FOODS — HUMAN NUTRITION. 569 



The Behari diet included wlieat ata (flour) and sometimes Indian corn also, 

 as these natives are a wheat-eating rather than a rice-eating people, and 

 hence are accustomed to a diet with somewhat more protein than the Bengali. 

 In round numbers, the author states that the diets of Bengali prisoners sup- 

 plied 93 gm. protein, of which 49 gm. was assimilated, and those of Beharis 

 106 gm. with 60 gm. assimilated. The fuel values of the two diets were 3,508 

 and 3,415 calories, respectively. 



One cause of the low absorption of protein, according to the author, is the 

 fact that the full diet is so bulky. In his opinion, much evidence has been 

 advanced to show that a mere decrease in the bulk of the diet was sufficient 

 to permit of a greater relative and absolute absorption of protein. Extensive 

 experiments were carried on to determine the combinations of typical native 

 foods which would give the maximum absorption in the diet. For diets of 

 the Lower Bengal type the optimum quantity of rice was found to be 18 oz, 

 and of dal (dried legumes of different sorts) about 5 oz. per man daily. 



According to the author, the experimental work showed that " the absorption 

 from the diets in which the foodstuffs were combined in the proper quantities 

 was very much superior to that of the present scales of dietaries [in which this 

 was not the case] ; also that the percentage absorption was very much higher — 

 a great gain, as a much lessened amount of nitrogen remains to undergo intes- 

 tinal putrefaction." 



A larger proportion of protein is regarded as essential. As the author points 

 out, when the diet consists very largely of rice, the amount of protein may be 

 easily increased by the use of wheat, but where the quantity of wheat is already 

 quite sufficient, as in the Behar jails, the only v/ay of reducing the amount of 

 legume is to substitute some form of animal protein for it, and fish was sug- 

 gested. A special experiment was made in one of the jails with some 200 pris- 

 oners, covering 350 days, in which fish or wheat replaced part of the rice and 

 legumes usually eaten. 



From the data obtained the author concludes that " a diminution in the bulk 

 of the present type of diet is urgently called for, and that by the substitution of 

 a more assimilable form of protein in the form of fish or wheat ata for the 

 excess of rice and dal, the general well-being and physical condition of the 

 prisoners will be increased and placed on a higher level. The results also show 

 that a change in the dietary, such as we have suggested, can be quite simply 

 and easily carried out, and that, in a very short time, the early feeling of empti- 

 ness complained of passes away, the dilatation of the stomach so commonly met 

 with in a rice-eating people becoming distinctly diminished." 



" While the addition of an animal protein is not by any means essential, at the 

 same time there is little doubt that, if it were economically possible thus to 

 permit of a reduction of the amount of dal in both Lower Bengal and Behar 

 dietaries, the general health of the jails would improve. From investigations 

 on the microscopic compositions of the feces it would appear that the dal gran- 

 ule is the most difficult of all to break down, and that the slightest lowering of 

 the general health is usually accompanied by the passage of undigested dal." 



With respect to the cooking of the vegetable food materials such as were used 

 in the dietaries the autlior states that it was not possible to make any observa- 

 tions ; " but from the evidence afforded by other observers we would recommend 

 that the dal be ground to meal before being cooked. . . . Lentils given after 

 soaking and boiling show over 40 per cent of the protein unabsorbed ; whereas 

 when ground to lentil meal only from 8 to 10 per cent of the lentil protein passes 

 out in the feces." 



In connection with the work, the author also paid especial attention to the 

 relationship between the amount of rice eaten and the quantity of urine ex- 



