Septembkr. 1917 



G L K A N I N G S IN B K K C IT L T U R E 



687 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



years ayo my fatlioi' sdld ciii^s in liis store at 

 k'li (eiils a dozen; Uut al lliat lime Cijsis 

 were selliiiii' at about t'orly cents; so unless 

 eg'g"s are considerably liiiiher in I'odd value 

 than honey they should be classed as a 

 greater luxury than hoiii'v. 



In regard to the price of butter, much the 

 •same situation prevails. At jireseut butter 

 is retailing at nearly twice the price of 

 honey. In fact, a pound of the best comb 

 honey can be bought as cheaj) as oleoma i'- 

 gariue. For some time duiing the last win- 

 ter honey was actually ciien]) r than "oleo." 



The facts are that while tlie prices of 

 most thing's have been soaring from fifty 

 to three hundred per cent during the past 

 year, honey did not advance at all for many 

 months; and the retail prices even now have 

 not been raised in proportion to other foods. 

 On the basis of price alone, however, no de- 

 cision can be reached, and we must, there- 

 fote, turn to the consideration of the other 

 deciding- factor — • 



2. Food value. Perhaps most people 

 ihiuk that in the "land flowing with milk 

 and honey" the milk furnished the substan- 

 tial part of the diet, and the honey was 

 simply dessert. It might be of interest to 

 all such to know that the food value of 

 honey is more than four times as much as 

 that of milk, so that honey is not only one 

 of the most delicate and delicious of all 

 foods, whether natural or manufactured, 

 but it also excels many if not most of them 

 in actual food value. 



Scientific investigation during the last 

 century has resulted in a great change in our 

 understanding of foods and the purpose of 

 eating. It was formerly sujiposed that food 

 was taken almo^st entirely for the purpose 

 of rebuilding wasted tissues. But it has 

 now been -proven that the body tissue wastes 

 only three or four ounces per day, and the 

 amount is practically the same whether we 

 rest or work (see "The Nutrition of a 

 Household," pp. 16, 17, by Brewstx^r). 

 Now% if we nesded to eat only to rebuild 

 this waste tissue, a very little food would be 

 sufficient. But C. Stanford Read, in his 

 book, "Fads and Feeding," points out the 

 importance of another purp( se of eating, 

 which is, to produce heat and energy. He 

 says the importance of this purpose is ap- 

 parent when we realize that, "Whereas the 

 body may waste for a lengthened i)ei'i<Hl and 

 yet live, it rapidly dies when the source of 

 heat is removed or even gi'eatly lessened." 



Again, on this same point, Brewster (p. 

 16) says: "The starches and sugars, prin- 



cii)ally, which appeal- in only a small quan- 

 tify in the substance of the body, are the 

 real nuti'it'nls which do nine-tenths of the 

 Ixidy's work. They are taken into the liv- 

 ing tissue, exploded, thi'own out again and 

 renewed, almost as ra])idly as the gasoline 

 vapor in the cylinder of a motor car. Mod- 

 ern science and immemoi'ial experience alike 

 testify that what counts in food is its fuel 

 value." As Mr. Brewster puts it in another 

 ])lace, "We are built of flesh; but we run on 

 sugar, ])recisely as the simjiler engines of 

 the automobile andmotor boat are built of 

 steel and run on gasoline. We continually 

 use up and renew a substance of which the 

 body at any single moment contains very 

 little; so that, like any other explosion en- 

 gine, we use up our weight of fuel many 

 times over before we wear out our sub- 

 stance." 



From these statements it is very evident 

 that fuel value is by far the most impoi'tant 

 factor in determining food value. On this 

 score we need have no fears for honey. A 

 glance at the following table will show that 

 it compares favorably with some of the 

 most common articles of diet, and consider- 

 ably surpasses some which the averag3 per- 

 son would pronounce indispensable neces- 

 sities : 



Bread 1216 calories per pound 



E?2;s 7'20 calories per ixiimd 



Milk 320 calories per pound 



Molasses 1225 calories per pound 



Maple sjrup 1250 calories per pound 



Strawberries 200 calories per pound 



Honey 1420 calories per pound 



The average person requires 2000 to 2500 

 calories per day to supply needed heat and 

 energ-y, so that it will readily be seen how 

 near a single pound of honey would come to 

 meeting the requirement. I am not advo- 

 cating tlie exclusive use of honey, however. 

 But there are some advantages alDout honey, 

 besides its high fuel value. First, it is a 

 fact that honey contains about 75 ijer cent 

 of dextrose and levulose, two forms of sugar 

 which are taken into the blood without re- 

 quiring digestion. For this reason quicker 

 results may be obtained with honey than 

 Avith most other kinds of food. Ordinarily 

 it requires about 150 to 200 calories to di- 

 gest the food we eat each day. For this 

 reason honey would have an even higher 

 food value than would at first appear, for 

 none of tlie potential value would be lost or- 

 used up in digestion. 



To draw conclusions, we have but to re- 

 turn to compai'e eggs and lioney, for in- 



