EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 175 



CONCLUSIONS. 



1. The breakfast foods are legitimate and valuable foods. 



2. Predigestion has been carried on in the majority of them to a limited degree 

 only. 



3. The price for which they are sold is as a rule excessive and not in keeping 

 with their nutritive values. 



4. They contain as a rule, considerable fiber which, while probably rendering 

 them less digestible, at the same time may render them more wholesome to the 

 average person. 



5. The claims made for many of them are not warranted by the facts. 



6. The claim that they are far more nutritious than the wheat and grains from 

 which they are made is not substantiated. 



7. They are palatable as a rule and pleasing to the eye. 



8. The digestibility of these products as compared with highly milled foods 

 while probably favorable to the latter, does not give due credit to the former, 

 because of the healthful influence of the fiber and mineral matter in the breakfast 

 foods. 



9. Rolled oats or oatmeal as a source of protein and of fuel is ahead of the 

 wheat preparations, excepting of course the special Gluten foods, which are mani- 

 festlv in a different class. 



APPENDIX. 



The methods of analysis in the main were those adopted by the Association 

 of Official Agricultural Chemists. 



The water soluble was determined as follows: — Five grams, of the finely ground 

 material, was weighed into a wide mouthed, rubber stoppered bottle and treated 

 with 100 c. c. water. It was then placed in a rotating apparatus and rotated for 

 12 — 16 hours (over night) at the temperature of the laboratory room. The power 

 used being a small fan motor. It was then removed, the solution and substance 

 washed into a 250 c. c. flask made up to the mark and filtered. Aliquot portions 

 were then taken to determine water soluble, nitrogen, dextrin and maltose (sugar). 



Total Soluble. — 50 c. c. filtrate corresponding to 1 gram of the original was 

 evaporated to dryness on a steam bath in a weighed porcelain dish. This was then 

 dried for one hour in a self regulating electric drying oven at 150° C. and weighed. 

 Increase in weight— total solids soluble in cold water. 



Ash. — The above total solids was ignited in a muflle at a low heat until all the 

 carbon had been oxidized. This product substracted from the weight soluble gives 

 "Solids Not Ash." 



Nitrogen. — 50 c. c. original filtrate^^l gram food, was digested in a Kjeldahl 

 flask as for the estimation of nitrogen in the usual way. The result multiplied by 

 6.25 gave the protein equivalent as in the table.* 



Sugar was determined in the usual way by using Allihn's solution and esti- 

 mating the reduced copper by means of a Ferric salt and Standard Potassium Per- 

 manganate Solution. 



Dextrin. — 50 c. c.=l gram substance was evaporated nearly to dryness and 

 treated with 100 c. c. 90 per cent alcohol. The precipitate dextrin was filtered on 

 a tared filter and washed, dried and weighed. f 



Soluble Starch. — The clear solution was tested qualitatively for starch in solu- 

 tion by means of a very dilute Iodine Solution and found, in but a few cases, in 

 remarkably small amounts. 



Insoluble Starch, represents the carbohydrates remaining after the water soluble, 

 not ash, and protein have been removed. Direct determinations of starch were 

 made and checked reasonably close with the figures under this head. It includes 

 starch, small amounts of the pentose carbohydrates, etc. 



*It has been quite firnily established that the proteid compounds from different sources have 

 varying percentages of nitrogen but recognizing that these Breakfast foods are a combination of 

 cereals in some instances have prompted us to use the original factor Nx6.25 believing we have 

 by so doing secured a better comparison. 



tThe alcohol precipitate here is not pure Dextrin but may contain traces of proteids not thoroughly 

 eliminated. 



