June 23, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



663 



for the peanut experiments 97 per cent., it is 

 evident that the digestibility of butter was low- 

 ered little if any by the other constituents of 

 this type of diet. 



From the results of the many attempts that 

 have been made to find cereals suited for culti- 

 vation in the semiarid regions of this country 

 it appears that the so-called non-saccharine 

 grain sorghums are best adapted for the pur- 

 pose. While these cereals are extensively 

 included in the dietary of India, China, 

 Abyssinia and South Africa, there is little re- 

 corded data relative to their digestiljility. Ac- 

 cordingly digestion experiments were made to 

 secure information concerning their value for 

 human nutrition. Of the many non-saccharine 

 grain sorghums which may be grown in the 

 semiarid regions four, Dwarf Kafir, Feterita, 

 Milo and Kaoliang, were chosen as typical. 

 To determine the effect of cooking, etc., upon 

 digestibility, experiments with the non-saccha- 

 rine sorghums prepared in a variety of forms 

 have been made by the writer but for the dis- 

 cussion here only those in which the sorghums 

 were cooked and served as a mush will be con- 

 sidered since in these diets butter constituted 

 practically the entire fat content of the diet. 

 In tliis type of digestion experiments^* with 

 the grain sorghums the diet consisted of the 

 cereal cooked as mush, apple sauce, butter, 

 sirup, sugar and tea or coffee if desired. As 

 may be noted from the above table the results 

 of the digestion experiments with the non- 

 saccharine sorghums show that their proteins 

 are very incompletely absorbed by the body, 

 due probably to the proteins being inclosed 

 in the very tough cellular structure of the 

 cereal. This coarse, rough, cellulose also may 

 increase peristalsis to such an extent that the 

 diet passes more rapidly than normal through 

 the alimentary tract. If this theory is tenable 

 it may also explain the lowered digestibility of 

 butter, which was for the kafir experiments 92 

 per cent., for those with feterita 92 per cent., 

 for those with milo 92 per cent., and for those 

 with kaoliang 90 per cent. 



For a long time considerable attention has 



1* ' ' Studies on the Digestibility of the Grain 

 Sorghums," U. S. Dept. Agri. Bui., 470 (1916), 

 pp. 30. 



been given to the desirability of including or 

 excluding wheat bran in mUling wheat flours. 

 Inasmuch as the annual per capita consump- 

 tion of wheat^^ is approximately five bushels 

 this question assumes considerable importance, 

 and among the factors to be considered in ar- 

 riving at an intelligent solution of the problem 

 is the extent to which the bran is digested by 

 the human body. To obtain data in this con- 

 nection a number of digestion experiments 

 were made with coarse unground wheat bran 

 and bran which had been ground to resemble 

 flour in fineness. In these experiments'^'' the 

 bran was incorporated in a gingerbread 

 and served in conjunction with potato, fruit, 

 butter, sugar, and tea or coffee. As in 

 the soy-bean and peanut flour experiments, lard 

 was used as "shortening" in preparing the 

 gingerbread and butter was served as a spread 

 for the bread. Hence the values reported for 

 the, digestibility of fat refer to total fat of the 

 diet. However, since a large portion of the 

 total fat consumed was butter and since in the 

 fine wheat bran experiments the total fat was 

 95 per cent, digested and in the unground bran 

 experiments it was 94 per cent, digested, it is 

 evident that for practical dietetics this type of 

 diet did not lower the digestibility of butter. 



According to reports" the large packing 

 houses use the "hard palates" of cattle, which 

 are taken from the roof of the mouth of beef 

 animals, in the manufacture of potted meats 

 and sausage in amounts varying from 2,500 

 lbs. to 6,000 lbs. monthly. Since chemical 

 analysis showed that hard palates contain ap- 

 proximately 20 per cent, of protein it was de- 

 cided to determine to what extent this protein 

 was digested by the human body and seven 

 digestion experiments^** were made in which 

 the ration consisted of potato, crackers, butter, 



1^ U. S. Dept. Agri. Bur. Crop Estimates Eept., 

 3 (1917), No. 10, pp. 99. 



10 ' ' Experiments on the Digestibility of Wheat 

 Bran in a Diet without Wheat Flour," U. S. 

 Dept. Agri. Bui., 751 (1919), pp. 20. 



17 ' ' Digestibility of Certain Miscellaneous Ani- 

 mal Pats," U. S. Dept. Agri. Bui., 613 (1919), 

 p. 8. 



18 " Digestibility of Hard Palates of Cattle," 

 Jour. Agri. Research, 6 (1916), No. 17, pp. 641- 

 648. 



