THE DIETETIC VALUE OF FRUIT. 



BY PKOF. WILLIAM R. LAZENBY, COLUMBUS, OHIO. 



Given before the Society, March 19, 1910. 



In order to support life and growth and to maintain the strength 

 and efficiency of the human body, some things are absolutely neces- 

 sary. Among these, named perhaps in order of importance, are 

 pure air; wholesome, nutritious food; prompt and regular removal 

 of the excreta ; unbroken sleep ; and some form of muscular exercise. 



No one can long enjoy a full measure of health and strength 

 without due regard to each and every one of these. 



Pure air is placed first, for if this is lacking, however great the 

 attention to the others, health is soon undermined. 



Ordinarily we supply the body with food in three daily meals, 

 with intervals ranging from four to twelve hours, and this fully 

 meets the demands of the body through the stomach. The de- 

 mands of the body through the lungs are more imperious. They 

 require, at least, 20,000 meals a day, with intervals of only a few 

 seconds. But if pure air is absolutely essential to good health, 

 food is no less so. It is necessary to form the material of the body 

 and repair its wastes; it is also necessary to keep up the proper 

 temperature and furnish the muscular and other power that the 

 body exerts. In other words, it serves not only for building and 

 repair, but for fuel as well. 



Science teaches us that the energy of the sun which lights and 

 heats this restless planet we inhabit, is stored in wood and coal, 

 petroleum and gas, and is constantly being transformed into the 

 heat of the furnace, the light of the lamp, the power of the steam 

 engine, or into electricity and then into light or heat, or mechanical 

 power again. The same energy from the sun is stored in the pro- 

 tein, the fats, the carbohydrates of the various foods we use, and the 

 physiologists and chemists are today telling us how they are trans- 



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