Human Nutrition. 753 



completely to exclude fat from the diet gives bad results for the body 

 works better when a part of the energy is supplied in the form of fat. 



All the starch eaten is eventually turned to sugar before it reaches 

 the blood stream, and is carried to the cells in this form. The question 

 therefore often arises, why may not sugar take the place of starch in the 

 dietary. In the first place, starch is slowly digested and is changed to 

 sugar by the digestive juices only a little at a time. This little is very 

 much diluted and can be made use of as soon as absorbed. When much 

 sugar is eaten, it gives a concentrated sugar solution in the digestive 

 tract. All know who have swallowed sugar "the wrong way" and have 

 felt the painful burning in the throat that a concentrated sugar solution 

 is very irritating and may produce gastric disorders. Sugar is ready, 

 or nearly ready, to pass into the blood stream and it may pass in too 

 (|uickly and in too large quantities to be properly cared for and may 

 thus cause disturbances inside the body as well as in the digestive tract. 



Sugar, starch and fat occur in the plant and animal tissues in con- 

 nection with other foodstuffs and Tt is only by a process of extraction 

 that they are obtained as pure sugar, pure starch and pure fat. Wliile 

 all three of these materials are just as valuable sources of energy in the 

 pure state as they are if starch is eaten as corn rather than cornstarch, 

 or sugar is eaten as grapes or beets or peaches instead of in candy, and 

 fat is eaten in cream, milk, eggs, or meat instead of as lard, suet or butter, 

 still the question may well be asked, is the pure form the best form. 

 If we eat pure starch, sugar and fat, the diet is limited to the three 

 elements of which they are composed, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. 

 If they are eaten as they occur in cereals, fruits and vegetables, milk, 

 meat and eggs, a generous supply of other elements is obtained at the 

 same time. Surely that is highly desirable. One of the main objections 

 to the abnormal amounts of candy consumed by children is that the 

 highly flavored sweet substance satisfies the appetite which should be 

 satisfied by a more varied diet. It is said that a frequent cause of decayed 

 teeth among children is due not to the direct effect of the candy on the 

 teeth, but to the fact that in the over-supply of candy there has been 

 an under-supply of the bone-building materials such as lime and phos- 

 phorus. 



The best form in which to take these foodstuflfs is therefore in the 

 foods in which they occur; starch in cereals, legumes, nuts and such 

 starchy vegetables as potatoes ; sugar in the sweet fruits and vegetables 

 or combined with simple desserts ; fat in milk, cream and butter with 

 bread or combined with foods in their preparation. More will be said 



