28 THECUBAREVIEW 



to digest starch. Thus, milk sugar is part of the natural food of the infant whose digestive 

 organs are, as yet, unable to convert starch into an assimilable form. 



In times of great exertion or exhausting labor, the rapidity with which sugar is assimi- 

 lated gives it certain advantages over starch and makes it prevent fatigue. 



This latter quality, which renders it more rapidly available for muscular power, may 

 account for the fact that sugar is so relished by people who are doing muscular work, and by 

 those of very active habits, such as children. 



The American farmer ranks high among agriculturists as a rapid and enduring worker, 

 and his consumption of sweets is known to be very large. The same is true of lumbermen and 

 others who work hard in the open air; sugar and sweet cakes are favorite foods with them. 

 Dietary studies carried on in the winter lumber camps of Maine showed that large quantities 

 of cookies, cakes, molasses, and sugar were eaten, sugar of all sorts suppljang on an average 

 10 per cent of the total energy of the diet. 



The value of sugar in cold climates, where foods containing starch are not available, 

 is evident, and in the outfit of polar expeditions sugar is now given an important place. 



Oriental races are very fond of sweets, as often noted by travelers. Certain forms of 

 •confectionery are very popular in Turkey and other regions of the East, and in tropical lands 

 the consumption of dates, figs, and other sweet fruits is very large. In a discussion(/i;) of the 

 food of the natives of India the great value set on sweetmeats or sugar by the Hindoo popula- 

 tion of all classes is pointed out. Large quantities of brown or white sugar are used to sweeten 

 the boiled milk, which is a common article of diet, and sugar is also used with sour milk, rice, 

 cheese, and other foods. It has also been said that the employer who will not furnish the native 

 laborers with the large amounts of sugar they desire in their daily ration must expect to lose 

 his workmen. 



Certain rowing clubs in Holland have reported very beneficial results from the use of 

 large amounts of sugar in training. 



Pfltiger, who devoted so much attention to glycogen and other carbohydrates, says that 

 undoubtedly sugar in the blood is heavily drawn on during violent exercise; hence the longing 

 for it in a form that can be rapidly assimilated. 



Its use by mountain climbers is well knowTi. The Swiss guide considers lump sugar and 

 highly sweetened chocolate an indispensable part of his outfit. 



This brief summary serves to show the use which is made of sugar when severe work is 

 performed, and some of the experimental data which indicate that this custom is justified. 



SUGAR AS A FAT FORMER 



Sugar, like starch, is fattening; that is, when taken in excess it may be transformed into 

 fat and stored as reserve material. On this account physicians commonly advise that sugar be 

 sparingly used by the corpulent. This advice is given because sugar in the form of candy or 

 other sweets is often taken as an accessory to an already abundant diet. 



A practical illustration of the use of sugar as a fattening food is found in the use of both 

 sugar and molasses in fattening farm animals, the fat so produced being found firm and of 

 good quaUty. In sugar-producing regions it is a common constituent of the rations of horses 

 and mules, and it is fed to dairy cattle and to fattening steers. In Louisiana, for example, it is 

 the usual practice to feed "black strap" molasses to plantation horses and mules at the rate 

 of 8 to 12 pounds per head per day. So common has its use become for farm animals in general 

 that many mixed rations are now on the market which contain molasses as one of their chief 

 constituents. Sometimes the materials added are used principally to absorb the molasses 

 and make it more convenient to feed. The molasses, of course, contains practically no protein, 

 the body-building material, and frequently materials are mixed with it which are rich in this 

 constituent in order that the mixed feed may constitute a well-balanced ration. 



SUGAR AS A FLAVOR 

 In addition to its value as a food, sugar is important in the diet as a flavor, one which the 

 cook could not easily spare, as it now enters into a great variety of dishes. Indeed its agreeable 

 flavor has always constituted one of the chief reasons for its use, and will continue to do so, 

 even though we make use of the abundance of relatively cheap sta»chy materials we possess 

 which theoretically may readily take the place of sugar as a food. 

 k Jour. Trop. Med. (London) 9 (1906), p. 310. 



