SECTION XV 
THE RELATION OF DIET TO DISEASE 
BY 
Dr. E. p. Corson-White 
Food in the widest acceptation of the term, means 
every thing ingested that goes, directly or indirectly, to 
groAvth, repair of the body, or production of energy, all of 
which phenomena must continue when food is withheld or 
supplied in insufficient quantities. Under the latter con- 
dition the processes go on at the expense of the body 
tissues as these are protected only when the diet is ade- 
quate in every way. A proper diet, therefore, must be 
one on which an animal will attain maximum development, 
maintain a normal weight curve, show a minimum sus- 
ceptibility to disease, live out a full term of life, breed 
normally, and rear healthy offspring, capable of normal 
independent life after they are weaned. It must fulfill 
the caloric needs of the body, and in young animals it must 
also supply the growth impulse. In its physical prop- 
erties it must fit the morphological demands of each type 
of gastrointestinal tract. In its chemical content it must 
supply all the elements found in the body in usable form, 
and in amounts sufficient to cover the needs of the body 
for growth, repair and waste. To evaluate fully the 
influence of food on the individual animal it is necessary 
to study its relation: (1) to the type of alimentary tract, 
(2) to the type of bacterial flora and their metabolic 
processes, (3) to the chemical needs of the body, (4) to 
the changes arising in the catabolism and anabolism of 
all types of food, (5) to exercise or its lack, keeping in 
mind always the constant interdependence of all factors. 
Our knowledge of nutrition has to a very large extent 
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