CHAPTER II 



MILK AS A FOOD 



MILK contains all the ingredients needed for nourish- 

 ment. Further it contains these ingredients in just the 

 right proportion which experience and science show should 

 be contained in a well-balanced ration. Thus it contains 

 proteins, which furnish the materials which build up the 

 body and keep it in repair; and it contains fats and car- 

 bohydrates, which are the fuel to keep the body warm and 

 furnish it with the power needed to do its work. Further, 

 it contains the necessary amount of water needed by the 

 body and also the inorganic salts, without which life 

 cannot continue. 



It has been figured out by government experts that about 

 sixteen per cent of the ordinary American diet consists of 

 milk or milk products. These figures are evidence of the 

 very important place milk has in our dietary even for adults. 



It is ofttimes said that milk is a perfect food. This 

 statement is somewhat misleading, for while milk is a per- 

 fect food for the suckling it does not necessarily meet all the 

 demands of the adult. It is true that it contains all the re- 

 quired elements for the growth and maintenance of the 

 young mammal, but it lacks certain properties which make 

 it suitable as the sole nourishment of the adult individual. 

 In fact, milk is too perfect a food for the adult. Every por- 

 tion of it is used. There is no waste or indigestible refuse, 

 which appears necessary for the normal action of the di- 

 gestive tract. 



The statement that milk is an essential article of diet also 

 needs qualification, for the Japanese manage to get along 

 pretty well without it. There, the babies are nursed by their 



