276 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



the autlior's opinion, does not detract from the vahie of toast as a food for invalids 

 and others^ requiring- a wteriUi^ed food jjroihict, Ijut indic^ates that, as far as tlie digesti- 

 bility of nutrients is concerned, bread is preferable to toast. 



"Toast is a sterile food wliile some breads contain various ferment bodies which 

 have not V)een destroyed in baking, as the interior of tlie loaf is not heated above the 

 boiling point of water. The ferment and fungus bodies present in unclean flour 

 undergo incubation during the process of digestion, particularly if the digestion is in 

 any way impaired. In the case of normal digestion, however, these bodies do not 

 develop to any appreciable extent because the digestive tract disinfects itself. Micro- 

 scopic examination of the feces, particularly of those when the diet consisted of gra- 

 ham or entire wheat ijreads, showed that the.se fungus bodies had undergone the 

 incubation process during digestion. The patent grades of tiour produced by the 

 roller process of milling contain less of these ferment bodies than eitlier graham or 

 entire-wheat tiour. This is because tlie bran and germ parts of wheat which are 

 inchided in the graluun and entire wheat flours are the parts which contain the 

 ferment bodies. . . . 



"In case it is necessary to use a sterilized food, as toast, in the dietary it is more 

 economical to prepare it at home from flour of good (juality than it is to purchase it 

 in the form of so-called health foods. . . . 



" It would appear that the prolonged action of heat in the preparation of foods les- 

 sens the digestibility of the protein but not of the carb(jhydrates. The two classes 

 of nutrients in foods, proteids and carliohydrates, are evidently affected in a differ- 

 ent way, as far as the total digestibility is concerned, the carbohydrates being made 

 more easy to digest and the proteids less completely digestible by the prolonged 

 action of heat. Since in many of our foods, particularly the grains, the carbohydrates 

 are by far the most abundant class of nutrients, the action of heat in their prepara- 

 tion has a favorable influence in making food more easy of digestion rather than 

 affecting tiie completeness of the process. 



"A study of the results of two series of digestion experiments with man showed 

 that when milk formed a part of the ration the nutrients, especially protein, are 

 more comi)letely digested than when no milk is consumed. According to the author: 



"When milk was used in a ration, with ))read, butter, beans, eggs, and i)otatoes, 

 all of tlie protein of the milk was digested, and in addition 4.91 per cent more of the 

 protein of the other foods with which it was combined was digested than when the 

 milk was omitted." 



This suggested that the enzyms present in milk might assist in th3 digestion of 

 other foods, therefore the author studied the digestive power of milk by treating 

 samples of toast weighing 10 gm. with 10 cc. of milk and 90 cc. of water for 2 hours 

 at a temperature of 98.5°. It was found that on an average 12.25 per cent of the 

 total protein of the bread present was digested. When pasteurized milk was used, 

 7.6 per cent of the protein was digested. On account of the coagulation of the 

 albumen, the author states that experiments could not be made with sterilized milk. 

 "The soluble ferments of milk evidently exert a material influence as digestive 

 agents, and fresh milk is a digestive fluid, as well as a food of high nutritive value." 



The experiments on the digestibility of oatmeal and the comparative digestibility 

 of bread made from flour from different grades have been noted from another pub- 

 lication (E. 8. R., 13, p. 370). 



Report on a standard emergency ration, M. E. Jaffa {Califorwa Sta. Rpt. 

 1899-1901, pt. 1, pp. 54-56) .—A healthy young man (one of the California University 

 students) lived for 5 days on an emergency ration which is marketed in the form of 

 tablets. He lost weight, and in other ways, according to the author, showed a con- 

 dition of lowered vitality. The conclusion is drawn that the ration did not supply 

 sufficient nourishment. The composition of the ration is reported. In the author's 



