NUTRITION INVESTIGATIONS. 27 



of importance in discussion of the economical arranfjement of insti- 

 tution dietetics and which is useful in other ways. 



The investio^ations at the University of Minnesota under Prof. 

 Harry Snj'der have been made with cereals, being carried out in 

 connection with those made at the University of Elaine under Pro- 

 fessor Woods. Professor Snyder has made 24 digestion experiments 

 of four days each with men, using eight diflerent kinds of cereal 

 breakfast foods, to determine their relative digestibility. 



Professor Snyder has also continued the experimental work with 

 durum wheat, conducting one milling experiment and six digestion 

 experiments of four days each with men, for the purpose of deter- 

 mining the digestibility of macaroni and breakfast foods prepared 

 from durum wheat. • 



The investigations with cereal breakfast foods have demonstrated 

 the higli food value of this class of goods as a whole, considered both 

 from the standpoint of the nutritive material which they contain and 

 its digestibility. It has also been found that many of the high-priced 

 specially prepared goods are not more nutritious than the ordinary 

 cereal breakfast foods, and that they do not possess any special ad- 

 vantage except as pertains to flavor, api)earance, or attractive form 

 of marketing. As a whole, cereal breakfast foods compare favorably 

 with whole-wheat bread as regards total nutritive value, and, like 

 the coarser breads, are somewhat inferior to standard patent-flour 

 bread when judged by the total amount of digestible nutrients sup- 

 plied per pound. 



Dr. II. C. Sherman, of Columbia University, has begun studies of 

 the nutritive value of the ash constituents of food with a view of 

 fixing upon values which will show the amount of the diiferent im- 

 portant mineral constituents of food required per man per day under 

 various circumstances. 



Prof. C. E. Wait, of the University of Tennessee, at Knoxville, 

 made six digestion experiments of four days each, three witii a basal 

 ration and three with a ration including legumes. In addition. Prof. 

 A. F. Oilman, under the supervision of Professor Wait, has con- 

 ducted 20 dietary studies in typical families of white people of lim- 

 ited means, especially those living in mountain districts. The diges- 

 tion experiments continue earlier work on the nutritive value and 

 digestibility of cowpeas, beans, peas, and other legumes, one of the 

 very important groups of foods especially rich in vegetable protein. 

 This work has shown that the cowpea, like the dried bean and pen, has 

 a high food value and ma}' serve as an imj)or(ant source of |)rotein. 

 The dietary studies are of value in fixing upon dietary standards, as 

 the families studied live upon very simple rations. 



