35 



Table S.— Nutrients and energy in food eaten and ivasted in dietary study No. 367. 



[Quantities per man per day.] 



Before thi.s study began it was the impression of both the dietitian 

 and the physician in charge that the amount of food eaten by these 

 patients was less than might be expected, though no definite reason 

 was assigned for this belief other than the fact that they were quiet, 

 non workers. The opinion proved to be justified. The quantities of 

 nutrients and energy, 72 grams of protein and 2,558 calories per man 

 per day, in the food eaten were smaller than those observed in a pre- 

 vious study (Table 4) with a somewhat similar class of patients — though 

 in that case some workers were included — and smaller as regards pro- 

 tein than the commonly accepted American dietary standard for men 

 in health with little or no muscular exercise, namely, 90 grams of pro- 

 tein and 2,450 calories of energy. It might be urged that the amounts 

 of food eaten were smaller than the patients required, but this is much 

 to be doubted, since the amounts provided were generous and the 

 patients were served more than they cared to eat. It may be that 

 though well prepared the food was not suited to their tastes. Consid- 

 ering the nature and amount of the food which they rejected, however, 

 it seems reasonably certain that they ate as much as they would have 

 cared for under any circumstances, and that this was abundantly suf- 

 ficient to satisfy their bodily needs, since their activity was slight. 



The food rejected in this study was enough to supply 20 grams of 

 protein, 17 grams of fat, 90 grams of carl)ohydrates, and 591 calories 

 of energy per man per day, or 22 per cent of the protein, 17 per cent 

 of the fat, 19 per cent of the carl)ohydrates, and 19 per cent of the 

 energy of the total food served. It is noticeable that the percentage 

 of protein rejected was larger than that of the carbohydrates, a con- 

 dition which is not often noted in dietary studies, though observed also 



