A Civic Biology Part 31

Footnote 39: The above tables have been taken from the excellent pamphlet of the Cornell Reading Course, No. 6, _Human Nutrition_.

How we may Find whether we are Eating a properly Balanced Diet.--We already know approximately our daily Calorie needs and about the proportion of protein, fat, and carbohydrate needed. Dr. Irving Fisher of Yale University has worked out a very easy method of determining whether one is living on a proper diet. He has made up a number of tables, in which he has designated portions of food, each of which furnishes 100 Calories of energy. The tables show the proportion of protein, fat, and carbohydrate in each food, so that it is a simple matter by using such a table to estimate the proportions of the various nutrients in our dietary. We may depend upon taking somewhere near the proper amount of food if we take a diet based upon either At.w.a.ter's, Chittenden's, or Voit's standard. One of the most interesting and useful pieces of home work that you can do is to estimate your own personal dietary, using the tables giving the 100-Calorie portion to see if you have a properly balanced diet. From the table on page 286 make out a simple dietary for yourself for one day, estimating your own needs in Calories and then picking out 100-Calorie portions of food which will give you the proper proportions of protein, fat, and carbohydrate.

TABLE OF 100 CALORIE PORTIONS--MODIFIED FROM FISHER

============================================================================ | |WT. IN| CAL. FURNISHED| PRICE | | OZ. |----+----+-----+--------+------ |PORT. CONTAINING | 100 | | |CAR- | | 100 FOOD | 100 CALORIES | CAL.|PRO-| FAT|BOHY-| 1 LB. | CAL.

------------------+------------------+------+----+----+-----+--------+------ Oysters |1 doz. | 6.8 | 49 |22 | 29 | .175 | .07 Bean soup |1/2 small serving | 2.6 | 24 |12 | 64 | | .007 Cream of corn |2/3 ordin. serv. | 3.1 | 11 |58 | 31 | | .02 Vegetable soup |1/2 ordin. serv. | 2.4 | 8 |89 | 3 | | .01 Cod fish (fresh) |ordin. serv. | 5 | 95 | 5 | 0 | .12 | .04 Salmon (canned) |small serv. | 1.75 | 45 |55 | 0 | .22 | .03 Chicken |1/2 large serv. | 1.75 | 39 |56 | 5 | .22 | .05 Veal cutlet |2/3 large serv. | 2.4 | 54 |46 | 0 | .28 | .045 Beef, corned |1/2 large serv. | 1.0 | 15 |85 | 0 | .16 | .01 Beef, sirloin | small serv. | 1.6 | 33 |67 | 0 | .34 | .04 Beef, round | small serv. | 1.8 | 39 |61 | 0 | .24 | .025 Ham, lean | ordin. serv. | 1.1 | 28 |72 | 0 | .22 | .015 Lamb chops |1/2 ordin. serv. | 1.0 | 24 |76 | 0 | .20 | .013 Mutton, leg | ordin. serv. | 1.2 | 35 |65 | 0 | .20 | .015 Eggs, boiled |1 large egg | 2.1 | 32 |68 | 0 |.30 doz.| .025 Eggs, scrambled |1-1/3 ordin. serv.| 2.5 | 37 |58 | 5 |.30 doz.| .03 Beans, baked | side dish | 2.66 | 21 |18 | 61 | .08 | .013 Potatoes, mashed | ordin. serv. | 3.2 | 10 |25 | 65 | .02 | .005 Macaroni |1/3 large serv. | .95 | 15 | 3 | 82 | .10 | .01 Potato salad | ordin. serv. | 2.25 | 10 |57 | 33 | .20 | .025 Tomatoes, sliced |4 large serv. |15. | 15 |16 | 69 | .10 | .10 Rolls, plain |1 large roll | 1.2 | 12 | 7 | 81 |.10 doz.| .01 b.u.t.ter | ordin. pat | .44 | 5 |99.5| | .35 | .01 Wheat bread |1 small slice | .96 | 15 | 5 | 80 | .07 | .005 Chocolate cake |1/2 ord. sq. piece| .98 | 7 |22 | 71 | .32 | .02 Gingerbread |1/2 ord. sq. piece| .96 | 6 |23 | 71 | .16 | .01 Custard pudding | ordin. serv. | 3.25 | 18 |42 | 40 | .15 | .03 Rice pudding | very small serv.| 2.65 | 8 |13 | 79 | .13 | .02 Apple pie |1/3 piece | 1.3 | 5 |32 | 63 | | .013 Cheese, American |1-1/2 cu. in. | .77 | 25 |73 | 2 | .19 | .01 Crackers (soda) |2 crackers | .9 | 10 |20 | 70 | .10 | .007 Currant jelly |2 heap. spoons | 1.1 | 2 | 0 | 98 | .40 | .025 Sugar |3 teaspoons | .86 | 0 | 0 | 100 | .06 | .003 Milk as bought | small gla.s.s | 4.9 | 19 |52 | 29 | .05 | .015 Milk, cond., sweet|4 teaspoons | 1.06 | 10 |23 | 67 | | .01 Oranges |1 large one | 9.4 | 6 | 3 | 91 | | .025 Peanuts |13 double ones | .62 | 20 |63 | 17 | | .004 Almonds, sh.e.l.led |8-15 | .53 | 13 |77 | 10 | | .025 ============================================================================

From the preceding table plan a well-balanced and cheap dietary for one day for a family of five, two adults and three children. Make a second dietary for the same time and same number of people which shall give approximately the same amount of tissue and energy producing food from more expensive materials.

Food Waste in the Kitchen.--Much loss occurs in the improper cooking of foods. Meats especially, when overdone, lose much of their flavor and are far less easily digested than when they are cooked rare. The chief reasons for cooking meats are that the muscle fibers may be loosened and softened, and that the bacteria or other parasites in the meat may be killed by the heat. The common method of frying makes foods less digestible. Stewing is an economical as well as healthful method. A good way to prepare meat, either for stew or soup, is to place the meat, cut in small pieces, in cold water, and allow it to simmer for several hours. Rapid boiling toughens the muscle fibers by the too rapid coagulation of the alb.u.minous matter in them, just as the white of egg becomes tough when boiled too long. Boiling and roasting are excellent methods of cooking meat. In order to prevent the loss of the nutrients in roasting, it is well to baste the meat frequently; thus a crust is formed on the outer surface of the meat, which prevents the escape of the juices from the inside.

Vegetables are cooked in order that the cells containing starch grains may be burst open, thus allowing the starch to be more easily attacked by the digestive fluids. Inasmuch as water may dissolve out nutrients from vegetable tissues, it is best to boil them rapidly in a small amount of water. This gives less time for the solvent action to take place.

Vegetables should be cooked with the outer skin left on when it is possible.

Adulterations in Foods.--The addition of some cheaper substance to a food, or the subtraction of some valuable substance from a food, with the view to cheating the purchaser, is known as _adulteration_. Many foods which are artificially manufactured have been adulterated to such an extent as to be almost unfit for food, or even harmful. One of the commonest adulterations is the subst.i.tution of grape sugar (glucose) for cane sugar. Glucose, however, is not a harmful adulterant. It is used largely in candy making.

Flour and other cereal foods are sometimes adulterated with some cheap subst.i.tutes, as bran or sawdust. Alum is sometimes added to make flour whiter. Probably the food which suffers most from adulteration is milk, as water can be added without the average person being the wiser. By means of an inexpensive instrument known as a _lactometer_, this cheat may easily be detected. In most cities, the milk supply is carefully safeguarded, because of the danger of spreading typhoid fever from impure milk (see Chapter XX). Before the pure food law was pa.s.sed in 1906, milk was frequently adulterated with substances like formalin to make it keep sweet longer. Such preservatives are harmful, and it is now against the law to add anything whatever to milk.

Coffee, cocoa, and spices are subject to great adulteration; cottonseed oil is often subst.i.tuted for olive oil; b.u.t.ter is too frequently artificial; while honey, sirups of various kinds, cider and vinegar, have all been found to be either artificially made from cheaper subst.i.tutes or to contain such subst.i.tutes.

Pure Food Laws.--Thanks to the National Pure Food and Drug Law pa.s.sed by Congress in 1906, and to the activity of various city and state boards of health, the opportunity to pa.s.s adulterated foods on the public is greatly lessened. This law compels manufacturers of foods or medicines to state the composition of their products on the labels placed on the jars or bottles.

So if a person reads the label he can determine exactly what he is getting for his money.

Impure Water.--Great danger comes from drinking impure water. This subject has already been discussed under Bacteria, where it was seen that the spread of typhoid fever in particular is due to a contaminated water supply. As citizens, we must aid all legislation that will safeguard the water used by our towns and cities. Boiling water for ten minutes or longer will render it safe from all organic impurities.

Stimulants.--We have learned that food is anything that supplies building material or releases energy in the body; but some materials used by man, presumably as food, do not come under this head. Such are tea and coffee.

When taken in moderate quant.i.ties, _they produce a temporary increase in the vital activities_ of the person taking them. This is said to be a stimulation; and material taken into the digestive tract, producing this, is called a _stimulant_. In moderation, tea and coffee appear to be harmless. Some people, however, cannot use either without ill effects, even in small quant.i.ty. It is the _habit_ formed of relying upon the stimulus given by tea or coffee that makes them a danger to man. Cocoa and chocolate, although both contain a stimulant, are in addition good foods, having from 12 per cent to 21 per cent of protein, from 29 per cent to 48 per cent fat, and over 30 per cent carbohydrate in their composition.

Is Alcohol a Food?--The question of the use of alcohol has been of late years a matter of absorbing interest and importance among physiologists. A few years ago Dr. At.w.a.ter performed a series of very careful experiments by means of the respiration calorimeter, to ascertain whether alcohol is of use to the body as food.[40] In these experiments the subjects were given, instead of their daily allotment of carbohydrates and fats, enough alcohol to supply the same amount of energy that these foods would have given. The amount was calculated to be about two and one half ounces per day, about as much as would be contained in a bottle of light wine.[41] This alcohol was administered in small doses six times during the day. Professor At.w.a.ter's results may be summed up briefly as follows:--

1. The alcohol administered was almost all oxidized in the body.

2. The potential energy in the alcohol was transformed into heat or muscular work.

3. The body did about as well with the rations including alcohol as it did without it.

Footnote 40: Alcohol is made up of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. It is very easily oxidized, but it cannot, as is shown by the chemical formula, be of use to the body in tissue building, because of its lack of nitrogen.

Footnote 41: Alcoholic beverages contain the following proportions of alcohol: beer, from 2 to 5 per cent; wine, from 10 to 20 per cent; liquors, from 30 to 70 per cent.

Patent medicines frequently contain as high as 60 per cent alcohol. (See page 294.)

The committee of fifty eminent men appointed to report on the physiological aspects of the drink problem reported that a large number of scientific men state that they are in the habit of taking alcoholic liquor in small quant.i.ties, and many report that they do not _feel_ harm thereby. A number of scientists seem to agree that within limits alcohol may be a kind of food, although a very _poor_ food.

On the other hand, we know that although alcohol may technically be considered as a food, it is a very unsatisfactory food and, as the following statements show, it has an effect on the body tissues which foods do not have.

Professor Chittenden of Yale College, in discussing the food problem of alcohol, writes as follows:

"It is true that alcohol in moderate quant.i.ties may serve as a food, _i.e._ it can be oxidized with the liberation of heat. It may to some extent take the place of fat and carbohydrates, but it is not a perfect subst.i.tute for them, and for this reason alcohol has an action that cannot be ignored. It reduces liver oxidation. It therefore presents a dangerous side wholly wanting in carbohydrates and fat. The latter are simply burned up to carbonic acid and water or are transformed to glycogen and fat, but alcohol, although more easily oxidized, is at all times liable to obstruct, in a measure at least, the oxidative processes of the liver and probably of other tissues also, thereby throwing into the circulation bodies, such as uric acid, which are harmful to health, a fact which at once tends to draw a distinct line of demarcation between alcohol and the two non-nitrogenous foods, fat and carbohydrates. Another matter must be emphasized, and it is that the form in which alcohol is taken is of importance. Port wine, for instance, has more influence on the amount of uric acid secreted than an equivalent amount of alcohol has in some other form. To conclude: as an adjunct to the ordinary daily diet of the healthy man alcohol cannot be considered as playing the part of a true non-nitrogenous food."--Quoted in _American Journal of Inebriety_, Winter, 1906.

Effect of Alcohol on Living Matter.--If we examine raw white of egg, we find a protein which closely resembles protoplasm in its chemical composition; it is called alb.u.men. Add to a little alb.u.men in a test tube some 95 per cent alcohol and notice what happens. As soon as the alcohol touches the alb.u.men the latter coagulates and becomes hard like boiled white of egg. Shake the alcohol with the alb.u.men and the entire ma.s.s soon becomes a solid. This is because the alcohol draws the water out of the alb.u.men. It has been shown that alb.u.men is somewhat like protoplasm in structure and chemical composition. Strong alcohol acts in a similar manner on living matter when it is absorbed by the living body cells. It draws water from them and hardens them. It has a chemical and physical action upon living matter.

Alcohol a Poison.--But alcohol is also in certain quant.i.ties a poison. _A commonly accepted definition of a poison is that it is any substance which, when taken into the body, tends to cause serious detriment to health, or the death of the organism._ That alcohol may do this is well known by scientists.

It is a matter of common knowledge that alcohol taken in small quant.i.ties does not do any _apparent_ harm. But if we examine the vital records of life insurance companies, we find a large number of deaths directly due to alcohol and a still greater number due in part to its use. In the United States every year there are a third more deaths from alcoholism and cirrhosis of the liver (a disease _directly_ caused by alcohol) than there are from typhoid fever. The poisonous effect is not found in small doses, but it ultimately shows its harmful effect. Hardening of the arteries, an old-age disease, is rapidly becoming in this country a disease of the middle aged. From it there is no escape. It is chiefly caused by the c.u.mulative effect of alcohol. The diagram following, compiled by two English life insurance companies that insure moderate drinkers and abstainers, shows the death rate to be considerably higher among those who use alcohol.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Abstainers live longer than moderate drinkers.]

Dr. Kellogg, the founder of the famous Battle Creek Sanitarium, points out that strychnine, quinine, and many other drugs are oxidized in the body but surely cannot be called foods. The following reasons for not considering alcohol a food are taken from his writings:--

"1. A habitual user of alcohol has an intense craving for his accustomed dram. Without it he is entirely unfitted for business. One never experiences such an insane craving for bread, potatoes, or any other particular article of food.

"2. By continuous use the body acquires a tolerance for alcohol. That is, the amount which may be imbibed and the amount required to produce the characteristic effects first experienced gradually increase until very great quant.i.ties are sometimes required to satisfy the craving which its habitual use often produces. This is never the case with true foods.... Alcohol behaves in this regard just as does opium or any other drug. It has no resemblance to a food.

"3. When alcohol is withdrawn from a person who has been accustomed to its daily use, most distressing effects are experienced.... Who ever saw a man's hand trembling or his nervous system unstrung because he could not get a potato or a piece of cornbread for breakfast? In this respect, also, alcohol behaves like opium, cocaine, or any other enslaving drug.

"4. Alcohol lessens the appreciation and the value of brain and nerve activity, while food reenforces nervous and mental energy.

"5. Alcohol as a protoplasmic poison lessens muscular power, whereas food increases energy and endurance.

"6. Alcohol lessens the power to endure cold. This is true to such a marked degree that its use by persons accompanying Arctic expeditions is absolutely prohibited. Food, on the other hand, increases ability to endure cold. The temperature after taking food is raised. After taking alcohol, the temperature, as shown by the thermometer, is lowered.

"7. Alcohol cannot be stored in the body for future use, whereas all food substances can be so stored.

"8. Food burns slowly in the body, as it is required to satisfy the body's needs. Alcohol is readily oxidized and eliminated, the same as any other oxidizable drug."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Experiment (by Davison) to show how the nicotine in six cigarettes was sufficient to kill this fish. The smoke from the cigarettes was pa.s.sed through the water in which the fish is swimming.]

The Use of Tobacco.--A well-known authority defines a narcotic as a substance "_which directly induces sleep, blunts the senses, and, in large amounts, produces complete insensibility_." Tobacco, opium, chloral, and cocaine are examples of narcotics. Tobacco owes its narcotic influence to a strong poison known as nicotine. Its use in killing insect parasites on plants is well known. In experiments with jellyfish and other lowly organized animals, the author has found as small a per cent as one part of nicotine to one hundred thousand parts of sea water to be sufficient to profoundly affect an animal placed within it. The ill.u.s.tration here given shows the effect of nicotine upon a fish, one of the vertebrate animals.

Nicotine in a pure form is so powerful a poison that two or three drops would be sufficient to cause the death of a man by its action upon the nervous system, especially the nerves controlling the beating of the heart.

This action is well known among boys training for athletic contests. The heart is affected; boys become "short-winded" as a result of the action on the heart. It has been demonstrated that tobacco has, too, an important effect on muscular development. The stunted appearance of the young smoker is well known.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The amounts of alcohol in some liquors and in some patent medicines. _a_, beer, 5 %; _b_, claret, 8 %; _c_, champagne, 9 %; _d_, whisky, 50 %; _e_, well-known sarsaparilla, 18 %; _f_, _g_, _h_, much-advertised nerve tonics, 20 %, 21 %, 25 %; _i_, another much-advertised sarsaparilla, 27 %; _j_, a well-known tonic, 28 %; _k_, _l_, bitters, 37 %, 44 % alcohol.]

Use and Abuse of Drugs.--The American people are addicted to the use of drugs, and especially patent medicines. A glance at the street-car advertis.e.m.e.nts shows this. Most of the medicines advertised contain alcohol in greater quant.i.ty than beer or wine, and many of them have opium, morphine, or cocaine in their composition. Paregoric and laudanum, medicines sometimes given to young children, are examples of dangerous drugs that contain opium. Dr. George D. Haggard of Minneapolis has shown by many a.n.a.lyses that a large number of the so-called "malts," "malt extracts," and "tonics," including several of the best known and most advertised on the market, are simply disguised beers and, frequently, very poor beers at that. These drugs, in addition to being harmful, affect the person using them in such a manner that he soon feels the need for the drug. Thus the drug habit is formed,--a condition which has wrecked thousands of lives. A number of articles on patent medicines recently appeared in a leading magazine and have been collected and published under the t.i.tle of _The Great American Fraud_. In this booklet the author points out a number of different kinds of "cures" and patent medicines. The most dangerous are those headache or neuralgia cures containing _acetanilid_.

This drug is a heart depresser and should not be used without medical advice. Another drug which is responsible for habit formation is _cocaine_.

This is often found in catarrh or other cures. Alcohol is the basis of all tonics or "bracers." Every boy and girl should read this booklet so as to be forearmed against evils of the sort just described.

REFERENCE READING ON FOODS

Hunter, _Laboratory Problems in Civic Biology._ American Book Company.

Allen, _Civics and Health._ Ginn and Company.

Bulletin 13, American School of Home Economics, Chicago.

Cornell University Reading Course, Buls. 6 and 7, _Human Nutrition._ Davison, _The Human Body and Health._ American Book Company.

Jordan, _The Principles of Human Nutrition._ The Macmillan Company.

Kehler, L. F., _Habit-forming Agents._ Farmers' Bulletin 393, U. S. Dept. of Agri.

A Civic Biology Part 31

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