WAR BREAD AND ITS CONSTITUENTS 37 



large group of munition workers. The observations 

 extended over a long period, and showed uniformly 

 satisfactory results. 



It is difficult to see how any test could have been 

 made with greater care and thoroughness, and the 

 results seem definitely to justify the policy of a higher 

 extraction at the mill whenever there is a shortage 

 in the national supply of cereals. If this results in 

 giving us a loaf of darker colour and closer texture, it 

 is a small matter compared with the increase in avail- 

 able human food. 



Whether the policy should be adhered to in normal 

 times is perhaps a different question. The public 

 may think it worth while to sacrifice something for 

 the sake of its white loaf. Facts have come to light 

 of late, however, which will always have to be at least 

 carefully weighed in the future. We know now that 

 complete nutrition calls for more than a supply of 

 energy and protein. There are subtler factors. 

 Natural foods which have undergone no artificial 

 fractionation, such as that which wheat suffers from 

 the art of the miller, contain a sufficiency of what 

 till we know more about them we agree to call 

 accessory food-factors or vitamines. They are present 

 in minute amount, but they are essential to the health 

 of the body. 



Vitamines are discussed in another section, and 

 little need be said of them here. It is well, however, 

 to point out that their importance must not be viewed 

 merely from the narrower standpoint of actual disease 

 and its prevention. Short of displaying obvious dis- 

 ease, the body may at any time be suffering abnor- 

 malities of function due to insufficiency in its vitamine 

 supply. Growth in the young may, for instance, be 

 delayed and unsatisfactory. Now at least one of 

 these important substances, commonly spoken of as 



