1632 The Cornell Reading Courses 



underestimated. Like the other green vegetables, by virtue of their bulk 

 they serve an important function in hastening waste products along the 

 intestinal tract; and they are an important source of the ash, or mineral, 

 constituents so neccssar}' in the diet. 



Composition oj legumes as compared with that of other foods. — In the 

 green state, legumes either equal or surpass other green vegetables in 

 nutritive value. In the matured, dried state they show even a higher 

 proportion of protein than is shown by some of the other so-called 

 protein foods, such as meat, eggs, and nuts ; however, in general they do 

 not show so high a proportion of protein as is shown by cheese. In 

 fuel value dried legimies somewhat surpass meat and greatly surpass eggs. 



Digestibility 



On the other hand, experience has revealed the fact that legumes, 

 especially in the dried state, may be somewhat difficult to digest. They 

 often produce a feeling of flatulence on account of the formation of an 

 excess of gas, and they have consequently been termed an " indigestible " 

 food. 



It is true that the protein of legumes is not so completely utilized as 

 are other proteins, and that it requires more work on the part of the 

 digestive tract to digest it. However, as explained further on, favorable 

 dietar}^ conditions may increase the amount of the legume protein available 

 for use by the body. Of course, as is the case with many foods, the pro- 

 tein of legimies is more thoroughly and more easily digested by some 

 persons than by others. 



Evidence from dietary habits. — Among the rural classes of Japan, meat 

 is used only on special feast days, perhaps not more than three or four 

 times a year; milk is used there scarcely at all, and fish only infrequently 

 by those who live inland. Their chief source of protein is the soy bean, 

 conspicuous among the legimies for its high proportions of protein and 

 fat. In Japan the soy bean is grown almost entirely for human food. 

 According to Mr. Oshima,- next to rice in the Japanese diet are the 

 legumes, which are universally used. Likewise the peasants of many of 

 the European countries are dependent on vegetable sources, such as the 

 legumes and the cereals, for their supply of protein. The lumbermen in 

 the Maine woods, at severe labor during cold weather, were found to 

 obtain about 60 per cent of their total protein from vegetable sources, chief 

 of which was baked beans. Even though the beans were eaten twice a 

 day generally, under these conditions of active life in the open air no 

 unsatisfactory results were experienced in either digestion or nutrition. 



= Kintaro Oshima. A digest of Japanese investigations on the nutrition of man. Bulletin i59, U. S. 

 Office of Experiment Stations. 1905. 



