ABSORPTION, STORAGE, AND ASSIMILATION 181 



may also liberate energy, prove injurious. It is because 

 foods are of such a chemical nature that they are adapted 

 in all respects to the body plan of taking up and using 

 materials, while the other substances are lacking in some 

 particular. 



Why Alcohol is not a Food. If the passage of alcohol 

 through the body is followed, it is seen, in the first place, 



B 



FIG. 80. Diagrams illustrating the relation of nutrients and the non- 

 relation of these to alcohol. A. Inter-relation and convertibility of proteids, 

 fats, and carbohydrates (after Hall). 



B. Diagram showing disposition of alcohol if this substance is taken in 

 quantity corresponding to that of the nutrients (F. M. W.). The alcohol 

 thrown off as waste is unoxidized and yields no energy. 



that it is a simple liquid and undergoes no digestive change >, 

 and in the second place, that it is rapidly absorbed from 

 the stomach in both weak and concentrated solutions. 

 This introduces it quickly into the blood, and once there, 

 it diffuses rapidly into the lymph and then into the cells. 

 Since the body cannot store alcohol or convert it into some 

 nutrient that can be stored (Fig. 80), there is no way of 



