Human Nutrition. 757 



of the bones. If the number of red corpuscles in the blood falls below 

 par the whole body suffers in consequence, for it means not enough 

 oxygen is carried to the cells. The food richest in available calcium is 

 milk, and this in itself is a sufficient reason for making milk an important 

 article in the diet of children, not only while they are very young, but all 

 through the growing years. Dried beans and peas, oranges, cabbage, 

 turnips and spinach are good vegetable sources of lime. Of the breads, 

 whole wheat is better than white bread in this respect. Meat is deficient 

 in lime. Those animals which live on meat alone eat not only the flesh 

 of their prey but also the bones. 



Iron is so important to proper nutrition that most persons are familiar 

 with it through the advertisements of the numerous iron tonics on the 

 market. The use of these tonics would be greatly diminished by a 

 knowledge of right feeding methods, for food iron is what is needed 

 rather than the iron which is sold in a bottle of ''tonic." Too little 

 iron in the diet means that the cells in the red marrow of the bone lack 

 one of the things needed in making red blood corpuscles. It is the iron 

 which is built into those little bodies which gives them their power of 

 holding oxygen and thus makes them so useful a part of the blood system. 

 Anaemia may result from many abnormal causes, but it may also be 

 produced by improper feeding. To increase the iron in the diet, such 

 foods should be added as whole eggs or egg yolks, meat, whole wheat, 

 dried peas and beans, green peas and beans, spinach and prunes. At 

 first glance it may seem strange that milk should be deficient in iron, 

 for the baby depends on this food for nearly a year of its life. This is 

 explained when we find that the child has at birth sufficient iron stored 

 in its body to cover this deficiency for about nine months or a year. 

 An excellent iron tonic is furnished by taking milk with some food 

 rich in iron, for the lime in the milk is said to aid in the retention 

 of the iron. 



Some of the elements of mineral matter are essential to the body in 

 carrying out many of its most imix)rtant functions. During the activities 

 of the body waste products are produced, and if these were allowed to 

 remain in this form they would prove exceedingly injurious. It is the 

 function of some of the salts of calcium, magnesium, potassium and 

 'phosphorous to unite with these harmful compounds and make them 

 harmless. Thus they are gotten rid of. The ability of the heart to beat, 

 of the muscles to contract, of the nerves to carry impressions are all 

 dependent upon the presence of some of the salts. The activity of the 

 intestine dej)ends upon them. One fruitful source of constipation is a 

 lack of knowledge of these facts. 



