CHAPTER VIII 



THE EFFECTS OF THE LEVEL OF PROTEIN 



METABOLISM ON THE PHYSIQUE AND GENERAL EFFICIENCY 

 OF DIFFERENT TROPICAL TRIBES AND RACES 



WE have now discussed the general effects of a low protein 

 dietary, as exemplified by the Bengali, and showed that, from 

 whatever point of view taken, the conclusion must be arrived 

 at that his physique, capabilities of work, health, and resistance 

 to disease, all suffer on account of his low level of protein 

 metabolism. Before proceeding to an examination of the other 

 tribes and races, it may be well to pause and ask ourselves the 

 question : May there not be other factors beside the meagre 

 protein interchange that must be taken into account before the 

 condition of defective nutrition can be ascribed to the protein 

 element of the Bengali's diet ? 



Although our views on the relationship of food to physical 

 development have been published for a number of years, so far 

 only two serious attempts have been made to explain the acknow- 

 ledged inferiority of the Bengali as due to causes other than 

 those related to diet. One of these we have already referred to 

 in Chapter IV. Chittenden believes the conditions met with in 

 the Bengali are due to an ill-balanced, unphysiological character 

 of his diet, and not to the limited amount of protein interchange 

 possible from it. We have already discussed the misconception 

 he was labouring under, and met his objections by simply 

 pointing out that the average dietary of the great mass of the 

 population is not of the ill-balanced type he considers it to be. 

 The misconception evidently arose in his mind from our con- 

 demnation of the Bengal Gaol dietaries, which are in reality in 

 no way representative of the diets of the people. We demon- 

 strated, judging by his own standard of what a well-balanced 

 diet should be, that the ordinary diet of the great bulk of the 

 population does not compare unfavourably in the amount of 



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