May, 1929] FOODS IN A COLLEGE COMMUNITY 59 



One striking observation made during our research was that the 

 coarse breads and cereals are so seldom eaten. The experience of 

 one of us during the World War when studying a group of men liv- 

 ing on reduced rations, i showed that the liberal use of bran, and by 

 this we do not refer to the expensive packages of bran but to ordinary 

 bran, is a most fruitful source of salts, vitamines and roughage. It 

 is not inconceivable that with suitable education, college communities 

 may come to the "open bran bowl" at the table as well as the "open 

 sugar bowl." On the other hand, a warning should be issued that 

 some individuals react unfavorably to bran and that one should first 

 test slowly the amount to be eaten rather than take excessive amounts 

 without previous experience. 



The eating of meals, even in a college community, is not a matter, 

 however, simply of scientific stoking or gathering in of calories. Din- 

 ing is supposedly a feature. But one can hardly be said to have 

 dined, even in the best organized college cafeteria. Such cafeterias 

 are run at minimum cost and are supposed to give the students the 

 best meals possible for a minimum amount of money, with only 

 moderate attention paid to luxury of service or "atmosphere." For 

 this reason the college student perhaps cannot be too critical of flavor 

 and environment. He should emphasize the food value obtained for 

 the money paid and let flavor and atmosphere be a secondary con- 

 sideration. Certainly the data given in this report show that it is 

 possible for one to select meals varying greatly in energy and protein 

 content, and it would seem justifiable in a college community, where 

 courses in nutrition are offered as part of the educational program, to 

 give the student at least an approximate idea of the value of the 

 food he is purchasing by stating directly on the menu the average 

 number of calories and the average grams of protein probably con- 

 tained in the food served. 



SUMMARY 



A survey of the energy and the protein content of a large number 

 of individual foods and of mixed meals has been made in the college 

 community at Durham, New Hampshire, in a cooperative research 

 undertaken by the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station 

 and the Nutrition Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Wash- 

 ington. The energy values were obtained with an oxy-calorimeter 

 developed at the Nutrition Laboratory. The nitrogen analyses were 

 carried out by the Kjeldahl method. 



Studies were made of the meals served at the local restaurants 

 and at the home economics practice house; a few samples were 

 obtained in Dover, New Hampshire, and in Boston. The separate 

 food items which were analyzed included breads, doughnuts, sand- 

 wiches, salads, pies, ice cream, and candies. 



(1) Benedict, F. G., W. R. Miles, P. Roth, and H. M. Smith, Carnegie 

 Inst. Wash. Pub. No. 280, 1919, p. 260. 



