3GO CARBOHYDRATES. 



of carbohydrate material (meaning, of course, the dry amount of this 

 one principle), though fortunately, as mentioned under 'Fats,' it is 

 found that some of this large amount can be exchanged for fat, if the 

 body for any reason can better use the latter. Brain-workers and the 

 richer classes the world over take less of carbohydrates, at least in their 

 starch form, and more proteids and fats. 



44 It has been found that, as usually prepared, vegetable foods give up 

 to us from one-fourth to one-half less of their nutrients than do animal 

 foods, and especially is this true of those that are rich in proteids. To 

 illustrate: a workman eats as a part of his dinner a dish of boiled 

 beans ; but though he rightly considers that he has been eating a nour- 

 ishing dish, he has really absorbed only 60 per cent of the nitrogenous 

 substances contained in it, the other 40 per cent passing from him un- 

 used because of its intimate connection with the cellulose. 



" The starch part of vegetable food we seem to get out much better 

 than the proteid part, even with our ordinary methods of cooking; 

 thus, out of cooked rice we get almost 99 per cent of the starch, but 

 only 80 per cent of what proteid it contains; flour in the form of 

 noodles and macaroni yields up 98j per cent of its starch and 80 per 

 cent of its albumen; in the form of bread a little less of each. The 

 potato will give us only 75 per cent of what little proteid it contains, 

 but as high as 92^ per cent of its starch. 



"Although the starch-containing foods are cheap, and although 

 they yield up a good per cent of this nutritive principle, they must not 

 be used to excess for the following reasons : Starch must first be turned 

 into sugar by our digestive juices before it can be taken up into the 

 blood ; and if the stomach is given more at a time than it can master, 

 certain fermentations may take place and digestion be influenced. The 

 best authorities say that without doubt the continued and severe diar- 

 rheas of small children are due to the fermentation of starch foods for 

 which their digestive organs are not yet ready. 



" These fermentations, the irritating action on the bowels of too 

 much cellulose, and the loss of a good deal of proteid substance con- 

 nected with it, form the shady side of a vegetable diet. Even the ox 

 with his many stomachs gets out of grass and unchopped hay only 60 

 per cent of the proteids, and 50 per cent of the fats contained in it. 



" SUGARS. Most people would class sugar among the luxuries. Our 

 first concern, however, is with its food value. It gives us the high fig- 

 ure of 99 per cent of the third food principle, carbohydrates. That 



