EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 165 



PART TWO. 



It is well understood, by physicians, that quite a large per cent of ailments 

 and diseases of mankind are primarily due to faulty nutrition. It is a very com- 

 mon thing to meet a person suffering from disorders of the stomach or other ali- 

 mentary organs, more or less directly traceable to the food consumed. Food either 

 is not well prepared or such great haste is made in eating that it enters the 

 stomach in a wholly unfit condition. Here, because of improper preparation, the 

 digestive fluids of the body are unable to break it down easily, and putrefactive 

 fermentations are liable to set in, resulting in the production of toxic substances, 

 which bring about a condition known as autointoxication as a result of which the 

 blood becomes overloaded with refuse and poisonous material. Improperly cooked 

 foods, too concentrated foods and hasty eating, it would seem, all may combine 

 to i'avor this condition. 



THE ORIGINAL BREAKFAST FOOD. 



Modern breakfast foods or the so called predigested foods were undoubtedly 

 manufactured, originally, to ameliorate to some degree, this condition, and in some 

 respects that end has been accomplished. But in this class of goods, as in many 

 others, the original purpose, in most cases, has been lost sight of, consequently the 

 name or brand now has comparatively no significance, and many of the claims 

 seemingly, are not well taken. 



Much effort has been made, of late, by scientists to put the nutrition problems 

 of man on a scientific basis, and their success is shown, in a degree by the 

 prevalence of certificates of analysis on the outside of packages. It is an easy 

 thing to print a chemical analysis on the outside of a package, but it is quite 

 another thing to place thereon an analysis that gives one an insight into the value 

 of that food from a nutritive standpoint. It is a common thing to see a breakfast 

 food package nearly covered with technical statements relating to its good 

 qualities, statements frequently misleading and sometimes quite fallacious. 



DISCUSSION OF RESULTS. 



Table II shows a complete analysis of the different foods examined. A glance 

 at the column headed "crude protein" shows that there is a considerable amount 

 of variation in this constituent. It will be noticed that by far the greater part, 

 of these cereal products, consists of the carbohydrates which includes the starches, 

 sugars and dextrin. It is this latter class that is altered ih the treatment or so 

 called predigestion of the food. The analyses given in Table II may be taken as 

 representing, in a degree, the condition of the food before treatment, — the carbo- 

 hydrates being then practically all starch.* After treatment the total amount of 

 carbohydrates is the same except, that some of the starch has been changed to 

 sugar and dextrin, and then appears (in Table III) under the heading "soluble 

 in water." It will be noticed again (in Table II) that the oatmeals contain much 

 more protein than do the wheat products. Protein is the most expensive com- 

 pound in food stuffs, and hence from the standpoint of protein the superiority 

 of oatmeal is apparent. It should also be observed that oatmeal, or the oat 

 products, contain more fat than do the products from wheat, and for this reason 

 also it is superior. These two facts are rendered apparent in the column headed 

 "fuel value,"t for here the different foods are compared with reference to their 

 heat producing values and as we should naturally expect from the above, rolled 

 oats, or oatmeal, leads as a source of fuel. The fuel value as computed on the 

 following basis which has been demonstrated to be substantially correct.^ 



Protein 5,900 calories per gram 



Fiber 4,200 



Fat 9,300 



Carbohydrates 4,200 



*0f course in the original condition before treatment there are some carbohydrates present, 

 other than starch, such as the Pentose carbohydrates, etc., but starch constitutes by far the major 

 portion. 



fThe fuel value of a food stuff as determined by the calorimeter is higher as a rule than when 

 burned in the body, hence it is not strictly correct to take, as thoroughly accurate, the values as 

 determined by the calorimeter. 



J Bui. 84 Internal Revenue Dept. Ottawa. 



