78 



THE PKOTEIN ELEMENT IN NUTRITION 



appetite."* None of these desirable results from the effects 

 of a low protein dietary are to be discovered in the Bengali, 

 and this holds, despite the fact that excessive nitrogenous inter- 

 change has in all probability never been a feature of the meta- 

 bolism of the rice- eating people of Bengal. 



Study 2. A dietary study was carried out, the subjects 

 being two medical assistants in the Physiological Department 

 of the Medical College, Calcutta, in which a careful record was 

 kept of the total nitrogenous intake and output. These men 

 had a free choice of food, and the dietaries were mixed in type, 

 although the amount of animal food was small. 



The results obtained were 



These dietaries offered 53-9 and 65-9 grammes of protein 

 respectively in the daily food, which was as nearly as possible 

 the ordinary amount consumed by these men from day to day. 

 The subjects of the investigation were well educated, and were 

 in fair circumstances, so that they were not severely handicapped 

 by financial conditions in their choice of food. The quantity 

 of protein available in their dietaries is very little higher than 

 that calculated for the students and servants of the college. 



Study 3. The following different scales of dietary { are those 

 ordinarily in use amongst the different classes in Bengal, accord- 

 ing to their financial and social status : 



DIET I. CULTIVATORS. 



* Chittenden, " The Nutrition of Man," p. 228. 

 t Scientific Memoirs, Government of India, No. 34, p. 36. 

 I Collected by Assistant-Surgeon Lai Mohan Ghosal, Physiological Depart- 

 ment, Calcutta. " Food and Drugs." 1910. 



