FOODS — HUMAN NUTEITION. 69 



of the Atwater-Rosa type. During the first four days of the experiments one- 

 third whole milk with 5 per cent dextrimaltose was the low-protein ration fed. 

 The amount of protein was gradually increased until the end of the experiments. 

 Full data are given regarding the protein balance and the energy metabolism 

 during the periods of low- and high-protein diet. From the experiments the fol- 

 lowing conclusions are drawn : 



" Protein when fed in excess of need causes an increase in the energy metabo- 

 lism. The increase is in proportion to the amount of protein oxidized, and not 

 to the amount of protein added to the body. Protein when fed in excess does 

 not reduce the amount of fat and carbohydrate metabolized, but the fat and 

 carbohydrate need remains fairly constant, and unless the minimal need of fat 

 and carbohydrate is supplied in the food the organism will draw on its stored-up 

 fat and glycogen to supply the difference between the amount fed and that which 

 is metabolized. 



" When protein is fed greatly above its need it tends to produce a condition 

 of stupor which assumes serious proportions if such feeding is continued. This 

 stupor gradually disappears as protein is reduced in the diet. This condition 

 is best considered as a protein-food injury and constitutes a clinical entity as 

 definite in its symptomatology as that which arises from too prolonged use of 

 a rich carbohydrate diet. 



" The protein need of the growing infant is supplied when 7 per cent of its 

 caloric need is furnished in protein calories. A general rule which will approxi- 

 mate the protein need is to furnish f oz. of whole, skimmed, or top milk per 

 pound weight of child, or if the metric system is applied, -j?^ of the body weight 

 in skimmed, whole, or top milk. To keep the protein calories in any formula 

 approximately 7 per cent of the total, the following rule regarding the addition 

 of sugar or cereal gruels, or both, may be followed : For each ounce of whole 

 milk add J oz. of sugar or cereal. For each ounce of top 16 oz. (7 per cent) 

 milk add i oz. of sugar or cereal. For each ounce of top 10 oz. (10 per cent) 

 milk add i oz. of sugar or cereal. 



" It is clearly recognized that rules outlined for feeding for nutritional pur- 

 poses only can not be followed when one feeds a food for therapeutic as well as 

 nutritional purposes, hence the feeding of albumin or skimmed milk, i. e., a high 

 protein food, is justified on the ground of its being a therapeutic measure and 

 should be discontinued when the therapeutic indication no longer exists." 



Ninety-three persons infected by a typhoid carrier at a public dinner, W. 

 A. Sawyer (Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 63 {191 J,), No. 18, pp. 1537-1542, fig. 1).— 

 This article reports the investigation of an epidemic of typhoid fever caused 

 by eating food at a public dinner. 



The food was found to have been infected by a typhoid carrier who had no 

 knowledge of ever having had the disease. A study of the manner in which 

 tlie infection reached the food fastened suspicion on a dish of Spanish spa- 

 ghetti. This dish, which contained a thickening sauce composed chiefly of 

 milk, was prepared by the carrier in her home on the day before the dinner. 

 The baking of the dish was done at the dining hall during the morning before 

 the meal. As there was ample time for the dish to become infected with the 

 typhoid organisms during its preparation, it was only necessary to prove that 

 the dish was a favorable medium for the growth of the typhoid bacillus and 

 that the final baking of the dish had been insufficient to sterilize it, in order to 

 prove definitely that the spaghetti had been the source of infection. To deter- 

 mine these two points laboratory experiments were conducted which produced 

 valuable data regarding the temperatures reached in baking as carried out by 

 the ordinary household methods. 



