CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF FOOD-FISIIES. 
865 
research before we can with perfect confidence accept these figures as 
the actual measure of the nutritive effects, we may say, in a general 
way, that the relative food values are indicated very nearly by the 
chemical compositions as here given.* 
The cheapest food is that which furnishes the actually nutritive mate- 
rial at the lowest cost. The most economical food is that which is 
cheapest and best adapted to the wants of the user. Various methods 
have been proposed for estimating the relative cheapness or dearness 
of food materials. For instance, the cost of actually nutritive ingre- 
dients in a given food material may be computed by comparing the 
amounts of the several nutrients, protein, fats, and carbohydrates it 
contains, with its market price, 1 pound of protein being assumed to 
cost, on the average, five times as much, and a pound of fats three 
times as much as a pound of carbohydrates. The computed costs of 
the same nutrient, e. g., protein, in different foods, thus affords a basis 
for comparing the relative expensiveness of the foods, as in the figures 
below, t 
Comparative costs of protein in food materials. 
Toocl materials. 
Ordinary 
price per 
pound. 
Cost of 
protein per 
pound. 
Beef, sirloin, medium fatness 
$0. 25 
$1. 06 
Beef, sirloin, at lower price 
.20 
. 85 
Beef, round, ratlier lean 
.10 
.63 
Mutton, leg 
.22 
.91 
Milk (7 cents per quart) ... - 
.031 
.53 
Salmon, early in season 
1.00 
5.11 
Salmon, when plenty . 
.30 
1. 53 
Mackerel 
.10 
.79 
Salt cod 
.07 
.43 
Oysters (25 cents per quart) 
•121 
1.68 
Oysters (50 cents per quart, choice) 
.25 
3.35 
Lobsters 
. 12 
2. 09 
Wheat flour 
.03 
.11 
Shellfish are delicacies rather than staple foods. The above figures 
illustrate the fact that, like other delicacies, they are not economical 
from the strictly pecuniary standpoint, yet they have an important use. 
The conditions of our advanced civilization make variety in diet desira- 
ble, and to a greater or less extent essential, and oftentimes flavor has 
a value which can not be counted in dollars and cents. 
The nutritive value of the shellfish, as of other foods, depends to a 
considerable extent upon their digestibility, but so little is positively 
known of the digestibility of shellfish as compared with meats and 
other animal foods that it has not seemed fitting to say a great deal 
* See article on “Pecuniary Economy of Food” in Century Magazine for January, 
1888. 
t This method of computation is German assumed relative costs of the nutrients 
are based upon market prices in Germany. The protein is selected for the estimate 7 
because it is physiologically the most important of the nutrients. - For other and more 
accurate, though more complex, methods see seventeenth annual report of Massachu- 
setts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, 1886, p. 253, 
H. Mis. 274 55 
