54 PHYSIOLOGY 



foods. Wheat, oats or corn with some form of fat 

 forms an almost perfect food, that is, a food which 

 contains the proper proportions of proteids, fats and 

 starches. Bread and butter lack only a small amount 

 of proteid. Most breakfast foods are very bulky in 

 proportion to the amount of nutriment they contain. 



Vegetables are especially valuable because they con- 

 tain large quantities of sugar and starch. Some of 

 them are rich in proteid. They are valuable also be- 

 cause they contain salts and cellulose. Cellulose is not 

 nutritious but it is useful mechanically, for through its 

 bulk it aids the movement of the food through the canal. 



White potatoes, sweet potatoes, tapioca, bananas, are 

 rich in starch; melons, grapes, beets, in sugar; peas, 

 beans, peanuts, nuts, in proteids; olives, nuts, in fats; 

 cabbages, turnips, in cellulose. 



Milk and Eggs are very nearly perfect foods. Milk 

 contains water, salts, proteids, fats and sugar. Eggs 

 lack carbohydrates. 



Meat is valuable because it contains a great deal of 

 proteid that is more easily digested than plant proteid. 



Condiments such as spices, mustard, ginger, pepper, 

 stimulate the appetite but contain no nutriment. 



Beverages. — Tea and coifee are stimulating but not 

 nourishing. Cocoa and chocolate have a slight food 

 value on account of the fat they contain. These sub- 

 stances are not necessarily harmful if taken in mod- 

 eration with food, but they all contain a powerful drug 

 which is distinctly harmful if taken habitually in too 

 great quantities. Alcohol may be oxidized in the body, 

 and for this reason there has been some discussion as to 



