444 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



DIETARY STUDIES. 



The results of fifteen studies have already been published in bulletins 

 of the Office of Experiment Stations. A study made with a football 

 team in active training is of interest. It was undertaken especially to 

 secure information regarding the food consumption of men perform- 

 ing severe work under known conditions. 



Such data are of value in determining dietary standards, especially the 

 relative amounts of nutrients required by persons performing different 

 amounts of muscular work. A study of the food consumption of the 

 family of a professional man adds further data to those already accu- 

 mulated in this line. The dietary studies with infants have been by 

 far the most detailed of any which have been carried on in this country, 

 covering in one case the total food consumed by a child from the 

 second to the thirteenth month of its age. Four studies have been 

 reported. The results are of value in throwing light upon the ques- 

 tion of the relative food consumption of children of different ages, 

 and affording material for computing dietary standards for infants. 



Rice is popularly supposed to constitute the chief food of Chinese, 

 not only at home but in this country. In order to obtain information 

 regarding the peculiarities of the diet of the Chinese in this country 

 three studies were made of Chinese living in or near San Francisco. 

 The results indicate that the diet is not as unusual as is ordinarily 

 supposed, and that while rice forms a considerable portion of the rations 

 their diet can by no means be considered as even approaching a vege- 

 tarian diet. The rice constituted between one-third and one-half of 

 the total food consumed, and held much the same relation to the total 

 food of the Chinese as do bread and other cereals, starches, etc., to 

 the total food of the ordinary American family. 



While fruit and nuts are ordinarily considered in the light of 

 accessory or supplementary foods, there are those who live entirely 

 upon these articles of diet. In order to find the actual consumption of 

 nutrients and energy by such persons studies were made of the food con- 

 sumption of a family living almost entirely upon fruits and nuts. The 

 investigation is still being pursued and the results thus far obtained 

 are not sufficient to warrant any definite conclusions. It is very notice- 

 able, however, that the actual amounts of nutrients and energy in the 

 diets of the persons studied were much smaller than is ordinarily found 

 in diets of average persons under like conditions of age, sex, and 

 muscular activity. In all seven dietary studies have been made with 

 fruitarians. 



DIGESTION EXPERIMENTS. 



Two digestion experiments have been made; one with an infant and 

 one with a child living upon a diet made up entirely of fruits and 



