202 ARON. 



Such an amount of rice may be purchased for 10 centavos and the fish 

 for 7 centavos. Such a ration would furnish about 70 to 75 grams 

 protein, 10 grams fat and 525 grams of carbohydrates. The caloric value 

 and also the protein value of tlie vegetables and fruit eaten occasionally 

 may be neglected in such a rougli calculation as this. The ration just 

 given, of 70 to 75 grams protein, 10 grams fat, and 535 grams carbo- 

 hydrates, corresponds very well in its composition and in its caloric value 

 of 2,500 to 2,600 calories witli the food issued in Bilibid. 



I would like to direct your attention to still another point. Not all 

 Filipinos, especially in the provinces and even in towns, are able to 

 purchase regularly such a quantity of fish as I have mentioned. What 

 would be the result if a man should omit the fish and live entirely on 

 rice, fruits and vegetables? With the fish only a small amount of 

 calories are ingested, chiefly proteins. The caloric value of 250 grams 

 fish would be replaced by 60 grams rice, containing only 4 grams protein, 

 so that the man eating only rice receives with about 2,600 calories only 

 50 grams protein at the most. If he wished to take the quantity of 

 protein contained in the mixed food, in the form of rice he would 

 have to take an immense excess of carbohydrates. This may account for 

 the idea that rice is heating, a statement made to me by a Spanish- 

 Filipino physician. Furthermore, vegetable proteins are not so com- 

 pletely digestible as animal proteins, 85 to 90 per cent of the former being 

 digested as compared with 96 per cent of the latter. 



One other point must not be forgotten. The recent researches on the 

 chemistry of protein bodies on the one hand, and the biological reaction 

 on tlie otlier hand, show that the question as to what constituents make 

 up the albuminous substances may be of great importance for their value 

 in nutrition. While it is certain that a man may continue in good health 

 for a long time on a carefully selected purely vegetable diet, nevertheless 

 we see that it is very often impossible to properly nourish young animals 

 exclusively on one kind of vegetable protein. I have made such ex- 

 periments on rabbits fed with corn. This has been attributed to a want 

 of certain constitutents in vegetable proteins. Finally, I will remind 

 you that wherever the people live exclusively on one single kind of vege- 

 table protein, we find the appearance of certain diseases which probably 

 have some connection with this food. I am thinking of the association 

 of beriberi and rice, of corn and pellagra, and perhaps of the so-called 

 scurvy of sailing vessels. I liave by no means exhausted my theme, since 

 there are many other interesting problems concerning the diet and 

 nutrition of the Filipino people, some of which I hope to solve during 

 my stay in these Islands. 



