The Living Machine 287 



In recent times physiologists, both pseudo and scientific, 

 including a great variety of cranks of all sorts and sizes, 

 have been turning their attention more and more to matters 

 of diet, and the layman is beginning to learn that it is 

 possible for him to select his food, not only with respect to 

 price and palatability, but also for its value as a fuel for 

 the human machine. The principal elements in human diet 

 are proteins (meat, eggs and, to a less extent, milk, grain and 

 vegetables), carbohydrates (sugar and starch) and fats. One 

 of the greatest services rendered by modern students of human 

 nutrition has been to show that a high protein diet is not only 

 unnecessary, but actually in many cases detrimental to health. 

 Studies of this sort have been largely conducted in this coun- 

 try by Professors Chittenden and Fisher at Yale, the results 

 of two of the most striking of whose experiments are here 

 summarized. The first of these was conducted upon a group 

 of thirteen United States soldiers, for a period of six months, 

 and the second on eight college athletes for five months. 



The ordinary diet of the soldiers prior to the experiment 

 may be illustrated by the following average day's menu: 

 Breakfast Beefsteak 8 oz., gravy 2.4 oz., fried potatoes 8.2 

 oz., onions 1.2 oz., bread 5 oz., coffee 24 oz., sugar 0.6 oz. 

 Dinner Beef 6 oz., boiled potatoes 12.3 oz., onions 2 oz., 

 bread 8.2 oz., coffee 32.3 oz., sugar 1 oz. 

 Supper Corned beef 6.9 oz., potatoes 6 oz., onions 0.7 oz., 

 bread 5.5 oz., fruit jelly 3.7 oz., coffee 15.0 oz., sugar 9.7 oz. 

 During the experiment the amount of meat was gradually 

 reduced until the men were living on a diet of which the 

 following day's menu is a sample: 



Breakfast Wheat griddle cakes 7 oz., syrup 1.7 oz., one cup 

 coffee, with milk and sugar, 12.3 oz. 



Dinner Codfish balls (4 parts potato, 1 part fish, fried in 

 pork fat) 5.3 oz., stewed tomato 7 oz., bread 2.6 oz., one cup 

 coffee 13.3 oz., apple pie 3.3 oz. 



Supper Apple fritters 7 oz., stewed prunes 4.4 oz., bread 

 1.7 oz., butter 0.4 oz., one cup tea 12.3 oz. 



As a result of this change of diet some of the men showed 

 a slight loss of weight which occurred at the start, and in 

 others an actual gain for the entire period. In only one case, 

 that of a stout man, was there any noticeable decrease, which 

 in his case was to his advantage, rather than the reverse. 



Not only was there no harmful loss of weight, but the 

 general health was maintained and in some cases improved. 

 "Most conspicuous, however, though something that was 

 entirely unlocked for, was the effect observed on the muscular 

 strength of the various subjects," which showed not a loss, 

 but on the contrary a decided gain, ''and furthermore," says 



