I 



I 



DIGESTIBILITY OF SOY-BEAN AND PEANUT FLOURS. 3 



Prausnitz^ in a study of the digestibility of white beans cooked in 

 salted water until soft found that the protein was approximately 70 

 per cent digested. 



Snyder 2 studied tne digestibility of navy beans which were prepared 

 by cooking for 20 minutes in boihng water containing bicarbonate 

 of soda, removing the skins, and baking the hulled beans in the 

 usual way. The results of three experiments indicated that bean 

 protein was 80 per cent utiHzed. 



Woods and Mansfield,^ in a study of the digestibility of rations for 

 lumbermen, included three experiments in which the ration contained 

 beans, and found that the digestibihty of the protein of the total diet 

 was 85 per cent, and estimated that the digestibility of the bean 

 protein was 78 per cent. 



Wait * conducted a series of 72 experiments to determine the 

 digestibility of kidney beans, white beans, and three varieties of 

 cowpeas eaten in conjunction with a basal ration consisting of bread, 

 milk, butter, pork, bananas, and sugar, and found that the coeffi- 

 cients of digestibility of the proteins were as follows: Kidney beans 

 77 per cent, white beans 78 per cent, Whippoorwill cowpeas 70 per 

 cent. Clay cowpeas 74 per cent, and Lady cowpeas 83 per cent. 



The general conclusion to be drawn from the experimental data 

 cited above is that while the proteins of the more widely used legumes 

 are quite well utilized by the human body, comparing very favorably 

 in this respect with the cereal proteins, they are not as completely 

 utilized as the proteins supplied by such animal foods as meats, eggs, 

 and milk. 



SOURCE AND AVAILABLE SUPPLY OF SOY-BEAN AND PEANUT PRESS 



CAKE. 



Considerable interest has recently been aroused regarding the 

 nutritive value of two legumes, soy beans, which as yet have not been 

 extensively used in this country for food purposes, and peanuts, 

 which, though weU known and commonly eaten, have been used as a 

 casual rather than a staple article of diet. It is of course true that 

 soy beans have found limited use in some locahties and that peanuts 

 have been quite extensively used as a constituent of confectionery, 

 as "salted peanuts," and more recently as ''peanut butter," but 

 neither has been very extensively used in the manner in which peas 

 and beans appear in the dietary. 



During very recent years the production of both these legumes 

 has grown many fold. The increase in the culture of peanuts is due 

 very hkely to the fact that the boll weevil has made the growing of 



1 Ztschr. Biol., 26 (1S90), pp. 227-232. 



2 Minnesota Sta. Bui. 74 (1902), p. 122. 



3 U. S. Dept. Agr., Office Expt. Stas. Bui. 149 (1904), pp. 60, pis. 4. 

 < U. S. Dept. Agr., Office Expt. Stas. Bui. 187 (1907), pp. 55. 



