to those of the diet as a whole. 6. Food Consumption.—Much information regarding the food consumption of people in various circumstances in different parts of the See also:world has accumulated during the past twenty years, as a result of studies of actual dietaries in See also:England, See also:Germany, See also:Italy, See also:Russia, See also:Sweden and elsewhere in Europe, in Japan and other See also:oriental countries, and especially in the United States. These studies commonly consist in ascertaining the kinds, amounts and composition of the different food materials consumed by a group of persons during a given See also:period and the number of meals taken by each member of the group, and computing the quantities of the different nutrients in the food on the basis of one man for one day. When the members of the group are of different See also:age, See also:sex, occupation, &c., account must be taken of the effect of these factors on consumption in estimating the value " per man." Men as a See also:rule eat more than women under similar conditions, women more than children, and persons at active work more than those at sedentary occupation. The See also:navvy, for example, who is constantly using up more nutritive material or body tissue to supply the energy required for his muscular work needs more protein and energy in his food than a bookkeeper who sits at his See also:desk all day. In making allowance for these See also:differences, the various individuals are commonly compared with a man at moderately active muscular work, who is taken as unity. A man at hard muscular work is reckoned at 1.2 times such an individual; a man with light muscular work or a boy 15-16 years old, •9; a man at sedentary occupation, woman at moderately active muscular work, boy 13-14 or girl 15-16 years old, •8; woman at light work, boy 12 or girl 13-14 years old, •7; boy 10-11 or girl 10-12 years old, .6; See also:child 6-9 years old, •5; child 2-5 years old, •4; child under 2 years, •3. These factors are by no means absolute or final, but are based in part upon experimental data and in part upon arbitrary See also:assumption. The total number of See also:dietary studies on See also:record is very large, but not all of them are complete enough to furnish reliable data. Upwards of tom are sufficiently accurate to be included in statistical averages of food consumed by people in different circumstances, nearly See also:half of which have been made in the United States in the past See also:decade. The number of persons in the individual studies has ranged from one to several See also:hundred. Some typical results are shown in Table IV. 7. Quantities of Nutrients needed.—For the proper nourishment of the body, the important problem is how much protein, fats and carbohydrates, or more simply, what amounts of protein and potential energy are needed under varying circumstances, to build and repair muscular and other tissues and to supplyenergy for muscular work, heat and other forms of energy. The See also:answer to the problem is sought in the data obtained in dietary studies with considerable See also:numbers of people, and in metabolism experiments with individuals in which the income and expenditure of the body are measured. From -the information thus derived,different investigators have proposed so-called dietary See also:standards, such as are shown in the table below, but unfortunately the experimental data are still insufficient for entirely trustworthy figures of this sort; hence the term " See also:standard " as here used is misleading. The figures given are not to be considered as exact and final as that would suggest; they are merely tentative estimates of the average daily amounts of nutrients and energy required. (It is to be especially noted that these are available nutrients and fuel value rather than. total nutrients and energy.) Some of the values proposed by other investigators are slightly larger than these, and others are decidedly smaller, but these are the ones that have hitherto been most commonly accepted in Europe and See also:America. Protein. Fat. Carbo- Fuel hydrates. Value. Voit's Standards. Grams., Grams. Grams. Calories. Man at hard work 133 95 437 3270 Man at moderate work 109 53 485 2965 Atwater's Standards. 161 ..2 5500 Man at very hard muscular work Man at hard muscular 138 .. .. 4150 work Man at moderately 115 .. .. 3400 active muscular work Man at light to 103 .. .. 3050 moderate muscular work Man at " sedentary " 92 .. .. 2700 or woman at moder- ately active work . Woman at light See also:mus- 83 2450 cular work, or man without muscular exercise 8. Hygienic Economy of Food.—For people in See also:good health, there are two important rules to be observed in the regulation of the diet. One is to choose the foods that " agree " with them, and to avoid those which they cannot digest and assimilate without harm; and the other is to use such sorts and quantities of foods as will supply the kinds and amounts of nutrients needed by the body and yet to avoid burdening it with superfluous material to be disposed of at the cost of health and strength. As for the first-mentioned rule, it is practically impossible to give information that may be of more than general application. There are people who, because of some individual peculiarity, cannot use foods which for people in general are wholesome and nutritious. Some persons cannot endure milk, others suffer if they eat eggs, others have to eschew certain kinds of meat, or are made uncomfortable by See also:fruit; but such cases are exceptions. Very little is known regarding the cause of these conditions. It is possible that in the metabolic processes to which the ingredients of the food are subjected in the body, or even during digestion before the substances are actually taken into the body, compounds may be formed that are in one way or another injurious. Whatever the cause may be, it is literally true in this sense that "what is one man's meat is another man's See also:poison," and each must learn for himself what foods " agree " with him and what ones do not. But for the See also:great See also:majority of people in health, 1 One See also:ounce equals 28.35 grams. 2 As the chief function of both fats and carbohydrates is to furnish energy, their exact proportion in the diet is of small account. The amount of either may vary largely according to See also:taste, available supply, or other See also:condition, as long as the total amount of both is sufficient, together with the protein to furnish the required energy. suitable combinations of the ordinary sorts of wholesome food ' other substances which they contain, and which sometimes materials make a healthful diet. On the other See also:hand, some foods serve a most useful purpose. are of particular value at times, aside from their use for nourish- The proper observance of the second' rule mentioned requires ment. Fruits and green vegetables often benefit people greatly, information regarding the demands of the body for food under not as nutriment merely, for they may have very little actual different circumstances. To supply this information is one nutritive material, but because of fruit or vegetable acids or purpose of the effort to determine the so-called dietary standards Food Materials as See also:Purchased. Prices One See also:Shilling will buy per lb. Total Food Available Nutrients. Fuel Materials. - Value. Protein. Fat. Carbo- hydrates. s. d. lb. lb. lb. lb. Calories. Beef, round 0 to I.20 •22 .14 .. 1,155 o 81 1.41 •26 .17 .. 1,235 o 5 2.40 •44 .29 .. 2,105 Beef, sirloin 0 Io I.20 .19 •20 .. 1,225 o 9 1.33 •21 •22 .. 1,360 o 8 1.50 .. o 5 2.4o .. Beef, See also:rib 0 9 1.33 •19 .19 .. 1,200 0 71 I.6o .. .. .. .. 0 4z 2.67 Mutton, leg 0 9 1.33 •20 •20 .. 1,245 0 5 2.40 .37 ..35 .. 2,245 Pork, spare-rib 0 9 P33 .17 •31 .. 1,645 o 7 1.71 •22 .39 .. 2,110 Pork, salt, fat o 7 1.71 •03 1.40 .. 6,025 o 5 2.40 •04 1.97 .. 8,460 Pork, smoked ham . 0 8 1.50 •2o •48 .. 2,435 0 4z 2.67 .36 .85 •• 4,330 Fresh cod . 0 4 3.00 •34 •01 .. 710 0 3 4.00 •45 •01 .. 945 Salt cod . 0 32 3.43 .54 •07 • • 1,370 o 10 1.2o .07 •01 .04 275 Milk, whole, 4d. a qt. 0 2 6•oo .19 .23 .30 1,915 „ 3d. a qt. 0 1 z 8.0o •26 •3o •40 2,550 „ 2d a qt. o I 12.00 •38 •46 •6o 3,825 Milk, skimmed, 2d. a qt. . 0 1 I2•oo .40 •o3 •61 2,085 Butter . . . I 6 •67 .ot •54 •• 2,320 I 3 •8o •01 •64 .. 2,770 I o I.00 •01 .81 .. 3,460 See also:Margarine . 0 4 3.00 .. 2.37 .. io,o8o Eggs, 2s. a dozen 1 4 .75 •IO •07 .. 475 „ 11s. a dozen . . I o I.00 •13 •09 .. 635 „ Is. a dozen . o 8 1.50 .19 .13 .. 950 Cheese . 0 8 1.50 .38 .48 •04 2,865 o 7 1.71 •43 .55 .04 .3,265 0 5 2.40 •6o .77 •o6 4,585 Wheat bread . o Ig 10.67 .76 .13 5.57 12,421 Wheat flour 0 11 7.64 .67 •o7 5.63 12,See also:I10 0 1% 8.16 .72 .07 6•oi 12,935 Oatmeal o 18 8.39 1.11 •54 5.54 14,835 o Iy 8.16 I•o8 .53 5.39 14,430 Rice . 0 14 6.86 .45 •02 5.27 10,795 Potatoes 0 o3 18•oo .25 •02 2.70 5,605 o o2 24.00 '34 •02 3.6o 7,470 Beans . . 0 2 6•oo 1.05 •I0 3.47 8,960 Sugar . I i 1 6.86 .. .. 6.86 12,760 I ,- mentioned above. It should be observed, however, that these are generally more applicable to the proper feeding of a group or class of people as a whole than for particular individuals in this class. The needs of individuals will vary largely from the average in accordance with the activity and individuality. Moreover, it is neither necessary nor desirable for the individual to follow any standard exactly from day to day. It is requisite only that the average supply shall be sufficient to meet the demands of the body during a given period. The cooking of food and other modes of preparing it for consumption have much to do with its nutritive value. Many materials which, owing to their See also:mechanical condition or to some other cause, are not particularly desirable food materials in their natural See also:state, are quite nutritious when cooked or other-See also:wise prepared for consumption. It is also a matter of common experience that well-cooked food is wholesome and appetizing, whereas the same material poorly prepared is unpalatable. There are three chief purposes of cooking; the first is to See also:change the mechanical condition of the food. See also:Heating changes the structure of many food materials very materially, so that they may be more easily chewed and brought into a condition in which the digestive juices can act upon them more freely, and in this way probably influencing the ease and thoroughness of digestion. The second is to make the food more appetizing by improving the See also:appearance or flavour or both. Food which is attractive to the See also:eye and pleasing to the See also:palate quickens the flow of saliva and other digestive juices and thus See also:aids digestion. The third is to kill, by heat, disease germs, parasites or other dangerous organisms that may be contained in food. This is often a very important matter and applies to both animal and vegetable foods. Scrupulous neatness should always be observed in storing, handling and serving food. If ever cleanliness is desirable it must be in the things we eat, and every care should be taken to ensure it for the See also:sake of health as well as of decency. Cleanliness in this connexion means not only See also:absence of visible dirt, but freedom from undesirable bacteria and other See also:minute organisms and from See also:worms and other parasites. If food, raw or cooked, is kept in dirty places, peddled from dirty carts, prepared in dirty rooms and in dirty dishes, or exposed to foul See also:air, disease germs and other offensive and dangerous substances may easily enter it. 9. Pecuniary Economy of Food.—Statistics of economy and of cost of living in Great See also:Britain, Germany and the United States show that at least half, and commonly more, of the income of wage-earners and other people in moderate circumstances is expended for subsistence. The relatively large cost of food, and the important See also:influence of diet upon health and strength, make a more widespread understanding of the subject of dietetics very desirable. The See also:maxim that " the best is the cheapest " does not apply to food. The "best " food, in the sense of that which is the finest in appearance and flavour and which is sold at the highest See also:price, is not generally the most economical. The price of food is not regulated largely by its value for nutriment. Its agreeableness to the palate or to the buyer's See also:fancy is a large factor in determining the current demand and See also:market price. There is no more nutriment in an ounce of protein or fat from the See also:tender-loin of beef than from the round or shoulder. The protein of animal food has, however, some See also:advantage over that of vegetable foods in that it is more thoroughly, and perhaps more easily, digested, for which reason it would be economical to pay somewhat more for the same quantity of nutritive material in the animal food. Furthermore, animal foods such as meats, fish and the like, gratify the palate as most vegetable foods do not. For persons in good health, foods in which the nutrients are the most expensive are like costly articles of adornment. People who can well afford them may be justified in buying them, but they are not economical. The most economical food is that which is at the same See also:time most healthful and cheapest. The variations in the cost of the actual nutriment in different food materials may be illustrated by comparison of the amounts of nutrients obtained for a given sum in the materials as bought at ordinary market prices. This is done in Table VI., which show the amounts of available nutrients contained in the quan-tities of different food materials that may be purchased for one shilling at prices common in England. When proper See also:attention is given to the needs of the body for food and the relation between cost and nutritive value of food materials, it will be found that with care in the See also:purchase and skill in the preparation of food, considerable See also:control may be had over the expensiveness of a palatable, nutritious and healthful diet. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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