xi] MILK AS A FOOD 173 



albuminoids which we have. Indeed, skim milk 



may be safely asserted to be the cheapest of all foods. 



Value of Butter and Cheese as Food. With 



regard to the value of milk products as articles of diet, 

 as far as their heating power goes, butter and cheese 

 stand at the head of all foods. Indeed, butter has 

 twice as much heating power, weight for weight, as 

 any other food except pork and cream cheese ; while 

 skim-milk cheese, so far as flesh-forming constituents 

 are concerned, is the most concentrated of all the 

 common foods. 



Milk as a Food for Invalids. While the subject 

 hardly admits of discussion in this place, a single 

 word may be said in conclusion on milk as a food 

 for invalids. Milk cures are of very old date, and 

 have been practised for many years, more especially in 

 Switzerland, where they are carried on, on a large 

 scale, in establishments specially equipped for the 

 purpose. A large and wide experience has shown 

 the great value of milk as a diet for consumptive 

 patients, especially when living at mountain health- 

 resorts. Again, in such diseases as ulceration and 

 catarrh of the stomach it is found in many cases to 

 be the sole possible food. Special preparations of milk 

 have long been used. We have already referred to the 

 use of koumiss in this connection, a beverage made by 

 the alcoholic fermentation of milk. Butter-milk, again, 

 has been found to be of great use for diabetic patients. 



