DIETETICS. 943 



quota of 100 grams of protein the following amounts of different 

 foods, expressed in their heat values, would be required: 



Meat 495 Coarse bread 4552 



Eggs 1133 Fine bread 4720 



Cheese 1704 Potatoes 5000 



Milk 2070 Rice 5600 



Corn 4104 



It is evident from this table that a person leading a sedentary 

 life who used a vegetable diet alone would be required, in order to 

 obtain his necessary protein, to consume much more carbohy- 

 drate than from an energy standpoint was needed by the body. 

 As Cohnheim points out, the animal foods are for this reason espe- 

 cially suited to supply the protein needs of those who lead a com- 

 paratively inactive life. In practical dieting we are accustomed 

 to get our supply of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates from both 

 vegetable and animal foods. To illustrate this fact by an actual 

 case, in which the food was carefully analyzed, an experimenter 

 weighing 67 kgms. records that he kept himself in nitrogen equilib- 

 rium upon a diet in which the protein was distributed as follows: 



300 gms. meat = 63.08 gms. protein = 9.78 gms. N. 



666.3 c.c. milk = 18.74 " " = 2.905 " " 



100 gms. rice = 7.74 " " = 1.2 " " 



100 " bread = 11.32 " " = 1.755 " " 



500 c.c. wine = 1.17 " = 0.182 gm. " 



102.05 " " = 15.868 gms. " 



For a person in health and leading an active, normal life, appetite 

 and experience seem to be safe and sufficient guides by which to 

 control the diet; they may be relied upon, at least, to protect the 

 body from undernutrition. The opposite danger of overeating 

 is a real one, particularly among those who do not lead an active 

 life. It is, however, a hygienic offence that is usually committed 

 knowingly and may consequently be controlled by those who have 

 sufficient wisdom. Physiological knowledge emphasizes clearly 

 enough the great fact that the mechanisms of nutrition and 

 digestion, like the other mechanisms of the body, should not be 

 subjected to unnecessary strain. For those who are in health, 

 the important rule to follow in the matter of diet is to avoid an 

 excess in eating. In conditions of disease, in regulating the diet 

 of children or of collections of individuals, as in the army, navy, 

 etc., it is necessary for purposes of hygiene or for purposes of 

 economy to arrange the diet in accordance with the knowledge 

 obtained from experience and from scientific investigations. 

 In this direction much has already been accomplished, but more 

 remains to be done, particularly perhaps in the relation of diet to 

 pathological conditions. 



