HOME ECONOMICS AND EDUCATION 657 



The figures given in Table I do not, then, represent the nutri- 

 ents actually available for the uses of the body, but those contained 

 in the food before it is eaten. Similarly the fuel value given is not 

 the heat of combustion of the food consumed, but that of the nutri- 

 ent actually oxidized in the body. 



The figures of Table II show the digestible nutrients and avail- 

 able energy in a number of common food materials, as computed 

 from the figures in Table I, by use of the proper factors. The figures 

 in the third column of Table II show the total quantity of indi- 

 gestible nutrients. The term used as the heading of the- last column, 

 nutritive ratio, or, as it is sometimes and perhaps more accurately 

 called, nutrient ratio, requires a word of explanation. The term 

 nutritive ratio is used to express the ratio of digestible protein to 

 digestible fuel ingredients (fats and carbohydrates) in any food ma- 

 terial or diet. In calculating this ratio 1 pound of fat is taken as 

 equivalent to 2*4 pounds of carbohydrates this being approximate- 

 ly the ratio of their fuel values so that the nutritive ratio is actually 

 tnat of the protein to the sum of carbohydrates plus 2^ times the 

 fat. As an example, take the nutritive ratio of corn meal. From 

 Table II we find it has 7.8 per cent of digestible protein, 73.9 per 

 cent of digestible carbohydrates and 1.7 per cent of digestible fat. 

 The nutritive ratio then may be expressed thus: 



Protein : Fuel ingredients. 



Protein : Carbohydrates plus 2*4 times fat. 

 7.8 :73.9 + (2% X 1.7)= 



7.8 : (73.9 + 3.82+ = 77.72) or 1 : 9.96, which is almost 

 1 :10. 



The values given in Table II, like those of Table I, represent 

 averages. There are, of course, a number of other foods which may be 

 and are used for human food to some extent. Many of these con- 

 tain large per cents of nutrients. A few of the uncommon ones are 

 cotton-seed meal and oil, cow peas, soy beans, peanut oil, and even 

 acorn meal used by Indians in California to make a very nutritious 

 bread. The most important of these will be described later. 



PECUNIARY ECONOMY OP FOOD. 



Although the cost of food is the principal item in the living ex- 

 penses of a large majority of the people, and although the physical 

 welfare of all is so intimately connected with and dependent upon 

 diet, very few of even the most intelligent have any clear ideas re- 

 garding the actual nutriment in the different food materials they 

 use. In too many cases even those who wish and try to economize 

 know very little as to the combinations which are best fitted for 

 their nourishment and have still less information as to the relation 

 between the real nutritive value of different foods and their cost. 

 The question here to be considered is this: Of the different food 

 materials which are palatable, nutritious, and otherwise suited for 

 nourishment, what ones furnish the largest amounts of available 

 nutrients at the lowest cost? In answering this question it is neces- 

 sary to take into account not only the prices per pound, quart, or 



