PURE AND IMPURE FOODS. 



" What a Man Eats He Zr." 



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



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



SUGAR IN THE DIET. 



From reliable statistics it appears that 

 well-to-do families in this country consume 

 about 2 pounds of sugar per person per 

 week. It would seem that this amount, or 

 about one-fourth of a pound daily, taken as 

 it is in connection with other foods, is not 

 too much. Regarding larger quantities 

 there is some question. The use of sugar 

 would seem to be limited in 2 ways : By 

 the fact that sugar may be absorbed more 

 rapidly than it can be assimilated, and may 

 thus overload the system, bringing on indi- 

 gestion, or overtaxing the excretory or- 

 gans ; and by the ill effects on the system 

 of concentrated solutions of sugar. 



Sugar, like starch, is fattening; that is, 

 when taken in excess it may be trans- 

 formed into fat and stored as reserve ma- 

 terial. On this account physicians advise 

 that sugar be sparingly used by the corpu- 

 lent. It is frequently claimed, and appar- 

 ently with good reason, that sugar is of 

 great value as a food for the production of 

 muscular work, and therefore should form 

 an important part of the diet of soldiers on 

 the march and others engaged in severe 

 work. This may justify the high regard 

 in which sugar and syrup are held in cow- 

 boy camps, and indeed by all who rough it 

 in the open air for business, pleasure or 

 sport. No camp dish is more popular than 

 flapjacks and syrup. According to present 

 knowledge, the value of sugar as a food 

 for muscular work may be summarized as 

 follows : 



When the organism is adapted to the di- 

 gestion of starch, and there is sufficient 

 time for its utilization, sugar has no ad- 

 vantage over starch as a food for muscular 

 work except as a preventive of fatigue. In' 

 small quantities and in not too concen- 

 trated form, sugar will take the place, prac- 

 tically speaking, weight for weight, of 

 starch as a food for muscular work, bar- 

 ring the difference in energy and in time 

 required to digest them, sugar having here 

 the advantage. It furnishes the needed 

 carbohydrate material to organisms that 

 have as yet little or no power to digest 

 starch. Thus, milk sugar is part of the 

 natural food of the infant. In times of 

 great exertion or exhausting labor, the 

 rapidity with which sugar is assimilated 

 gives it certain advantages over starch. 

 This latter quality, which renders it more 

 rapidly available for muscle force, may, 

 perhaps, account for the fact that sugar is 



so relished by people who are doing mus- 

 cular work and by those of active habits, 

 as children. 



In general, the wholesomeness of sweet- 

 ened foods and their utilization by the sys- 

 tem is largely a question of quantity and 

 concentration. For instance, a simple pud- 

 ding flavored with sugar rather than heav- 

 ily sweetened is considered easy of diges- 

 tion, but when more sugar is used, with 

 the addition of eggs and fat, we have, as 

 the result, highly concentrated forms of 

 food which can be utilized by the system 

 only in moderate quantities and which 

 should always be forbidden to children and 

 invalids. 



It is true that the harvester, the lumber- 

 man, the hunter and others who do hard 

 work in the open air, consume, apparently 

 with impunity, great quantities of food 

 containing much sugar, such as pie, dough- 

 nuts, hot cakes with sirup, etc. ; but it is 

 equally true that people living an indoor 

 life find that undue quantities of pie, cake, 

 or pudding, with highly sweetened pre- 

 served fruit, and much sugar on cooked 

 cereals, bring indigestion sooner or later. 



Sugar is a useful and valuable food. It 

 must, however, be remembered that it is a 

 concentrated food and therefore should be 

 eaten in moderate quantities. Further, like 

 other concentrated foods, sugar seems best 

 fitted for assimilation by the body when 

 supplied with other materials which dilute 

 it or give it the necessary bulk. 



Persons of active habit and good diges- 

 tion will add sugar to their food almost 

 at pleasure without inconvenience ; while 

 those of sedentary life, of delicate diges- 

 tion, or of a tendency to corpulency would 

 do better to use sugar moderately. It is 

 generally assumed that 4 or 5 ounces of 

 sugar a day is as much as it is well for the 

 average adult to eat under ordinary condi- 

 tions. 



Most of the bad effects ascribed to sugar 

 are due to its use in larger quantities than 

 the 3 or 4 ounces a day, which seem to be 

 digested by the healthy adult without dif- 

 ficulty, if it is not presented in indigestible 

 forms. There is no proof that sugar is 

 harmful to the teeth, although doubtless 

 sweet food, allowed to cling to the teeth 

 after eating, rapidly ferments, and acids 

 will be formed that may attack the teeth. 

 This is equally true of starchy foods. It 

 is said, however, that the negroes of the 

 West Indies, who consume enormous quan- 



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