GOVERNMENTAL REGULATION OF FOODS 347 



put into a calorimeter at Middlotown, Conn., it was found tliat ho lost 

 from his body nearly if not quite as much heat as the average man of his 

 age and stature. To keep himself in an equilibrium of substance it 

 would therefore be absolutely necessary for him to take at least this 

 quantity of potential energy in the form of food. 



A few months ago a certain New York daily widely advertised the 

 light diet by sending on foot to Chicago a woman who claimed to be 

 living on nuts, salads, orange Juice and the like. When she arrived at 

 Chicago it was found that she weighed some 12 pounds less than when 

 she left New York and yet the feat was declared to be a "triumph" 

 of the woman's regimen of light foods. As a matter of fact she had 

 not lived on these light foods alone, but had lived largely at the expense 

 of her own body fat. In other words, she had a large part of her fuel 

 for the trip already in storage. If the twelve pounds which she lost 

 were all fat, as it probably was, this alone furnished a large part of the 

 energy of walking for the forty days (I believe it was) ; for every ounce 

 of fat burned from her own tissues gave about 250 calories of energy 

 and in 12 pounds there would be 48,000 calories or about 1,200 calories 

 a day. If she had added 4.8 ounces of fat or a little more than twice 

 as much starch or sugar every day to her bill of fare she would have 

 arrived in Chicago weighing as much as when she left New York. 



Cold weather raises the requirement for energy, for the body loses 

 more heat to its environment, unless this heat is kept in by warm rooms 

 or warm clothing. The law of energ}^ requirement applies most severely 

 therefore to those who can least afford to buy a large supply of food. 

 How important it is that their money should be made to go as far as 

 possible ! The pure-food law at present operates to protect those who 

 use more highly flavored foods and drinks rather than the poor. If 

 every kind of food purveyed in packages, tins, bottles, etc., bore a label 

 stating its energy value the poor and all would soon learn how to make 

 the money go farthest. 



When it comes to the actual task of calculating the body's require- 

 ments it is customary to begin with minimal conditions. A person, 

 uses the least energy when he is resting and fasting and is kept warm — 

 lying in bed for example. When he moves about — that is, does muscular 

 work, when he digests a meal, or when he is exposed to cold, he uses 

 more energ)^ The average utilization in twenty-four hours under 

 minimal conditions is about fourteen calories per pound of actual body 

 weight, or for a man of average weight (154 lbs.) 2,150 calories. We 

 should not miss it far if we should say that a person sitting up would 

 use one calorie per pound more (2,300). And if he digests three meals 

 a day he uses an additional calorie per pound (2,450). If, now, he does 

 light muscular work, like typewriting, he uses about 25 calories per 

 hour for this work, or in eight hours 200 calories, making the total for 

 a man of average weight 2,650 calories. 



