530 APPLIED BIOLOGY 



recently that water soon passes from the stomach into the 

 intestine and gastric juice is secreted rapidly. 



Overeating is the chief point on which many people need 

 physiological advice. Scientific studies have often shown 

 that men need no more food than stated in 419, and yet 

 a large number of people take more daily. Especially is it 

 true that we use too much protein ( 423), thus unnecessarily 

 overworking all organs without any gain. The other foods 

 are also used to excess by many whose daily activities do not 

 require so much stored energy; and the common result is 

 fat-storage, which often becomes so excessive as to be un- 

 comfortable or even a danger to the heart and other organs. 

 In the majority of cases excessive fat storage is due to the 

 overeating of foods containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen 

 (sugar, starch, butter, and fat meat). The over-fat condition, 

 once established, is difficult to change; and hence young 

 people should guard against an excessive increase in stored 

 fat due to intemperate eating. 



An excess of meat diet is more harmful than an excess of 

 other foods, for the reason that most proteins eaten are oxi- 

 dized and excreted within a day ( 422). The nitrogen excre- 

 tions thus formed from proteins may play an important part 

 in the development of gouty and rheumatic conditions. 



The value of mastication has been the subject of much 

 discussion, and is still uncertain ; for there are some people 

 who masticate little and have perfectly healthy digestion, 

 and there are others who masticate extensively and claim to 

 have thereby cured indigestion. The truth is that it is 

 largely a question of the kind and amount of food and the 

 habits of the individual. Certainly one who eats an excessive 

 amount of starchy food, or who has starch-indigestion in the 

 intestine, will do well to masticate starchy food and allow 

 the saliva to exert its digestive influences as long as possible, 

 for thereby he may cure a form of indigestion. But this does 

 not prove a rule for all people or for all articles of diet ; and 



