140 DANGERS FROM FOOD ADULTERATION 



experiments by means of the respiration calorimeter, to ascertain 

 whether alcohol is of use to the body as food.^ In these experi- 

 ments the subjects were given, instead of their daily allotment of 

 carbohydrates and fats, enough alcohol to supply the same amount 

 of energy that these foods would have given. The amount was 

 calculated to be about two and one half ounces per day, about as 

 much as would be contained in a bottle of light wine. This alcohol 

 was administered in small doses six times during the day. Pro- 

 fessor Atwater's results may be summed up briefly as follows : 



1. The alcohol administered was almost all oxidized in the 

 body. 



2. The potential energy in the alcohol was transformed into heat 

 or muscular work. 



3. The body apparently did about as well with the rations in- 

 cluding alcohol as it did with other rations. 



This showed that alcohol in small quantities could be used in 

 the body as a food. 



On the other hand, we know that although alcohol may techni- 

 cally be considered as a food, it has a harmful effect on the body 

 tissues which foods do not have. 



Alcohol a Poison. — According to Professor Chittenden, one of 

 the great dietary experts of this country, alcohol, although it is 

 oxidized in the body, has a harmful effect upon the liver and circu- 

 lation, because it reduces the amount of oxidation that takes place 

 in the liver and hence throws into the circulation substances like 

 uric acid, which are harmful to health. This indicates that alcohol 

 is a poison. Furthermore, statistics show conclusively that cer- 

 tain diseases, notably cirrhosis of the liver, are greatly increased 

 by the excessive use of alcohol. 



A commonly accepted definition of a poison is: any substance 

 which, when taken into the body, tends to cause the death of the organ- 

 ism or serious detriment to its health. That alcohol may do this is 

 well known by scientists. No one who reads of the increase 

 in the number of deaths from adulterated or ^' bootleg " liquor 

 can draw any other conclusion than that alcohol is a dangerous 



^ Alcohol is made up of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. It is very easily oxidized 

 but it cannot, as is shown by the chemical formula, be of use to the body in tissue 

 building, because of its lack of nitrogen. 



