628 METABOLISM 



MUNICIPAL FOOD STATISTICS 



It is certain that man can lead a normal existence and remain in good 

 health, on very much less protein than the 100 grams which statistical 

 studies show to be the amount he actually takes. This discrepancy be- 

 tween the amount which experiment demonstrates to be adequate and 

 that which habit and custom demand, raises the question as to whether, 

 after all, our instincts may not have erred and so made us unnecessarily 

 extravagant in our protein intake. It has been suggested that such pro- 

 tein extravagance will in various ways have a deleterious effect on the 

 organism; thus, that the excretory organs, such as the kidneys, will be 

 overtaxed in eliminating the unused amino acids, that the constant pres- 

 ence of these bodies in excess in the blood will cause degeneration and 

 sluggish metabolism, and that the excess protein in the intestine will 

 lead to the production of poisonous decomposition products, the subse- 

 quent absorption of which into the blood will cause toxemic symptoms. 



Important support to such views appeared to be supplied some dozen 

 years ago by Chittenden, who was able to show that he himself and many 

 other persons doing different kinds of work could be supported on daily 

 amounts of protein that were not more than from one-third to one-half 

 of the amount usually taken. Not only so, but it was averred that dis- 

 tinct improvement was experienced in the general sense of well-being 

 and of mental efficiency as a result of the lesser protein consumption. 



Taking these results as a whole, it is quite clear that man can get 

 along under ordinary conditions with much less protein than he usually 

 takes; but that really proves nothing, for the question is not can he, but 

 should he, so deprive himself? Are instinct and custom wrong and is 

 Chittenden right ? That is the question. To answer it many studies have 

 been made of the condition of peoples who for economic or other rea- 

 sons are compelled to live on less protein than the average. Are these 

 people healthier, less prone to infections and degenerative diseases, and 

 more efficient mentally than others? In such studies great care must be 

 exercised to see that conditions other than diet, such as climate, exercise, 

 etc., are properly allowed for. It would not be fair, for example, to 

 compare the mental and bodily condition of peoples living in the tropics 

 and who take comparatively little protein, with those living in temperate 

 zones, who consume much more. After discounting' all of these other 



