BIOLOGY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS 



vitamins. The consumption of sugar is now approximately 

 115 pounds per person per year, not including molasses, 

 corn syrup, and honey. This is about ten times the amount 

 consumed in the United States one hundred years ago. 

 While sugar is not inimical to health when eaten in such 

 large amounts, a food so deficient in necessary principles 

 tends to crowd out of the diet significant amounts of other 

 foods which would supply the indispensable nutrients. 



Since about 1880 the practice of using a highly refined 

 white flour has been general. This is deficient in all the 

 vitamins, is almost lacking in calcium, contains proteins 

 of relatively poor quality, an acid ash, and is especially 

 rich in potassium and phosphorus. Because of improved 

 keeping qualities, degerminated corn meal is now ex- 

 tensively used, and wherever rice is eaten, polished rice, 

 which is deprived of its vitamins and much of its mineral 

 content, is the rule. The diet of many people In America 

 and Europe may be accurately described as one consisting 

 largely of products made from white flour and other cereal 

 products having similar dietary qualities, meat, potatoes, 

 and sugar. No combination of these foods makes an ade- 

 quate diet. This list and any modification of it containing 

 roots, tubers, and fruits is supplemented in an effective 

 way by the inclusion of suitable amounts of milk or of 

 leafy vegetables. It is for this reason that milk and the 

 leafy vegetables have been distinguished from other foods 

 as the protective foods. 



The sensitiveness of certain tissues to deficiency of anti- 

 scorbutic vitamin makes it a matter of great importance 

 that the diet should contain regularly suitable amounts of 

 uncooked vegetable food, or of food canned by a process 

 which preserves this vitamin. 



It is beyond the scope of this chapter to discuss in detail 

 the planning of menus which will be complete so as to 

 promote optimum well-being. The objective was to set 



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