50 



THE PKOTEIN ELEMENT IN NUTRITION 



From an average of a considerable number of experiments by 

 Rubner, Atwater, Zuntz and Magnus-Levy, Goodfellow, and 

 others, Hutchison works out the loss of the nutritive constituents 

 of wholemeal and white bread, when it formed the main part of 

 the diet, as follows : 



There seems to be a considerable degree of confusion with 

 regard to the terms used in the description of breads. Thus 

 brown and wholemeal are used synonymously to apply to bread 

 prepared from flour containing part of the bran, but not the 

 germ ; whereas real wholemeal flour should contain the germ in 

 addition. There is a good deal of evidence that a large proportion 

 of the brown or wholemeal bread placed on the market is prepared 

 from low-grade flour, to which has been added a certain amount 

 of bran. As might be expected, the absorption of the nutritive 

 constituents of such bread must necessarily be poor. 



The most recent work on the absorption of the constituents of 

 different flours is that carried out by Professor Snyder in 

 Minneapolis for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Young 

 healthy men were fed on bread prepared from three flours : 



1. Graham, made by grinding the whole wheat. 



2. Entire wheat, corresponding approximately to " standard " 

 bread includes the germ and semolina. 



3. Patent, ordinary white flour of best quality. 



The proportions assimilated were ascertained by analyses of 

 the food taken, and of the total excreta over a period of time in 

 the usual way. The results obtained were 



These figures may be accepted as being as accurate as it is 

 possible to obtain with a material that varies in its chemical 



