452 Our Surroundings 



Americans eat too much protein food. The results of the best 

 investigations show that of the total daily nutriment ten per cent 

 protein is sufficient to supply the needs of the body. This means 

 ten Calories of protein out of every one hundred Calories of food. 

 Many people eat two or three times as much. Any amount above 

 what is needed tends to putrify in the body and causes the produc- 

 tion of uric acid, which is dangerous to health. 



Another error is the wide use of the so-called refined foods 

 from which the mineral salts, so essential to the health of the body, 

 have been removed. White flour is not the only food substance 

 deprived of these salts. Many foods have in the course of refine- 

 ment lost valuable qualities. Included in this loss are the inval- 

 uable vitamins, the lack of which is believed to cause disorders 

 like scurvy. 



The eating of food kept from decomposition by the use of 

 so-called preservatives like boric acid, formaldehyde and saccharin 

 is believed to be bad for the health. Errors in diet should be 

 avoided, as far as possible, in the great fight for the prevention of 

 disease and the prolongation of life. 



Fatigue. Fatigue may be due to the lack of sufficient energy- 

 making food to support prolonged work, or to the accumulation 

 of waste material in the blood and in the cells, which acts as 

 poison to the system. In the former case, relief will come from 

 rest, sleep and a new supply of nutriment; in the latter case, by 

 an increased amount of physical exercise and careful attention 

 to the excretory processes of the body. 



Poisons. Not only is illness caused by poison produced in 

 the body but often by external poison. The latter is especially 

 apt to occur to persons engaged in work where lead, phosphorus 

 and other chemicals are used, as in the making of glazed cards, 

 Japan ware, matches, lead type and cosmetics. Workers engaged 

 in industries where these poisonous substances are used should 

 take every precaution to prevent their absorption into the system. 



Parasites. Although wrong eating, fatigue and poisons are 

 the causes of much illness, a far greater number of dangerous dis- 

 eases is brought about by the presence in the body of parasitic 

 organisms, especially microorganisms. 



