CEREAL FOODS. 123 



ing process by which some of the coarser bran is removed. It 

 is sometimes claimed that only the least valuable portion of the 

 bran is thus rejected, but a study of these products made at this 

 laboratory does not substantiate this claim.* The composition 

 of these flours is precisely what might have been expected. 

 Starch attracts moisture much more than the woody bran. 

 Hence we find the graham flour, which is rich in bran with a 

 correspondingly less amount of starch, drier than the other 

 flours. The aleurone layer, which forms a portion of the bran 

 as usually milled, is very rich in protein. Hence the protein 

 content is greatest in the graham and least in the patent flour. 

 The germ is rich in fat and mineral constituents. Its removal 

 in the patent flour brings down the percentage amount of fat and 

 ash. The oxidation of fat produces more heat than that of any 

 other constituent. Hence the same causes that reduce the 

 amount of fat in the flour lower the heat of combustion. As the 

 protein, fat, and ash fall, the amount of the remaining solids, the 

 carbohydrates, must rise. 



In looking over the table of composition one is likely to be 

 impressed with the marked difference between the rolled oats 

 and the other cereals in the amount of fat which they contain. 

 Although corn in the kernel carries about 4 per cent of fat, most 

 of this is in the germ, which in the manufacture of hominy is 

 almost wholly removed, thus reducing the fat to about one-fifth 

 of the original amount. Too much importance should not be 

 attached to this difference in fat content, however, since fats and 

 carbqhydrates perform nearly the same function in the animal 

 body, although the fats represent more than double the energy 

 furnished by the carbohydrates. 



Since the oxidation of the fats in the body produces heat, oats 

 are often spoken of as "heating" food and their use in warm 

 weather is sometimes discouraged by physicians. This fact 

 might deserve more serious consideration if this cereal made up 

 a larger part of our diet. As a rule they are eaten but once a 

 day. An average serving of cooked rolled oats would be about 

 160 grams (s>< ounces), seven-eighths of which is water. The 

 equivalent 20 grams of uncooked oats, containing 7^4 per cent 

 of fat, would furnish i^ grams fat, or about one-twentieth of 



• Bui. 103, Maine Expt, Station, pp. 68-69. 



