NATIONAL FOOD CONSUMPTION. 217 



TABLE XIV. 

 Population of Continental United States in Terms of Adult Men. 



Population Equivalent in 

 Year. Adult Men, January i. 



1912 79,571,000 



1913 80,930,000 



1914 82,289,000 



1915 83,648,000 



1916 85,007,000 



I917 86,366,000 



I918 87,724,000 



that the final figures in this paper, which are called " consumption 

 fig-ures," really include something mare than consumption in a nutri- 

 tional sense. They include the food actually eaten plus that which 

 is wasted by loss in cooking, in garbage, etc. It is necessary to be 

 entirely clear on this point. In calculating the nutrients in the in- 

 termediate calculations use has been made of factors which allowed 

 for inedible refuse, so that all of the inedible portion of the foods 

 as produced or imported have already been deducted in our calcu- 

 lations up to this point. Furthermore, gross losses from storage, 

 spoilage, transportation, etc., have been deducted. Even after all 

 these deductions have been made, however, it is obvious that there 

 is still a considerable amount of loss and wastage of strictly edible 

 material, which might be saved and consumed under a theoretically 

 ideal system of preparing food for the table plus a conscientious 

 ingestion of every bit of edible material. Of course, as a matter of 

 fact, neither of these theoretically ideal conditions at all prevail. 

 There is a considerable loss of nutrient values in the process of 

 cooking as ordinarily practiced. This loss is undoubtedly greater 

 for fats than for any other of the nutrients. It is a troublesome 

 and time-consuming process for the housewife to conserve and 

 utilize all of the fat which gets melted and floats about in the water 

 in which foods are cooked, or adheres to the utensils in which they 

 are cooked. Nor, in the minds of most people, is there any neces- 

 sity or desirability of saving this fat. In fact, a great many people 

 in this country object very strongly to what they designate as 

 "greasy cooking." Consequently, floating fat of soup stock is 

 skimmed off and thrown away in the vast majority of instances. 



