334 FOODS AND DIETARIES 



of carbohydrate to provide for the growth, waste, and repair of the 

 body and the energy used up in one day. Put in another way, At- 

 water's standard for a man at light exercise is food enough to 

 yield 2816 calories; of these, 410 calories are from proteid, 930 

 calories from fat, and 1476 calories from carbohydrate. That is, 

 for every 100 calories furnished by the food, 14 are from proteid, 

 32 from fat, and 54 from carbohydrate. In exact numbers, the 

 day's ration as advocated by Atwater would contain about 100 

 grams or 3.7 ounces proteid, 100 grams or 3.7 ounces fat, and 360 

 grams or 13 ounces carbohydrate. Professor Chittenden of Yale 

 University, another food expert, thinks we need proteids, fats, and 

 carbohydrates in about the proportion of 1 to 3 to 6, thus differing 

 from Atwater in giving less proteid in proportion. Chittenden's 

 standard for the same man is food to yield a total of 2360 calories, 

 of which proteid furnishes 236 calories, fat 708 calories, and car- 

 bohydrates 1416 calories. For every 100 calories furnished by 

 the food, 10 are from proteid, 30 from fat, 60 from carbohydrate. 

 In actual amount the Chittenden diet would contain 2.16 ounces 

 proteid, 2.83 ounces fat, and 13 ounces carbohydrate.^ A German 

 named Voit gives as ideal 25 proteids, 20 fat, 55 carbohydrate, 

 out of every 100 calories ; this is nearer our actual daily ration. 

 In addition, an ounce of salt and nearly one hundred ounces of 

 water are used in a day. By means of the table on the following 

 page (from Atwater ^), which shows the composition of some food 

 materials, the nutritive and fuel value of the foods may be seen 

 at a glance. The amount of refuse contained in foods (such as the 

 bones of meat or fish, the exoskeleton of crustaceans and mol- 

 lusks, the woody coverings of plant cells) is also shown in this 

 table. 



A Mixed Diet Best. — Knowing the proportion of the different 

 food substances required by man, it will be an easy matter to 

 determine from this table the best foods for use in a mixed diet. 

 Meats contain too much nitrogen in proportion to the other sub- 

 stances. In milk, the proportion of proteids, carbohydrates, and 

 fats is nearly right to make protoplasm ; a considerable amount of 



' Page 18, Bui. 6, Cornell Reading Course. 



2 W. O. Atwater, Principles of Nutrition and Nutritive Value of Food, U.S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture, 1902. 



