NUTRITIVE VALUE OF CEREAI, PREPARATIONS. ZEA 
Several of the breakfast foods on the market at the present 
day are prepared in a very simple manner, by removing the 
outer coat or bran and then crushing or rolling the rest of the 
grain. These products require considerable cooking before they 
are eaten. With other brands the treatment is carried much 
further. Some of them are partially cooked, and while still re- 
quiring some cooking, the time of cooking is much less than for 
materials not so treated. Some brands are said to be wholly 
cooked, and ready to be eaten as they are taken from the pack- 
age. Some brands are claimed to be not only cooked, but also 
predigested. Further than this it is hardly possible to go. 
In the case of the partially cooked products, the cooking may 
be done by steam, the grains being softened in this way and 
then passed between rollers and dried, as already explained in 
the case of rolled oats. ‘he cooking may be carried still fur- 
ther, and the grains rolled more thinly, producing the so-called 
“flaked’' cereals. Or the raw grains may be first flaked and 
then cooked by parching or toasting. Sometimes the raw grain 
is moistened with water or other liquid, then cooked by roast- 
ing or parching, and finally crushed. Those products which 
look like dried crumbs may be prepared in this manner. In pre- 
paring the so-called ‘‘shredded’’ products the softened grain is 
worked by machinery into shreds that are deposited in layers, 
which are then more or less closely pressed together and fur- 
ther cooked by parching or toasting. The majority of these 
toasted or parched preparations, either shredded or flaked, are 
cooked to such extent that they may be eaten without further 
cooking. 
Treatment with malt.—In the preparation of “‘ predigested”’ 
or ‘‘malted’’ cereal foods there is another step in the process, 
which has for its object the conversion of starch into sugar. 
The significance of such treatment will perhaps be plainer when 
some facts regarding the process of natural digestion of starch 
ate first considered. The purpose of digestion is to convert 
food substances into materials that may be absorbed from the 
alimentary canal and taken into the blood. The digestion of 
starch, which of itself is not soluble, is accomplished by the 
action of ferments present in the digestive juices produced in 
the body. One such ferment is present in the saliva, and a 
