140 FOOD. 



The experiments with the soldiers showed that 50 grams of 

 proteid per day were sufficient for the needs of the body, and that 

 a fuel-value of 2500 to 2600 calories was ample to meet their re- 

 quirements. At the end of the period of training these men were 

 in excellent condition, although in some there was a slight loss of 

 body-weight. 



The result of experiments upon the college athletes was not 

 materially different from that stated in connection with the soldiers. 

 The amount of nitrogen excreted daily averaged 8.8 grams, im- 

 plying a metabolism of about 55 grams of proteid matter per 

 day. 



Prof. Chittenden states in conclusion that he can point to vari- 

 ous persons who, for periods varying from six months to a year, 

 have metabolized daily 5.5 to 7.5 grams of nitrogen instead of 16 

 to 1 8 grams i. e., they have subsisted quite satisfactorily on an 

 amount of proteid food daily equal to one-third or one-half the 

 amount ordinarily considered as necessary for the maintenance of 

 health and strength, and this without unduly increasing the amount 

 of non-nitrogenous food ; that there is marked increase in physical 

 strength as demonstrated by repeated dynamometer tests on many 

 individuals, which he thinks may be ascribed to the greater freedom 

 of blood and lymph, as well as of muscle-plasm, from nitrogenous 

 extractives. Nor has he been able to find any falling off in mental 

 vigor, or any change in the hemoglobin-content of the blood, or 

 in the number of erythrocytes. He believes that any excess of 

 food over and above what is needed imposes an unnecessary strain 

 upon the organism, and especially upon the excretory organs, and 

 conduces to disease, especially rheumatism and gout. 



Age is another important factor which enters into the problem 

 of the dietary. In early life, not only must the waste of the 

 tissues be met, but there must be growth by increase of tissue. 

 In estimating the amount of food to be given to a child as com- 

 pared with an adult, it is not the weight of the body which is to 

 be taken into account, but its surface, as it is to this that the waste 

 is proportional. Thus a child weighing 20 kilos will present a 

 body-surface about one-half that of a man weighing 70 kilos, and 

 it would require therefore one-half as much food as an adult. As 

 we have already seen, milk is, or should be, the sole diet of the 

 child up to the age of eight months, and in this food we have a diet 

 which contains twice as much proteid and half again as much fat 

 as the adult diet referred to above. Some one has said that 

 " The poorest mother in London or New York feeds her child as 

 if he were a prince. Perhaps not once in a hundred times is the 

 man as richly fed as the young child, unless accident has made 

 him a Gaucho, or study and reflection a gourmand." 



Having discussed food-stuffs, we will now turn our attention to 

 some of the more common foods in which these occur. 



