52 The Philippine Journal of Science 1923 



Collado(l7) calculated that the average intake of each student 

 who ate in the college mess at the College of Agriculture, Los 

 Banos, was 506 grams of carbohydrates daily. Collado (unpub- 

 lished) has found that the carbohydrate intake of each student 

 in that college who prepared his meals himself was 521 grams, 

 while that of the barrio (rural) people was 444 grams. When 

 we consider the small stature of Filipinos, we can see that they 

 are getting a much greater quantity of carbohydrates than is 

 demanded by the Voit standard. 



Fats. — Osborne and Mendel (15) have shown that it is possible 

 for animals to live without eating more than traces of true fat. 

 According to Aron(i) Filipino prisoners got 27 grams of fat per 

 man daily. Roxas and Collado found that at the students' mess 

 mentioned the fat intake was 38 grams per person. Collado 

 found that students who cooked their food themselves consumed 

 20 grams each daily, and the barrio people, 14 grams. It will 

 be observed that the intake of fat was proportional to the pecu- 

 niary ability of the people. The students who ate at the mess 

 were generally better off financially than those who cooked their 

 food themselves, and the barrio families investigated were poorer 

 than the students. 



Inorganic salts. — From what foods do the Filipinos get their 

 necessary quota of inorganic salts? Analysis of most of their 

 food materials for inorganic constituents is lacking, so that an 

 answer to this important question cannot even be attempted. 

 Aron and Hocson found that a diet consisting principally of rice 

 and vegetable foods did not cover the demand of the body for 

 phosphorus. Polished rice is low in ash, and especially in phos- 

 phorus, and a diet of rice, plus bread, bacon, fish, and other foods 

 poor in this element was not enough to produce a positive phos- 

 phorus balance. The balance became positive when unpolished 

 rice, rice bran, or phytin was added to the ration. The studies 

 of the diet of the people in Los Banos by Roxas and Collado 

 indicate that the Filipino dietary may be deficient in calcium. 



In connection with this problem, two habits of some of the 

 people, which may possibly indicate that their common food is 

 poor in inorganic salts are worth mentioning: (a) The bones of 

 the fish are usually eaten as well as the meat. It has been stated 

 already that rice is low in ash. Dry fish is a very common food. 

 (b) While as a rule the unmarried Filipino women do not chew 

 buyo and betel leaves and smoke neither cigars nor cigarettes, 

 when they get married and become pregnant or when nursing, 

 many of them, especially the poor ones, get the "buyo-chewing" 



