PURE AND IMPURE FOODS. 



" What a Man Eats He Is." 



Edited by C. F. Langworthy, Ph.D. 

 Author of "On Citraconic, Itaconic and Mesaconic Acids," "Fish as Food," etc. 



A DIETARY STUDY. 



A dietary study was recently made, by 

 Prof. M. E. Jaffa, of the University of Cal- 

 ifornia football team, the work being a 

 part of the nutrition investigations of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. 

 All athletes believe that good, wholesome 

 food is necessary to sound bodies capable 

 of feats of strength and endurance, but not 

 all of them know what constitutes proper 

 nourishment. It is well known that college 

 football teams are extremely well fed, ac- 

 cording to the popular interpretation of 

 that term. In order to ascertain how such 

 men would be provided for by a person 

 not governed by any dietary standard other 

 than the desire to furnish what is generally 

 considered good, nourishing food, advan- 

 tage was taken of the opportunity to study 

 the dietary of this football team during a 

 part of their training period. 



The study was continued 17 days. The 

 average daily attendance at meals was 23 ; 

 that is, 1,181 individual meals were served, 

 equivalent to one man for 394 days. The 

 diet was abundant and hearty, beefsteak, 

 roast beef, lamb chops, chicken, oysters, 

 eggs, bouillon, butter, milk, and cream 

 making up the animal food. These articles 

 were supplemented by oatmeal, bread, 

 beans, potatoes, etc., and an abundance of 

 garden vegetables and fruit. Considerable 

 porter was drunk. Oatmeal water was also 

 a favorite beverage. The total food bought 

 furnished 335 grams protein and 9,810 cal- 

 ories of energy a day to each man. Some 

 food was wasted, and the total amount 

 eaten furnished 270 grams protein and 

 7,885 calories a day to each man, the cost 

 being 83 cents. 



An examination of the results obtained 

 discloses some facts that are both interest- 

 ing and important. In consideration of the 

 nature of the work done by football teams, 

 it might be supposed that the food con- 

 sumed would be equivalent approximately, 

 at least, to that of a man at severe muscular 

 labor. But these investigations show that 

 in this instance such was not the case. The 

 dietary standard commonly accepted for a 

 man at severe muscular work requires 180 

 grams of protein and 5,700 calories a day. 

 In the University of California dietary the 

 excess of protein in the food eaten over the 

 standard was 90 grams, or 50 per cent., 

 while the excess of energy was 2,185 calo- 



ries, or 38.3 per cent. It is interesting to 

 compare the average daily consumption of 

 food by members of the California team 

 with the average for the Wesleyan Univer- 

 sity team, which was studied a few years 

 ago, and with the average of 7 studies of 

 the Yale and Harvard boat crews. The 

 food eaten by the Connecticut football team 

 furnished 181 grams protein and 5,740 cal- 

 ories of energy. The average diet of the 

 university boat crews contained daily 155 

 grams of protein, and had a fuel value of 

 4,085 calories. The average of the boat 

 crews is equivalent to the standard for a 

 man at active muscular work, and the aver- 

 age for the Connecticut team is equivalent 

 to that for a man at severe muscular work, 

 while the average for the California team 

 is, as was noted above, much larger. With 

 regard to the Eastern team, it may be said 

 that, although the study was made while 

 the team was still in active training, with 

 exercise vigorous, and at times severe, it 

 was toward the close of the season, when 

 the men were eating less heartily than they 

 had done earlier. Possibly if the study 

 had been made at the beginning of the 

 training season, as in the case of the Cali- 

 fornia team, the differences between these 

 2 studies might not have been so large ; but 

 it is doubtful if so great an excess could 

 be accounted for in that way. 



It might be contended that the diet of 

 the California team was called for by the 

 character of the exercise of the men and 

 their physical condition at the time it was 

 taken. The theory has been advanced that 

 when intense muscular work must be per- 

 formed in a short time, an unusual supply 

 of protein is necessary; for respiration, al- 

 though greatly quickened, does not supply 

 enough oxygen to satisfy the enormously 

 increased demand. A study of the results 

 obtained and a comparison of this dietary 

 with that of the Wesleyan team and the 

 university boat crews led the author to be- 

 lieve that factors like those indicated were 

 not sufficient to account for the high food 

 consumption. Making all allowances, the 

 study as a whole seems to warrant the con- 

 clusion that the team was overfed. The 

 total amount of food consumed by each 

 man was much larger than other observa- 

 tions have shown to be necessary. The 

 amount of food wasted was also large. 

 Nearly 20 per cent, of the protein pur- 



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