HOW DO WE USE FOODS? 



323 



milk cheese Txittermilk cauliflower 



bcaT?5 celery s/rap 



sources of fboct CctlcUtm 



Of what use is calcium to your body ? 



Redrawn from Hygeia 



become anaemic. 1 Iron cannot be used as well by the 

 body in the form of medicine as when in the food. It 

 is found in spinach, string beans, cabbage, egg yolk, beef, 

 and prunes, and to a less extent in carrots and other 

 vegetables and fruits. Phosphorus and sulphur are both 

 necessary in the living matter of the body, and sufficient 

 amounts can usually be obtained from meat, fish, and eggs. 

 Sodium and chlorine are also necessary parts of living 

 material, and are obtained from our table salt which forms 

 a part of the daily diet. Many of the most important 

 body actions, such as the beating of the heart, the con- 

 traction of the body muscles, and the work of the nervous 

 system, appear to depend, to some extent, upon the 

 presence of these different salts in our blood. 



Someone has said that the body contains sufficient fat 

 to make seven bars of. soap ; enough sulphur to rid a dog 

 of fleas ; enough iron to make a good-sized nail ; sufficient 

 magnesium for a dose of magnesia ; enough lime to white- 

 wash a chicken coop ; enough phosphorus to make 2200 

 match tips ; sufficient potassium to explode a toy cannon ; 



1 Anaemic (d-ne'mlk) : affected with a deficiency in the red corpuscles of 

 the blood. 



