FOODS NUTRITION. 181 



sesses this property to such a degree that the claims made by some manufacturers 

 that it is a 'complete remedy for constipation' would probably hold true in most 

 cases. 



"The low-grade flours and the middlings carry quite high percentages of ash which 

 are valuable in nutrition. All these nutrients found in the low-grade flour and mid- 

 dlings enter into the entire-wheat flour, and upon them depend the differences 

 between entire wheat flour and patent flour." 



Studies on the nutritive value of different sorts of bread carried on in cooperation 

 with this Department are summarized. (See below.) 



A milling- experiment with entire-wheat flour, C. D. Woods and L. H. Mer- 

 rill (Maine Sta. Bui. 103, pp. 77-80). — The details of a milling experiment are 

 reported in which so-called entire-wheat flour was ground from No. 1 hard north- 

 western spring wheat. 



"At this mill, and at all mills where we have been given definite information, the 

 ( leaned wheat is crushed between rollers and purified in the same way as in the 

 manufacture of patent flour, with the exception that all the product other than 

 the bran is included in the flour." 



From the 1,031 lbs. of wheat ground 81.9 per cent entire-wheat flour and 17.5 per 

 cent bran were obtained, the loss in milling being 0.6 percent. The yield of bran 

 was somewhat smaller than usual according to available data. The authors note 

 that it was well cleaned and that the yield could not have been greatly increased 

 with this particular wheat with further treatment. "On the other hand, the flour 

 contained less crude fiber than most samples of entire-wheat flour examined at this 

 station, and under the microscope there was less of the outer layers of bran cells than 

 in most flours of this class. . . . Apparently the flour differed from straight patent 

 flour only in containing the middlings, red-dog, and second clear flours, which are 

 kept out of the high-grade patent." 



Analyses of the wheat, flour, and bran are reported. Of the total nitrogen of the 

 wheat 80 per cent was found in the flour and 20 per cent in the bran. In the case 

 of ash 42.5 per cent was found in the flour and 57.5 per cent in the bran. 



Wheat flour and bread, H. Sxyder and C. D. Woods ( U.S. Dept. Agr. Yearbook 

 1903, pp. 347-362). — Some of the data obtained in experiments carried on in coopera- 

 tion with this Office are summarized and discussed. According to the authors, 

 "while the coarser grades are not more nutritious than the finer flours, there are 

 many cases in which they are especially desirable, as, for instance, for persons of 

 sedentary habit and occupation, because their stimulating of the alimentary tract 

 may help to procure a larger secretion of the digestive juices and also to overcome a 

 tendency to constipation. This, however, is a purely physiological action, and 

 should be considered apart from the nutritive value. 



"Finally, it may be said that wheat flour of all the various grades is one of the 

 cheapest, most digestible, and most nutritious of human foods, and well worthy of 

 the high estimation in which it is generally held. The use of different sorts of wheat 

 flour is a convenient way of giving variety to the diet, a matter which is of no little 

 importance." 



Studies on the digestibility and nutritive value of bread, C. D. Woods and 

 L. H. Merrill ( U. S. Dept. Agr., Office of Experiment Stations Bui. 143, pp. 77). — The 

 results of a number of natural and artificial digestion experiments with bread made 

 from standard patent, whole wheat, and Graham flour, ground from the same lots of 

 wheat, were in accord with those obtained in earlier investigations of this series 

 (E. S. R., 15, p. 63), and showed that the patent flour is slightly inferior to the 

 coarser flour as regards composition, but is superior as regards digestibility, so that 

 in general it may be said that bread made from all the common grades of flour is 

 quite thoroughly digested and differs little in nutritive value. The investigations 

 emphasize the fact that breads of all sorts are among the most useful and economical 



