88 



mate of the quantities of nutrients and energ}^ per man per day in the 

 food for the preceding year would at least give some indication of what 

 thej'^ might be during the year in which the studies were made. With 

 i-egard to the assumption that the average of the results of the studies 

 with regard to food eaten, wasted, etc., may be taken as representative 

 of the whole population, it may be stated that the number of persons 

 included in the studies was more than half of the total population, and 

 indeed considerably more if the number of women be considered as 

 equivalent to eight-tenths the same number of men. The larger part 

 of the population, nearly three-fourths, consisted of men, and the 

 different classes of male patients were believed to be fairly well repre- 

 sented in the studies made. The groups of employees included in the 

 studies were also considered representative. It therefore seems rea- 

 sonably fair to make the comparison as given in the table above. 



From the data thus compared it would appear that the amount of 

 food lost in the kitchen in connection with the preparation and cooking 

 of food and transferring it to dishes to be carried to the dining room 

 was sufficient to supply 11 grams of protein and 701 calories of energy 

 per man per day. 



TOTAL DINING-ROOM AND KITCHEN WASTE. 



Combining the data in Tables 33 and 34 above regarding waste of 

 returned food and dining-room and kitchen wastes would indicate that 

 the total loss of food in these ways was sufficient to furnish on an 

 average 30 grams of protein and 1,215 calories of energy per man per 

 day. Similar computations from the results for food supplied and 

 food consumed in the studies made in the New York hospitals^' showed 

 a loss sufficient to supply 10 grams of protein and 1,143 calories of 

 energy per man per day. In other words, in respect to actual nutri- 

 tive value, the loss in the Government hospital was about 25 per cent, 

 and in the New York hospitals about 30 per cent of that of the total 

 food. In institutions of this sort some loss of food is inevitable, and 

 what might perhaps reasonably be considered a normal amomit may 

 be an appreciable proportion of the total provided. Even in private 

 families and in boarding houses, not all the food purchased is actually 

 eaten. In upwards of 500 dietaiy studies of such groups in different 

 parts of this country, the waste of food among private families has 

 ranged from practically none, where the diet was extremely simple, 

 to as high with a more varied diet as 8 or 10 per cent of the total pur- 

 chased; and in boarding houses and students' clubs, even where economy 

 was desired and sought, it has been not uncommonly 10, and in some 

 exceptional cases even 20 per cent. In larger establishments, such as 

 hospitals for the insane, economy in dietary management is a more 



« N. Y. State Com. Lunacy Rpt. 13 (1900-1901), p. 116. 



