FOOTNOTES:
[2] For the process of digestion and the action of the digestive juices on the various food elements, see Let’s Be Healthy, by Susanna Cocroft.
[3] Publisher’s Note: The conversion in the body of starch and sugar into grape sugar, then into dextrose, then into glycogen, the glycogen being again broken up into grape sugar, is fully explained in Susanna Cocroft’s book Let’s Be Healthy.
CHAPTER III
CLASSIFICATION OF FOODS
In the previous chapters, we have given the classification of the elements in foods (foodstuffs) which supply the body needs. In this chapter the foods commonly used are classified according to the predominance of these elements.
CARBONACEOUS FOODS
While all foods contain a combination of elements, some contain a greater proportion of carbohydrates and fats, and are classed as carbonaceous.
Roots and Tubers
Of the carbohydrates, next in importance to the sugars and to the starches in their purest form (cornstarch, tapioca, sago, and arrowroot), come the roots and tubers, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, parsnips, turnips, and onions.
The following table shows the proportion of various foodstuffs in these vegetables. The skins of the vegetables are included.
TABLE I
Roots and Tubers
| FOOD MATERIALS | Water per cent. | Protein per cent. | Fat per cent. | Carbohydrates per cent. | Ash per cent. | Food Value per pound Calories |
| Sweet Potatoes | 69.4 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 26.2 | 2.6 | 440 |
| White Potatoes | 75.0 | 2.1 | 0.2 | 22.0 | 0.7 | 295 |
| Parsnips | 64.4 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 10.8 | 1.1 | 230 |
| Onions | 86.0 | 1.9 | 0.1 | 11.3 | 0.7 | 225 |
| Beets | 87.0 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 7.3 | 0.7 | 160 |
| Carrots | 88.2 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 8.2 | 6.0 | 210 |
| Turnips | 92.7 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 120 |
Potatoes. It will be noted from the table given above that sweet potatoes contain a larger percentage of carbohydrates, hence they produce more heat and energy than any other vegetable; next to the sweet potato comes the Irish or white potato.
While the white potato contains two per cent. of protein, this is almost all located in a very thin layer immediately beneath the skin, so that when the potato is peeled in the ordinary way, the protein is removed. This is true of many vegetables. They lose their distinctive flavor, as well as their value as tissue-building foods, when the skins are removed, especially before cooking. Many vegetables may be peeled after being cooked and their value in nutrition is thus increased. All tubers gain in dietetic value if they are cooked in their skins, the thin outer covering being removed after the cooking process is completed. The ordinary cook, however, is unwilling to take the trouble to prepare them in this way.
In vegetables as usually prepared for the table the proportion of carbohydrates is increased and the proportion of protein is diminished. The skins render many of the foods unsightly, hence they are discarded in the preparation for cooking.
When a potato is baked the outer skin is readily separated from the less perceptible layer containing the protein. Potatoes boiled in their skins retain the protein.
In the white potato, of the twenty-two per cent. of carbohydrates, three and two-tenths per cent. is sugar and eighteen and eight-tenths per cent. is starch. In the sweet potato ten and two-tenths per cent. is sugar and sixteen per cent. is starch.
Since sugar digests more quickly than starch, the sweet potato digests more quickly than the white. Because of the large percentage of carbohydrates in each, it is a mistake to eat these two vegetables at the same meal, unless the quantity of each is lessened. For the same reason, bread and potatoes, or rice and potatoes, should not be eaten to any extent at the same meal, unless by one who is doing heavy manual labor, requiring much energy.
Onions. Only about four per cent. of the onion represents nourishment; the eleven and three-tenths per cent. of carbohydrates is made up of two and eight-tenths per cent. sugar and the rest of extractives. Of the extractives the volatile oil, which causes the eyes to water when onions are peeled, is the most important.
The onion is not, therefore, so important for its actual nourishing qualities as for its relish and flavor, and for this it is to be commended.
It is a diuretic, encouraging a free action of the kidneys. Because of its diuretic value it is commonly called a healthful food. An onion and lettuce sandwich stimulates the action of the kidneys and is a nerve sedative.
The volatile oil makes the raw onion difficult for some to digest and, in that case, should be omitted from the diet.
Beets. There is no starch in beets, their seven and three-tenths per cent. of carbohydrates being sugar. They possess, therefore, more nutritive value than onions, and they are easily digested. It will be noted that it takes many beets to make a pound of sugar.
There are no more delicate or nutritious greens than the stem and leaf of the beet. These greens contain much iron and are valuable aids in building up the iron in the blood, thus aiding in the correction of anemia.
Carrots. Carrots are valuable as food chiefly on account of their sugar. They are somewhat more difficult of digestion than beets and they contain more waste. They make a good side dish, boiled and served with butter or cream.
Turnips. Turnips have little value as a food. Their nutriment is in the sugar they contain. For those who enjoy the flavor they are a relish, serving as an appetizer, and, like the onion, are to be recommended as a side dish for this purpose.
Parsnips. Like carrots, parsnips are chiefly valuable for their sugar and for the extractives which act as appetizers.
Since turnips, carrots, onions, and parsnips owe a part of their nutritive value to the extractives which whet the appetite for other foods, it follows that, if one does not enjoy their flavor or their odor, these vegetables lose in value to that individual as a food. If one does enjoy the flavor, it adds to their food value, therefore taste for the flavors of all foods should be cultivated.
Green Vegetables
The question may be asked with reason: “Why do we eat green vegetables?” They contain only about four per cent. nutriment, as will be seen in Table [II], and are mostly made up of water and pulp. It will be noted that they are distinctly lacking in protein and in carbohydrates; hence, they have little food value.
Some of them, however, contain acids which tend to increase the alkalinity of the blood, and salts which are needed by the system.
Their merit lies in the fact that they have distinct flavors and thus whet the appetite. Another reason why green vegetables are thoroughly enjoyed is because they come in the spring, when the appetite is a little surfeited with the winter foods.
They are diuretic, helping the kidneys and the skin to rid the system of waste.
Because of their bulk of waste they are useful in constipation as they act as a stimulus to the peristaltic action of the bowels; thus they are more laxative to the intestines than the root vegetables, partly because of the salts which they contain and partly because of the undigested vegetable fiber. This vegetable fiber, being coarse, assists in cleansing the mucous lining of the stomach and intestines. They are diuretic and, if for no other reason than for this cleansing of the kidneys, and to make the stomach and intestines more efficient, the use of green vegetables is to be commended, and it is well to eat freely of them.
TABLE II
Green Vegetables
| FOOD MATERIALS | Water per cent. | Nitrogenous Matter per cent. | Fat per cent. | Carbohydrates per cent. | Mineral Matter per cent. | Cellulose per cent. | Fuel Value per pound Calories |
| Cabbage | 89.6 | 1.80 | 0.4 | 5.8 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 165 |
| Spinach | 90.6 | 2.50 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 120 |
| Vegetable Marrow | 94.8 | 0.06 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 120 |
| Tomatoes | 91.9 | 1.30 | 0.2 | 5.0 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 105 |
| Lettuce | 94.1 | 1.40 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 105 |
| Celery | 93.4 | 1.40 | 0.1 | 3.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 85 |
| Rhubarb | 94.6 | 0.70 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 105 |
| Water Cress | 93.1 | 0.70 | 0.5 | 8.7 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 110 |
| Cucumbers | 95.9 | 0.80 | 0.1 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 10 |
| Asparagus | 91.7 | 2.20 | 0.2 | 2.9 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 110 |
| Brussels Sprouts | 93.7 | 1.50 | 0.1 | 3.4 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 95 |
| Beans (string) | 8.92 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 7.4 | 0.8 | 7.0 | 195 |
| Beans (dried) | 12.6 | 22.5 | 1.8 | 59.6 | 3.5 | 0.0 | 1605 |
| Peas (green, shelled) | 74.6 | 7.0 | 0.5 | 16.9 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 465 |
In larger cities, fresh vegetables are in the markets the year around, but if they are raised in greenhouses, or in any way forced, they lack the flavor which comes with natural maturity and they also lack the full amount of iron given by the rays of the sun. If raised in the south and shipped from a distance, they are not fresh and they do not have as good an effect on the system as when fresh and fully matured by the sun.
Greens, as spinach, chard, dandelions, and beet tops, as previously stated, contain iron and build red blood corpuscles.
Cabbage, of which there are many varieties, contains much sulphur. If fermentation exists in the intestines the sulphur unites with hydrogen causing gas of an unpleasant odor.
They promote the formation of calcium oxalate in the urine and should be avoided as a food by any one inclined to gout, rheumatism, or gall-stones.
Cabbage is usually not well digested by invalids.
Eaten raw, because of its bulk, it is laxative. Some dyspeptics, who cannot digest cooked cabbage, digest raw cabbage readily.
Celery is wholesome when cooked, because of the milk and butter in which it is prepared. Eaten raw the fiber is hard for the digestive juices to dissolve and should be thoroughly masticated. It has little nutritive value save for its appetizing flavor.
Because of the salts, largely sulphates and phosphates, which it contains, celery has been called a nerve food, but the proportion of these is so small that their food value is negligible.
Tomatoes are easily digested and are refreshing. They are not well borne by some and on account of the oxalic acid they contain should not be used by those having an excess of uric acid.
Asparagus, because of its delicate flavor and appearance early in spring, is a vegetable universally liked. It is easily digested and may be eaten by invalids; they usually greatly relish it. Its particular food value lies in its sulphur and in its value as an appetizer.
Rhubarb is one of the most wholesome of vegetables and is being much more widely used. Thoroughly cooked it is digestible and a natural laxative.
Its tart flavor and appearance in early spring render it a pleasant change from the ordinary diet. Eaten in excess, like cabbage, it produces calcium oxalate in the urine and should not be eaten in large amounts by those inclined to gout.
All fresh vegetables should be masticated to almost a fluid consistency; otherwise, they are difficult of digestion, containing, as they do, so much fiber.
Fruits
Technically speaking, fruits include all plant products which bear or contain a seed. They are valuable for their acids and organic salts—citrates, malates, or tartrates of potassium, sodium, magnesium, and calcium.
They are composed for the most part of starch, sugar, water, and various organic acids, cellulose, and pectin. (Pectin is the substance which jellies under heat.) Fruits which do not contain pectin must be combined with others which do, or with gelatin, if jelly from them is desired.
The organic acids in fruits are readily split up in the body, and form alkalis. For this reason acid fruits are useful in certain acid conditions of the stomach, because they combine with the stomach acids, liberating substances which cause an alkaline reaction.
The citrus fruits—oranges, lemons, grapefruit and limes—are rich in citric acid.
Malic acid is found in gooseberries, peaches, pears, apples, currants, and apricots.
Tartaric acid is prominent in grapes.
The value of fruits as a food depends largely on the amount of starch and sugar they contain, though their agreeable odor and taste, by furnishing variety in the diet, render them, also, of great value as appetizers.
As a rule they contain too much water to be of great food value if eaten alone.
The organic acids and salts contained in fruits are of value as they stimulate the activity of the kidneys and lessen the acidity of the urine. The urine may even be rendered alkaline by them; hence, when a test shows evidence of too much uric acid, acid fruits are used to neutralize the acids in the tissues, particularly the acids of the citrus fruits.
The fruit juices are readily absorbed and the potassium calcium, sodium, and magnesium they contain are liberated with the formation of alkaline carbonates.
These alkalis are largely eliminated through the kidneys, which accounts for the diuretic effect of fruits, their acids and salts stimulating the activity of the kidneys.
The seeds in the small fruits are not digested, but they serve the purpose of increasing intestinal peristalsis and of assisting the movement of the contents of the intestines. The skin and the fiber of fruits also assist the intestines in this way, just as the fiber in vegetables does.
All acid fruits—particularly lemons, limes, grapefruit, and oranges—stimulate the action of the skin as well as the kidneys and whenever the kidneys and skin are not sufficiently active, these fruits should be eaten freely.
In case of an excess of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, lemon juice or citrus fruits are valuable about half an hour before a meal, as when taken on an empty stomach they decrease the secretion of hydrochloric acid.
When the secretion of hydrochloric acid is limited, acids are given after a meal to supplement the deficiency, or stimulate the glands to activity.
Sweet or bland fruits are those containing a lesser percentage of acids. Among these are pears, raspberries, grapes, bananas, blackberries, blueberries, melons, and some peaches, apples, and plums.
Of this class of fruits, dates, figs, prunes, and grapes (raisins), furnish most nutriment, because, as will be noted by Table [III], these fruits contain a large amount of carbohydrates in the form of sugar.
The protein in these sweet fruits is largely in the seeds and, as the seeds are not digested, they have no real food value for the individual.
Figs and prunes, peaches, apples, and berries are laxative—probably the laxative action of figs and berries is due to the seeds, and of the others to the salts and acids they contain, and to the cellulose or fibrous material which furnishes bulk.
TABLE III
Fruits
| FOOD MATERIALS | Water per cent. | Protein per cent. | Ether Extract per cent. | Carbohydrates per cent. | Ash per cent. | Cellulose per cent. | Acids per cent. |
| Apples | 82.50 | 0.40 | 0.5 | 12.5 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 1.0 |
| Apricots | 85.00 | 1.10 | 0.6 | 12.4 | 0.5 | 3.1 | 1.0 |
| Peaches | 88.80 | 0.50 | 0.2 | 5.8 | 0.6 | 3.4 | 0.7 |
| Plums | 78.40 | 1.00 | 0.2 | 14.8 | 0.5 | 4.3 | 1.0 |
| Cherries | 84.00 | 0.80 | 0.8 | 10.0 | 0.6 | 3.8 | 1.0 |
| Gooseberries | 86.00 | 0.40 | 0.8 | 8.9 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 1.5 |
| Currants | 85.20 | 0.40 | 0.8 | 7.9 | 0.5 | 4.6 | 1.4 |
| Strawberries | 89.10 | 1.00 | 0.5 | 6.3 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 1.0 |
| Whortleberries | 76.30 | 0.70 | 3.0 | 5.8 | 0.4 | 12.2 | 1.6 |
| Cranberries | 86.50 | 0.50 | 0.7 | 3.9 | 0.2 | 6.2 | 2.2 |
| Oranges | 86.70 | 0.90 | 0.6 | 8.7 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 1.8 |
| Lemons | 89.3 | 1.00 | 0.9 | 8.3 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.8 |
| Pineapples | 89.3 | 0.04 | 0.3 | 9.7 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 7.0 |
| Pears | 83.90 | 0.40 | 0.6 | 11.5 | 0.4 | 3.1 | 0.1 |
| Blackberries | 88.90 | 0.90 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 5.2 | 1.6 |
| Raspberries | 84.40 | 1.00 | 2.1 | 5.2 | 0.6 | 7.4 | 1.4 |
| Mulberries | 84.70 | 0.30 | 0.7 | 11.4 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.8 |
| Grapes | 79.00 | 1.00 | 1.0 | 15.5 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 0.5 |
| Watermelons | 92.90 | 0.30 | 0.1 | 6.5 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 0.5 |
| Bananas | 74.00 | 1.50 | 0.7 | 22.9 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
| Dates, dried | 2.08 | 4.40 | 2.1 | 65.1 | 1.5 | 5.5 | 7.0 |
| Figs, dried | 2.00 | 5.50 | 0.9 | 62.8 | 2.3 | 7.3 | 1.2 |
| Prunes, dried | 2.64 | 2.40 | 0.8 | 66.2 | 1.5 | 7.3 | 2.7 |
| Raisins | 10.60 | 2.50 | 4.7 | 74.7 | 3.1 | 1.7 | 2.7 |
The astringent and acid taste of unripe fruits is due to the tannin and the acids. Oxygen is necessary to ripen fruits and the slow natural maturing of the fruit on the tree enables the oxygen to enter into combination with these substances, lessening their reaction and altering the starch into glucose or levulose.
Fruits ripened artificially lack this chemical action of sun and oxygen, hence the decreased palatability and digestibility of fruits so ripened. If underripe fruits are freely eaten they ferment in the alimentary tract and this fermentation causes the colic, vomiting, and diarrhea so often experienced. Overripe fruit, from the decomposition products which have already begun to form and which are further released in the stomach or bowels, may produce the same results.
Care should therefore be exercised to select thoroughly ripe fruits which have not begun to decay.
In order to reach their destination in fair condition, outwardly, many fruits are picked before they are ripe. Bananas are commonly picked green, because they decay so quickly that if they were picked ripe they would spoil before reaching the northern markets.
One test of a naturally ripened apple is to cut it with a steel knife—if the blade turns black, or if the cut surface of the apple turns brown in a few minutes, it should not be eaten, for it indicates an excess of tannin. It is this tannin which gives the small boy excruciating pains from his green apples.
It will be recalled that the tannin from the bark of trees toughens the skin of animals and forms leather. The effect on the membrane of the stomach and intestines, from the tannin in food, is not so pronounced, because of the activity and resistance of living matter.
The juice of lemons and oranges is most valuable in seasickness and scurvy, and is of benefit in nausea. A slice of lemon will often clear a coated tongue and give a refreshing sense of cleanliness to the mouth, especially in feverish conditions. Sour lemonade is one of the best drinks in summer because of its thirst-allaying qualities.
Table [III] shows that bananas contain nearly twenty-three per cent. of carbohydrates, which, in an immature state, are largely starches. The natural ripening process changes the starch to sugar, thus making them more easily digested. The starch globules, when not matured on the tree, are not easily broken and are thus difficult of digestion.
Bananas should not be given to children under two years of age because before this age the ptyalin and pancreatin are not sufficiently developed to digest the starch.
Many of the inhabitants of the tropics use bananas almost to the exclusion of other food and appear well nourished. They obtain them from the tree when the fruit has thoroughly ripened, the starch having been transformed by Nature into an easily digested product.
The reason many find they cannot digest bananas, as purchased in our markets, is due to the fact that the fruit is immature and unripe.
The banana meal or flour is usually thoroughly digestible, is nourishing, and has an agreeable taste. Invalids can often take banana meal in the form of gruel; it makes an appreciated addition to a limited diet. Made into a porridge and eaten with cream it is valuable in conditions of inflammation of the gastro-intestinal tract. The addition of a few drops of lemon juice renders it palatable to those who like an acid flavor. Children enjoy it as a variation from cereals. It is relished by typhoid fever patients as a change from milk.
It must be carefully cooked and well prepared as, like oatmeal, it can be spoiled by insufficient or poor cooking. Owing to the limited demand it is not obtainable in all markets, as it has not yet become popularized.
Grapes, because of their wholesome qualities, are useful to the system, as they contain sodium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and calcium. Because of their appetizing flavor they are universally enjoyed, and because they are cheap are universally used. The skins and seeds are indigestible and, if swallowed, may cause severe irritation or obstruction of the intestines. Grapes are rich in sugar, and on this account must not be eaten by diabetics.
Grape juice, when unfermented, is a valuable drink, in health, or for the convalescent. It is agreeable in taste and is mildly laxative. Added to other fruit juices, as lemon or orange, it allays thirst and furnishes a pleasant flavor, but on account of its high percentage of sugar does not allay thirst when used alone.
Apples, so universally used, are easily digestible when ripe, and may be prepared in so many ways that they constitute a valuable addition to the diet. Their laxative qualities, when taken on an empty stomach, as before breakfast, or just before retiring, are well known. They are thus valuable in constipation, and in some forms of dyspepsia may, with benefit, be eaten raw.
Apples should be thoroughly masticated.
The apple peel contains potassium salts and should be eaten with the fruit.
Most invalids digest apples better if they are cooked, especially baked. Stewed apples may have the beaten white of eggs whipped into them and invalids who revolt against eggs can take them thus prepared.
Because of the sugar necessary in cooking them they should be avoided by diabetics, and in conditions in which there is irritation of the gastro-intestinal tract.
Quinces are indigestible when raw, but well baked and eaten with cream are appetizing and nourishing.
Pineapples, if thoroughly ripe, contain a ferment which will digest protein, rapidly softening and disintegrating the tissue of meat. Like the pancreatic ferment it acts in both alkaline and acid mediums. Pineapple juice, therefore, is exceedingly valuable as an addition to the diet. The coarse fibers also have a laxative action. Care must be taken, however, to use this fruit only when it is well ripened, as when green, it is indigestible.
The juice of pineapple, because of the action of the ferment in dissolving tissue, is valuable in many forms of sore throat, particularly when accompanied by an ulcerous condition. The effort should be made to hold it in the mouth, allowing it to trickle down the throat by degrees.
Dried fruits are less palatable than fresh. Many of them, as prunes and raisins, are nourishing, but others, as citron, are indigestible, and should be finely chopped if used as flavoring.
Dried or evaporated fruits, through the action of heat, either artificial or from the rays of the sun, have lost the water they contained, and are preserved by their own sugar.
Dried grapes, or raisins, because of their sugar, soon satiate the appetite if eaten raw, but if cooked or added to cereals, puddings, or breads, enhance the palatability and nourishing qualities of these foods.
Dates and figs used in the same way, in cereals or puddings, are equally valuable.
Dried currants are the most indigestible of the dried fruits, owing to their large amount of skin in proportion to the nutriment.
NITROGENOUS FOODS
As previously stated, in a mixed diet, meat and eggs are the chief sources of nitrogenous foods. Next to these come the legumes.
Meat
Meat is composed largely of muscle fiber and contains connective tissue and fat. It has been estimated that beef contains one-third nutritive material, the other two-thirds being water and bone. Fat meat contains less nitrogenous material and less water than lean meat.
Lean meat is almost entirely digested in the stomach by the gastric juice, which changes it into peptone. It is needless to say that it should be thoroughly masticated, that the gastric juice may promptly act on it. If any part passes into the intestine undigested, the process is continued by the trypsin of the pancreatic juice.
The peptone is absorbed and carried by the blood and lymph to all tissues of the body, where it is used for growth and repair. As stated under “Heat and Energy,” any excess of protein above that needed for growth and repair is oxidized if sufficient oxygen is breathed, yielding energy and heat, and the waste is eliminated through the kidneys and the bile.
For purposes of comparison, one pound of beef has been said to equal in nutritive value, two and one-half pints or five glasses of milk, one-half pound (two-thirds of an ordinary baker’s loaf) of bread, and three eggs. However, these values vary.
TABLE IV
Animal Foods
| FOOD MATERIALS | Water per cent. | Protein per cent. | Fat per cent. | Carbohydrates per cent. | Ash per cent. | Fuel Value per pound Calories |
| Beef, Fresh | 54.0 | 17.0 | 19.0 | .... | 0.7 | 1105 |
| Flank | 54.0 | 17.0 | 19.0 | .... | 0.7 | 1105 |
| Porterhouse | 52.4 | 19.1 | 17.9 | .... | 0.8 | 1100 |
| Sirloin steak | 54.0 | 16.5 | 16.1 | .... | 0.9 | 975 |
| Round | 60.7 | 19.0 | 12.8 | .... | 1.0 | 890 |
| Rump | 45.0 | 13.8 | 20.2 | .... | 0.7 | 1090 |
| Corned beef | 49.2 | 14.3 | 23.8 | .... | 4.6 | 1245 |
| Veal: | ||||||
| Leg cutlets | 68.3 | 20.1 | 7.5 | .... | 1.0 | 695 |
| Fore quarter | 54.2 | 15.1 | 6.0 | .... | 0.7 | 535 |
| Mutton: | ||||||
| Leg, hind | 51.2 | 15.1 | 14.7 | .... | 0.8 | 890 |
| Loin chops | 42.0 | 13.5 | 28.3 | .... | 0.7 | 1415 |
| Lamb | 49.2 | 15.6 | 16.3 | .... | 0.85 | 967 |
| Ham: | ||||||
| Loin chops | 41.8 | 13.4 | 24.2 | .... | 0.8 | 1245 |
| Ham, smoked | 34.8 | 14.2 | 33.4 | .... | 4.2 | 1635 |
| Sausage: | ||||||
| Frankfurter | 57.2 | 19.6 | 18.6 | 1.1 | 3.4 | 1155 |
| Poultry: | ||||||
| Fowls | 47.1 | 13.7 | 12.3 | .... | 0.7 | 765 |
| Goose | 38.5 | 13.4 | 29.8 | .... | 0.7 | 1475 |
| Turkey | 42.4 | 16.1 | 18.4 | .... | 0.8 | 1060 |
| Animal Viscera: | ||||||
| Liver (sheep) | 61.2 | 23.1 | 9.0 | 5.0 | .... | .... |
| Sweetbreads | 70.9 | 16.8 | 12.1 | .... | 1.6 | .... |
| Tongue, smoked and salted | 35.7 | 24.3 | 31.6 | .... | 8.5 | .... |
| Brain: | 80.6 | 8.8 | 9.3 | .... | 1.1 | .... |
| Fresh Fish: | ||||||
| Bass large-mouthed | ||||||
| Black, dressed | 41.9 | 10.3 | 0.5 | .... | 0.6 | 215 |
| Cod steaks | 72.4 | 16.9 | 0.5 | .... | 1.0 | 335 |
| Shad roe | 71.2 | 23.4 | 3.8 | .... | 1.6 | 595 |
| Whitefish, dressed | 46.1 | 10.2 | 1.3 | .... | 0.7 | 245 |
| Preserved Fish: | ||||||
| Halibut, salted, smoked and dried | 46.0 | 19.1 | 14.0 | .. | 1.9 | 945 |
| Sardines, canned | 53.6 | 24.0 | 12.1 | ... | . 5.3 | 955 |
| Salmon, canned | 59.3 | 19.3 | 15.3 | ... | . 1.2 | 1005 |
| Mollusks: | ||||||
| Oysters, solid | 88.3 | 6.1 | 1.4 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 235 |
| Round clams removed from shell | 80.8 | 10.6 | 1.1 | 5.1 | 2.3 | 340 |
| Mussels | 42.7 | 4.4 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 140 |
| Crustaceans: | ||||||
| Lobster, in shell | 31.1 | 5.5 | 0.7 | .... | 0.6 | 130 |
| Crab, in shell | 34.1 | 7.3 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 185 |
| Shrimp, canned | 70.8 | 25.4 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 520 |
| Terrapin, turtle, etc. | 17.4 | 4.2 | 0.7 | ... | 0.2 | 105 |
The amount of fat in meat varies from two to forty per cent., according to the animal and to its condition at the time of killing.
The best meats are from young animals which have been kept fat and have not been subjected to any work to toughen the muscles.
It is possible to combine the fat and the lean of meat so as to meet the requirements of the body without waste. About ninety-seven per cent. of meat is assimilated by the system, while a large part of the vegetable matter consumed is excreted as refuse.
The compounds contained in animal foods are much like those of the body, therefore they require comparatively little digestion to prepare them for assimilation—this work having been done by the animal—while the vegetable compounds require much change by the digestive system before they can be used in the body.
The proportion of albuminoids, gelatinoids, and extractives in meat vary with different meats and with different cuts of the same meat.
The albuminoids of meat include the meat tissue, or the muscle cells. These constitute by far the greater part of the meat.
The gelatinoids are derived from the connective tissue forming the sheath of the muscle and of bundles of muscles, the skin, tendons, and the casing of bone. Gelatins are made from these and, if pure and prepared in a cleanly manner, they are wholesome.
Gelatin is distinguishable in rich meat soups, which jelly when cool.
The gelatinoids alone have not a large nutritive value; they serve to spare the albumin from being used, though they cannot replace albumin in the diet. They also, to some extent, keep the muscles from being consumed when starches, sugars, and fats are lacking.
The extractives are found most abundantly in the flesh of animals and birds noted for their muscular activity, as in game. Some of them exert a stimulant action on the nervous system and others are appetizers, giving to cooked meats, broths, etc., their pleasing flavor. In case of anemia, in which it is necessary to build red blood corpuscles, the blood of beef, the thought of which is usually repellent, may be made very palatable if it is heated sufficiently to bring out the flavor of the extractives, and then seasoned.
Unless the beef extracts on the market contain the blood tissue, in addition to the extractives, they are not particularly nourishing and are only valuable in soups, etc., as appetizers.
Soups for nourishment should be made by cooking the bones, connective tissue, and a part of the meat. Bones and connective tissue alone make an appetizing soup, but it contains little nutriment.
One reason why meat soups should constitute the first course at dinner is because the extractives stimulate the appetite and start the flow of gastric juices. Bouillons contain no nourishment, but they may be used as stimulant restoratives to the muscles, or as a basis for vegetables, rice, or barley to give them flavor.
Roasted flesh seems to be more completely digested than boiled meat; raw meat is more easily digested than cooked; rare meat is more easily digested than that thoroughly cooked.
Roasted young chicken and veal are tender, easily masticated, and easily and rapidly digested in the stomach. This is one reason why the white meats are considered a good diet for the invalid, though veal is usually avoided in cases of dyspepsia, as, if too young, it may cause diarrhea; if too old, it is less digestible than beef.
Fat meats remain in the stomach a much longer time than lean meats; thus, gastric digestion of pork, which usually contains much fat, is especially difficult, requiring from three and one-half to four hours (see page [22]).
Preserved and canned meats should be eaten with the utmost caution, care being taken to know that they are put up by firms which use extreme care in their preparation. Inferior meat is sometimes used in the preparation of these foods. If meats are not fresh and the canning not carefully done, they may become putrid after being put up.
Fish and sea foods are, many of them, rich in protein, as noted in Table [IV]. They should never be used unless absolutely fresh.
The idea is prevalent that fish is a brain food. Fish is easily digested and builds brain as well as other tissue, but no more readily than beef does, or any easily digested, absorbed and assimilated food which contains a goodly proportion of protein.
Lobsters are difficult of digestion and contain little nutrition, so are not valuable as a food, though they are relished by many on account of their flavor.
Oysters, raw, are easier to digest than when cooked. Oysters should not be eaten during the spawning season from May to September.
Mussels are nutritious when well prepared and are rapidly gaining in popularity.
Clams furnish a valuable and nutritious food when prepared in chowder form. Clam broth will often be retained on an irritable stomach when other food is rejected by it.
Care should be taken to ascertain the method of their production as typhoid fever has been contracted from eating shell fish whose feeding beds were near or in polluted water.
Eggs
Eggs are excellent articles of food for nutrition and for tissue building. They have practically the same value in the diet as meat, and make a very good substitute for meat. Egg yolk in abundance is often prescribed when it is necessary to supply a very nutritious and easily assimilated diet.
Eggs consist chiefly of two nutrients—protein and fat (ten per cent.). Because they contain so large a proportion of protein they are classified as nitrogenous foods.
The yolk, which is about one-third fat, contains iron, sulphur, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. The white contains some fat and phosphorus. The white and the yolk contain equal quantities of protein. The white of the egg is almost pure albumin.
The dark stain made by eggs on silver is due to the sulphur.
The iron in the yolk is a valuable assistant in building red blood corpuscles.
Eggs, in common with other proteins, are changed, mostly in the stomach, into peptone. That not digested in the stomach, as is the case with other proteins, is changed in the intestine.
If the egg is old, or if its absorption is delayed in the intestine, it decomposes, producing gas, and may cause intestinal disorder. For this reason no stale egg should ever be served, especially to an invalid.
One reason why eggs disagree with some is because too much fat is eaten at the same time. Egg yolk contains fat and if much extra fat is eaten indigestion and fermentation in the intestine may result. This is particularly true in those who digest fat with difficulty.
When eggs seem to disagree or the system does not assimilate them well on account of the fat in the yolk, and eggs are desirable to supply the protein in the diet, the whites, which contain practically no fat, may be used. They should be well beaten and if digestion is weak they may be mixed with fruit juices.
The citric acid in lemons and oranges partially digests the egg, the gastric juice quickly changing it to peptone.
One method of preparing eggs, which is especially valuable for those having delicate stomachs, is in egg lemonade or orangeade. Thoroughly beat the egg, add the juice of half a lemon or orange, sugar to taste, and fill the glass with water.
Grape juice, cream, and cocoa, if assimilated, may be used in place of lemon or orange, in order to give variety when it is necessary to use eggs freely.
Eggnog is another means of taking raw eggs.
One method of testing the freshness of eggs is to drop them into a strong, salt brine made by adding two ounces of salt to a pint of water. A fresh egg will at once sink to the bottom. If the egg is three days old the surface of the shell will be even with the surface of the water and an egg two weeks old will float mostly above the surface.
The opinion is prevalent that a hard-boiled egg is difficult of digestion, but this depends entirely on the mastication. If it is masticated so that it is a pulp before being swallowed, a hard-boiled egg is readily digested.
A soft-boiled egg should not be boiled longer than three or four minutes, or better, should be put into warm water, be allowed to come to a boil, then set off the fire and the egg be allowed to remain in the water for ten minutes. This method cooks the egg through more evenly.
Another method of cooking the yolk evenly with the white is to put the egg in cold water, let the water come to a boil, and again immerse the egg in cold water. The immersing in cold water after boiling makes hard-boiled eggs peel readily.
CARBO-NITROGENOUS FOODS
Under this class come cereals, legumes, nuts, milk, and milk products. In these foods the nitrogenous and carbonaceous elements are more evenly proportioned than in either the carbonaceous or nitrogenous groups. The different food elements in this group are so evenly divided that one could live for a considerable length of time on any one food. Some animals build flesh from nuts alone, while the herbivorous animals live on cereals and plants.
Cereals
Under cereals, used by man for food, come wheat, oats, rye, barley, rice, and corn. As will be noted by Table [V], cereals contain a large proportion of starch and are therefore used largely for heat and energy. Rice contains the largest proportion and next to rice, wheat flour.
TABLE V
Cereals
| Carbohydrates | ||||||
| FOOD MATERIALS | Water per cent. | Protein per cent. | Fat per cent. | Starch, etc. per cent. | Crude fiber per cent. | Ash per cent. |
| Wheat | 10.4 | 12.1 | 2.1 | 71.6 | 1.8 | 1.9 |
| Rice | 12.4 | 7.4 | 0.4 | 79.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Oats | 11.0 | 11.8 | 5.0 | 59.7 | 9.5 | 3.0 |
| Rye | 11.6 | 10.6 | 1.7 | 72.0 | 1.7 | 1.9 |
| Breads and Crackers: | ||||||
| Wheat bread | 32.5 | 8.8 | 1.9 | 55.8 | .... | 1.0 |
| Graham bread | 34.2 | 9.5 | 1.4 | 53.3 | .... | 1.6 |
| Rye bread | 30.0 | 3.4 | 0.5 | 59.7 | .... | 1.4 |
| Soda crackers | 8.0 | 10.3 | 9.4 | 70.5 | .... | 1.8 |
| Graham crackers | 5.0 | 9.8 | 13.5 | 69.7 | .... | 2.0 |
| Oatmeal crackers | 4.9 | 10.4 | 13.7 | 69.6 | .... | 1.4 |
| Oyster crackers | 3.8 | 11.3 | 4.8 | 77.5 | .... | 2.6 |
| Macaroni | 13.1 | 9.0 | 0.3 | 76.8 | .... | 0.8 |
| Flours and Meals: | ||||||
| Flour, wheat | 12.5 | 11.0 | 1.0 | 74.9 | .... | 0.5 |
| Corn Meal | 15.0 | 9.2 | 3.8 | 70.6 | .... | 1.4 |
| Oatmeal | 7.6 | 15.1 | 7.1 | 68.2 | .... | 2.0 |
The values as given in the table refer to the whole of the grain. When the outer coverings are removed, as in the white flour and the outer covering of rice, the proportion of carbohydrates is increased and the protein and ash are almost entirely eliminated.
There is no part of the world, except the Arctic regions, where cereals are not extensively cultivated. From the oats and rye of the north, to the rice of the hot countries, grains of some kind are staple foods.
An idea of the importance of cereal foods in the diet may be gathered from the following data, based on the results obtained in dietary studies with a large number of American families: Vegetable foods, including flour, bread, and other cereal products, furnished 55 per cent. of the total food, 39 per cent. of the protein, 8 per cent. of the fat, and 95 per cent. of the carbohydrates of the diet. The amounts which cereal foods alone supplied were 22 per cent. of the total food, 31 per cent. of the protein, 7 per cent. of the fat and 55 per cent. of the total carbohydrates—that is, about three-quarters of the vegetable protein, one-half of the carbohydrates, and seven-eighths of the vegetable fat were supplied by the cereals. Oat, rice, and wheat breakfast foods together furnished about 2 per cent. of the total food in protein, 1 per cent. of the total fat, and 4 per cent. of the carbohydrates of the ordinary mixed diet, as shown by the statistics cited. These percentage values are not high in themselves, but it must be remembered that they represent large quantities when we consider the food consumed by a family in a year.[4]
If one’s work calls for extreme muscular exertion, the cereals may be eaten freely, but if one’s habits are sedentary, and the cereals are used in excess, there is danger of clogging the system with too much starch. Indeed, for one whose occupation is indoors and requires little muscular activity, a very little cereal food, such as bread, cake, etc., will suffice; the carbohydrates will be supplied, in sufficient quantity, in vegetables.
Mineral matter is supplied in sufficient quantity in almost all classes of foods.
Cereals and legumes supply nutrients at less price than any class of foods; therefore a vegetarian diet involves less expense than the mixed diet. An entirely vegetarian diet, however, gradually induces a condition of muscular weakness in many people, resulting in a loss of strength. A well-proportioned mixed diet is best to give strength and activity of both body and mind.
Meat, eggs, and milk, which usually supply the proteins, are the most expensive foods, and when these, for any cause, are eliminated, a large proportion of proteins should be supplied by the legumes.
Wheat
Perhaps no food is as commonly used as wheat in its various forms. It is composed of:
1. The nitrogenous or protein compound, chiefly represented in the cerealin and the gluten of the bran. This is removed from white flour and from much of the so-called “whole wheat” flour.
2. The starch—the center or white part of the kernel.
3. The fats, occurring chiefly in the germ of the grain.
4. The phosphorus compounds, iron, and lime, found in the bran.
The kernel of wheat consists of the bran or covering, which surrounds the white, pulpy mass of starch within. In the lower end of the kernel is the germ.
Flour. In the old-time process of making flour the wheat was crushed between stones and then sifted, first, through a sieve, which separated the outer shell of the bran; then through bolting cloth, which separated the white pulp from the inner bran coating. It was not ground as fine as in the present process, thus the gluten, phosphorus, and iron (all valuable substances) were, in the old process, nearly all left out of the white flour. The second bran coating, left by the second sifting, was not so coarse as the outer shell but coarser than the inner. Care was not formerly observed in having the grain clean before grinding, the bran containing chaff and dirt, so that it was not used as food but was considered valuable for stock, and was called “middlings.”
In the modern process of crushing the wheat between steel rollers, the white flour of to-day contains more of the protein from the inner coat of the bran than the white flour of the old process; hence, it is more nutritious.
Bran. Objection is sometimes made to bran because the cellulose shell is not digested, but bran contains much protein and mineral matter and even though it is crude fiber, as previously stated, this fiber has a value as a cleanser for the lining of the stomach and intestines, and for increasing peristalsis, thus encouraging the flow of digestive juices and the elimination of waste. In bread or breakfast foods, it is desirable to retain it for its laxative effect.
Bran has three coats—the tough, glossy outside, within this a coat containing most of the coloring matter, and a third coat, containing a special kind of protein, known as cerealin. The two outer layers contain phosphorus compounds, lime, and iron. All three coats contain gluten.
Gluten flour is made of the gluten of wheat. It is a valuable, easily digested food, containing a large proportion of protein and little starch. Gluten bread is used by those who wish to reduce in flesh and in diabetic cases.
Whole wheat flour does not contain the whole of the wheat, as the name implies; it, however, does contain all the proteins of the endosperm and the gluten and oil of the germ, together with all of the starch. As a flour, therefore, it is a more balanced food than the white flour, because it contains more nitrogenous elements.
Graham flour is made from the entire wheat kernel with the exception of the outermost scale of the bran. It contains the starch, gluten phosphorus compounds, iron, and lime. It is the most desirable of the flours because, containing the bran, it assists in digestion and elimination, and the phosphorus, iron, and lime, are valuable body builders.
Nutri meal is much the same as Graham flour, the chief difference being that the bran is ground finer. The wheat is ground between hot rollers, the heat bringing out the nutty flavor of the bran. Bread made from it is not only nutritious, but delicious in flavor. It contains all of the nutrition of the wheat.
Bread. As must be implied from the foregoing, the nutri meal, or graham flours are necessary for bread if it is to be used as a complete food, the “staff of life.” The white bread is made from flour which is almost pure starch; the lime, phosphorus compounds, and iron are removed.
Perhaps no form of prepared food has been longer in vogue than bread. It has been known since history began. When the entire wheat kernel is used it probably maintains and supports life and strength better than any single food, but bread is not the “staff of life” unless the entire kernel is in the flour.
Children should be given Graham bread or Graham crackers containing the whole of the grain in order to obtain the balanced food and the nutritive materials which are not obtained in bread made of white flour. Lime for the teeth and the growing bones is in the bran.
The more porous the bread the more easily it digests. When full of pores, it is more readily mixed with the digestive juices.
The pores in bread are produced by the effort of the gas, released by the yeast, to escape. When mixed with water, the flour forms a tenacious body which, when warm, expands under the pressure of the gas from the yeast, until the dough is full of gas-filled holes. The walls of gluten do not allow the gas to escape, and thus the dough is made light and porous. The more gluten the flour holds, the more water the dough will take up and the greater will be the yield of bread; hence, the more gluten, the more valuable the flour. If the bread is not porous, the fermentation is not complete, and the bread is heavy.
The albumin in the walls of the expanding bubbles causes substances which contain beaten eggs to be more porous when baked.
Yeast is a plant fungus. In its feeding, the plant consumes sugar, changing it into alcohol and carbon dioxid. If the bread contains no sugar the yeast plant will change the starch in the flour into sugar for its feeding.
Many housewives, realizing that the bread begins to “rise” quicker if it contains sugar, put a little into the sponge. Unless a large quantity of sugar is put in, the yeast will consume it and the bread will not have an unduly sweet taste.
As the yeast causes fermentation, alcohol forms in the dough. This is driven off in the baking. If the bread is not thoroughly baked, fermentation continues and the bread turns sour.
Bread is not thoroughly baked until fermentation ceases. It is claimed that fermentation does not entirely cease with one baking; this is the basis of the theory, held by some, that bread should be twice baked. The average housekeeper bakes an ordinary loaf one hour.
Time must be given for the products of fermentation to evaporate, during the cooling of the bread, before it is eaten.
Hot or insufficiently cooked bread is difficult of digestion, because it becomes more or less soggy on entering the mouth and the stomach, and the saliva and gastric juices cannot so readily mix with it.
The best flour for bread is that made from the spring wheat, grown in cooler climates, because it is richer in gluten than the winter wheat. The winter wheat flour is used more for cakes and pastries.
Bread made with milk, is, of course, richer and more nutritious than that made with water, and bread made with potato water contains more starch; both of these retain their moisture longer than bread made without them.
Mold, which sometimes forms on bread, is, like the yeast, a minute plant. It is floating about everywhere in the air, ready to settle down wherever it finds a suitable home. Moisture and heat favor its growth; hence bread should be thoroughly cooled before it is put into a jar or bread box. The bread box should be ventilated and kept in a cool place.
Rye bread contains a little more starch and less protein than wheat bread. It contains more water and holds its moisture longer.
Biscuits. The objection to eating hot bread does not hold for baking powder or soda biscuits, if well cooked, because these cool more rapidly and they do not contain the yeast plant; hence, they do not ferment as does the bread.
Baking powder is made from bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and cream of tartar. When these are brought in contact with moisture, carbon dioxid is liberated, and in the effort to escape it causes the dough to expand and become light.
Breads made with pure baking powder are wholesome and, when light, are digestible. When made with cheap baking powder, however, in which alum or ammonia is employed, the stomach may be irritated by the chemical substances contained.
The reason that the cook attempts to bake her biscuits, or anything made with baking powder, as quickly as possible after the baking powder comes in contact with the moisture, is that the dough may have the full effect of the expansion of the gas. If the room in which she mixes her dough is cool, or if her biscuit dough is left in a cool place, this is not important, as heat and moisture are both required for full combustion. Enough baking powder biscuit dough may be mixed at one time to provide biscuits every morning for a week, if buried in flour immediately after mixing so that it is kept cool and from the air. A portion may be cut off each morning and the remainder again buried in the flour.
Macaroni and spaghetti are made from a special wheat flour known as Durum. They contain about seventy-seven per cent. of starch, little fat, and little protein. They may take the place of bread, rice, or potato at a meal.
Rice is a staple cereal in all tropical and temperate climates. It requires special machinery to remove the husk and the dark, outer skin of the kernel.
The polished rice commonly used, is almost pure starch, and, like white flour, lacks the nutritive qualities contained in the husk or covering.
It is seldom eaten within three months after harvesting and it is considered even better after two or three years. It requires thorough cooking.
Wild rice is used by the North American Indians. The seeds are longer, thinner, and darker, than the cultivated rice. It is coming into favor as a side dish but it is served more particularly at hotels in soup and with game.
As previously stated, rice contains a larger proportion of starch than any other cereal and the smallest proportion of protein. Next to rice, in starches, comes wheat flour; yet whole wheat or graham flour contain half as much again of protein.
Because of the quantity of starch in flour, potatoes, and rice, it is obvious that one should not eat freely of more than one of these at the same meal, else the digestive organs will be overworked in converting the starch into sugar, the liver overworked in converting the sugar into glycogen and back again into sugar, and be overloaded in storing it up.
By far the best plan is to eat but one cereal at a meal.
Rice contains no gluten, hence it cannot be raised in bread.
Unhusked rice is called paddy. The “vitamins” of rice are in the covering.
A German investigator, working to discover the cause of the disorder of nutrition known as “beriberi” occurring in those who used polished rice freely, found that in those who used unpolished rice, from which the outer husk had not been removed, the disease did not appear. He gave the name of “vitamin” to the substance in the outer husk, which prevented the disease.
While these substances were discovered while working with rice, they have since come to include other substances which affect the nutritive value of food. The term “vitamin” has since been given to other apparently necessary elements in foods which seem to determine their nutritive value to the system. These necessary elements, “vitamins,” may be the spices and flavors used in the food, and sometimes, perhaps, may be the flavors resulting from the action of benign bacteria, as those which give the delicious flavor to butter and cheese.
Food, however nutritious, is lessened in its value to the system unless it appeals to the senses by its mode of preparation, seasoning, serving, and freshness. Sternberg insists that the senses of smell and taste determine chemical changes in foods with greater sensitiveness than chemical tests.
Dishes unskillfully prepared are not relished. Some chemical change has occurred which the senses detect and these dishes are rendered less wholesome, lacking the necessary “vitamin.” Distaste, loss of appetite, and even nausea and vomiting may occur.
Sternberg calls attention anew to the fact that the science of cooking is a complicated one and is a matter of taste in the widest sense of the term, that vitamins may largely be produced in the preparation of the food.
Corn (maize) is a native of America and has been one of the most extensively used cereals.
The chief products of corn are hominy, corn meal, cracked corn, samp, glucose, corn-starch and laundry starch. Alcohol is also made from it.
Corn bread and corn-meal mush were important foods with the early settlers, partly because they are nutritious and partly because the corn meal was easily prepared at the mill and was cheap.
The germ of the corn is larger in proportion than the germs of other grains, and it contains much fat; therefore it is heating. For this reason, it is strange that corn bread is so largely used by inhabitants of the southern states. It is a more appropriate food for winter in cold climates.
Because of the fat in the germ, corn meal readily turns rancid, and, on this account, the germ is separated and omitted from many corn-meal preparations.
Hulled corn, sometimes called lye hominy, is one of the old-fashioned ways of using corn. In its preparation, the skin is loosened by steeping the corn in a weak solution of lye, which gives it a peculiar flavor, pleasing to many.
Corn-meal mush is a valuable breakfast food if eaten with milk. If fried it should be covered with flour or dry corn meal and fried in deep fat, so that it does not soak up the fat.
Popcorn. The bursting of the shell in popping corn is due to the expansion of the moisture in the starch, occasioned by the heat.
Green sweet corn does not contain the same proportion of starch as corn meal, it being, in its tender state, mostly water. It is laxative, because it is eaten with the coarse hull, which causes more rapid peristalsis of the intestines. It should be well masticated to break the covering of the husk; the digestive juices cannot penetrate the hard covering.
Breakfast Foods
The claims made for various advertised breakfast foods would be amusing if they were not intended to mislead. Nearly all of them have sufficient merit to sell them if the advertiser confines himself strictly to the truth, but the ever pertinent desire to excel, which is one great incentive to progress, leads to exaggeration. For example: the claim is sometimes made that they contain more nutriment than the same quantity of beef. Reference to Table [V] does not bear out such a statement. They contain more starch but less protein.
It is also claimed by some advertisers that breakfast foods are brain and nerve foods. The idea that certain foods are brain and nerve foods is erroneous, except that any tissue-building food (protein) builds nerve and brain tissue as it builds any other tissue, and the foods which produce heat and energy for other tissues produce the same for brain and nerve.
The grains commonly used for breakfast foods are corn, oats, rice, and wheat. Barley, and wild rice, millet and buckwheat are used in some sections, but not enough to warrant discussion here.
Barley is used chiefly for making malt and in the form of pearled barley is used in soups.
Table [VI], from one of the bulletins published by the United States Department of Agriculture, is interesting from an economical standpoint.
TABLE VI
Comparative Cost of Digestible Nutrients and Available
Energy in Different Cereal Breakfast Foods
| Amount for 10 cents | ||||||||
| FOOD MATERIALS | Price per pound | Cost of one pound of protein | Cost of 1000 calories of energy | Total weight of material | Protein | Fat | Carbohydrates | Energy |
| Oat preparations: | ||||||||
| Oatmeal, raw | 3 | 0.24 | 1.7 | 3.33 | 0.42 | 0.22 | 2.18 | 5884 |
| ” | 4 | 0.32 | 2.3 | 2.50 | 0.31 | 0.16 | 1.64 | 4418 |
| Rolled oats, steam cooked | 6 | 0.48 | 3.4 | 1.67 | 0.21 | 0.11 | 1.08 | 2938 |
| Wheat preparations: | ||||||||
| Flour, Graham | 4 | 0.40 | 2.6 | 2.50 | 0.25 | 0.01 | 1.61 | 3790 |
| Flour, entire-wheat | 5 | 0.46 | 3.1 | 2.00 | 0.22 | 0.03 | 1.36 | 3188 |
| Flour, patent | 3.5 | 0.35 | 2.1 | 2.86 | 0.29 | 0.03 | 2.10 | 4700 |
| Farina | 10 | 1.12 | 6.2 | 1.00 | 0.09 | 0.01 | 0.73 | 1609 |
| Flaked | 15 | 1.69 | 9.3 | 0.67 | 0.06 | 0.01 | 0.46 | 1005 |
| Shredded | 12.5 | 1.62 | 8.2 | 0.80 | 0.06 | 0.01 | 0.57 | 1217 |
| Parched & ground | 7.5 | 0.88 | 4.9 | 1.33 | 0.11 | 0.02 | 0.94 | 2050 |
| Malted, cooked and crushed | 13 | 1.43 | 8.5 | 0.77 | 0.07 | 0.01 | 0.53 | 1175 |
| Flaked and malted | 11 | 1.21 | 7.2 | 0.91 | 0.08 | 0.01 | 0.62 | 1389 |
| Barley preparations: | ||||||||
| Pearled barley | 7 | 1.06 | 4.6 | 1.43 | 0.09 | 0.01 | 1.04 | 2165 |
| Flaked, steam cooked | 15 | 1.83 | 9.6 | 0.67 | 0.05 | ... | 0.50 | 1051 |
| Corn preparations: | ||||||||
| Corn meal, granular | 3 | 0.44 | 1.8 | 3.33 | 0.23 | 0.06 | 2.48 | 5534 |
| Hominy | 4 | 0.62 | 2.4 | 2.50 | 0.16 | 0.01 | 1.97 | 4178 |
| Samp | 5 | 0.78 | 3.0 | 2.00 | 0.13 | 0.01 | 1.57 | 3342 |
| Flaked & parched | 13 | 1.73 | 7.5 | 0.77 | 0.06 | 0.01 | 0.60 | 1335 |
| Rice preparations: | ||||||||
| Rice, polished | 8 | 1.48 | 4.7 | 1.25 | 0.07 | ... | 0.94 | 1855 |
| Flaked, steam cooked | 15 | 2.31 | 9.8 | 0.67 | 0.04 | ... | 0.51 | 1026 |
| Miscellaneous foods for comparison: | ||||||||
| Bread, white | 6 | 0.74 | 5.0 | 1.67 | 0.14 | 0.02 | 0.87 | 2009 |
| ” | 5 | 0.62 | 4.2 | 2.00 | 0.16 | 0.02 | 1.04 | 2406 |
| Crackers | 10 | 1.10 | 5.3 | 1.00 | 0.09 | 0.08 | 0.71 | 1905 |
| Macaroni | 12.5 | 1.08 | 7.5 | 0.80 | 0.09 | 0.01 | 0.58 | 1328 |
| Beans, dried | 5 | 0.28 | 3.5 | 2.00 | 0.35 | 0.03 | 1.16 | 2868 |
| Peas, dried | 5 | 0.26 | 3.4 | 2.00 | 0.38 | 0.02 | 1.20 | 2974 |
| Milk | 3 | 0.94 | 9.7 | 3.33 | 0.11 | 0.13 | 0.17 | 1030 |
| ” | 3.5 | 1.09 | 11.3 | 2.86 | 0.09 | 0.11 | 0.14 | 885 |
| Sugar | 5 | ... | 2.8 | 2.00 | ... | ... | 2.00 | 3515 |
| ” | 6 | ... | 3.4 | 1.67 | ... | ... | 1.67 | 2940 |
The less expensive breakfast foods, such as oatmeal and corn meal, are as economical as flour, and, as they supply heat and energy in abundance, as shown by Table [VI], they should be supplied in the diet in proportion to the energy required. They are easily prepared for porridge, requiring simply to be boiled in water, with a little salt.
For invalids, children, and old people, breakfast foods prepared in gruels and porridges are valuable as they are easily digested. All should be thoroughly cooked so as to break the cell-walls inclosing the starch granules.
Oatmeal is the most nutritious cereal. The oat contains more fat than other grains and a larger proportion of protein. It, therefore, contains the proportion of nutrient elements best adapted to sustain life.
On account of the fat, oats are especially well adapted for a breakfast food in winter. Another advantage oatmeal, or rolled oats, have as a breakfast food is in their laxative tendency, due to the coarse shell of the kernel.
Oat breakfast foods keep longer than the foods made from wheat and rice.
There are no malts, or any mixtures in the oat preparations.
The difference between the various oatmeal breakfast foods is in their manner of preparation. They all contain the entire grain, with the exception of the husk. They are simply the ground or crushed oat. In preparing the oats before grinding, the outer hull is removed, the fuzzy coating of the berry itself is scoured off, the ends of the berry, particularly the end containing the germ, which is usually the place of deposit for insect eggs, is scoured, and the bitter tip end of the oat berry is likewise removed.
Rolled oats consist of the whole berry of the oat, ground into a coarse meal, either between millstones, or, in the case of the so-called “steel cut” oatmeal, cut with sharp steel knives across the sections of the whole oat groat.
Quaker Oats consist of the whole groats, which, after steaming in order to soften, have been passed between hot steel rolls, somewhat like a mangle in a laundry, and crushed into large, thin, partially cooked flakes. The oats are then further cooked by an open pan-drying process. This roasting process insures that all germ life is exterminated, renders the product capable of quicker preparation for the table, and causes the oil cells to release their contents, thereby producing what is termed the “nut flavor,” which is not present in the old-fashioned type of oat product.
Both Rolled Oats and Quaker Oats are now partially cooked in their preparation, but the starch cells must be thoroughly broken and they should be cooked at least forty-five minutes in a double boiler; or, a good way to prepare the porridge is to bring it to the boiling point at night, let it stand covered over night and then cook it from twenty to thirty minutes in the morning. Another method of cooking is to bring the porridge to the boiling point and then place it in a fireless cooker over night.
The great fault in the preparation of any breakfast food is in not cooking it sufficiently to break the starch cells.
Puffed Rice is made from a good quality of finished rice. The process is a peculiar one, the outer covering or bran, is removed and then the product is literally “shot from guns”; that is, a quantity of the rice is placed in metal retorts, revolved slowly in an oven, at high temperature, until the pressure of steam, as shown by a gauge on the gun, indicates that the steam, generated slowly by the moisture within the grain itself, has thoroughly softened the starch cells. The gun retort is pointed into a wire cage and the cap which closes one end is removed, permitting an inrush of cold air. This cold air, on striking the hot steam, causes expansion, which amounts practically to an explosion. The expansion of steam within each starch cell completely shatters the cell, causing the grain to expand to eight times its original size. It rushes out of the gun and into the cage with great force, after which it is screened to remove all scorched or imperfectly puffed grains.
This process dextrinizes a portion of the starch and also very materially increases the amount of soluble material as against the original proportion in the grain.
Puffed Wheat is manufactured from Durum, or macaroni wheat, of the very highest grade. This is a very hard, glutinous grain. It is pearled in order to thoroughly clean and take off the outer covering of bran. It then goes through a puffing process, identical with that of Puffed Rice. The chemical changes are very similar to those of puffed rice.
Both Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat are more digestible than in the original grain state. They are valuable foods for invalids.
Stale Bread. A food which tastes much like a prepared breakfast food, but is cheaper, may be made by dipping stale bread into molasses and water, drying it in the oven for several hours, and then crushing it. It is then ready to serve with cream. This is a palatable way to use up stale bread.
Crackers and Milk or Bread and Milk. As noted by Table [VI], crackers are similar to breakfast food in nutrient elements, and with milk make a good food for breakfast, or a good luncheon. Business men, and others who eat hurriedly and return immediately to work, will do well to substitute crackers and milk, or bread and milk, for the piece of pie which often constitutes a busy man’s lunch.
Cracked Wheat. In America wheat is seldom used whole. In England the whole grain, with the bran left on, is slightly crushed and served as cracked wheat or wheat grits.
Wheat is also rolled, or flaked, or shredded. The majority of wheat breakfast foods contain a part of the middlings and many of them bran. Farina and gluten preparations do not contain these, however.
The preparations of the various breakfast foods are a secret of the manufacturers. The ready-to-eat brands are cooked, then they are either rolled or shredded, the shredding requiring special machinery to tear the steamed kernels; later they are dried, and, finally packed, sometimes in small biscuits. Many preparations are baked after being steamed, which turns them darker and makes them more crisp. Some preparations are steamed, then run through rollers, while still wet, and pressed into flakes or crackers.
Predigested Foods. It is claimed that some foods are “partly digested and thus valuable for those with weak stomachs,” but breakfast foods are largely starch and the starch is not digested by the gastric juice. It is digested by saliva and the ferments in the small intestine. These change the starch into dextrin and maltose.
Experiments with “predigested” foods do not show a larger proportion of dextrin (digested starch), however, than would naturally be produced by the heating of the starch when these foods are cooked at home. The natural cooking makes starch more or less soluble, or at least gelatinized. As a result of these experiments therefore, the “predigested” argument is not of much weight.
Predigested foods, except in cases in which the patient is so weak as to be under the direction of a physician, are not desirable. Nature requires every organ to do the work intended for it, in order to keep up its strength, just as she requires exercise for the arms or legs to keep them strong. If an organ is weak, the cause must be found and corrected—perhaps the stomach or intestines need more blood, which should be supplied through exercise; or perhaps the nerves need relaxation; or the stomach less food; or food at more regular intervals.
Another argument against predigested foods lies in the fact that the chewing of coarse food is necessary to keep the teeth strong. For this strengthening of the teeth, children should be given dry crackers or dry toast each day.
Dogs and wild animals which chew bones and hard substances do not have pyorrhea, but lap-dogs and animals in the zoos, fed on bread and meat without bones, suffer from this disease.
In the so-called “predigested” or “malted” preparations, malt is added while they are being cooked.
Malt is a ferment made from some grain, usually from barley, the grain being allowed to germinate until the ferment diastase is developed.
There is no doubt that a number of foods containing malt are valuable to assist in converting starch into dextrin or sugar, just as pepsin is an aid in the digestion of protein; but eaten indiscriminately, there can be no question that it is more important for the teeth, stomach, and intestines to perform their natural work and thus keep their strength through normal exercise.
While they are not “predigested,” as claimed, these foods are, as a rule, wholesome and nutritious. They are cleanly, and made from good, sound grain, and they contain no harmful ingredients. Some contain “middlings,” molasses, glucose, and similar materials, but these are in no way injurious and have value as foods.
The dry, crisp, ready-to-eat foods are especially advantageous because of the mastication they require. This insures plenty of saliva being mixed with them to aid in digestion. A dish of such dry breakfast food, well masticated, together with an egg, to furnish a larger proportion of protein, makes a wholesome breakfast.
Cereal Coffees
According to investigations made by the United States Agriculture Experiment Station, cereal coffees are made of parched grains. A few contain a little true coffee, but for the most part they are made of parched wheat, barley, etc., or of grain mixed with wheat middlings, pea hulls, or corn cobs. There is no objection to any of these mixtures providing they are clean. The cereal coffees, as seen by Table [VII], contain no more nourishment than the true coffee, but they are probably more easily digested; only a very little of the soluble starch passes into the water unless the kernel is ground. Coffee and tea are not taken for their nutrition, but for their stimulating effect on the nerves; and, if stimulation is desired, the cereal coffees fall short.
TABLE VII
Composition of Cereal-Coffee Infusion and Other Beverages
| KIND OF BEVERAGE | Water | Protein | Fat | Carbohydrates | Fuel Value per pound |
| Commercial cereal coffee (0.5 ounce to 1 pint water) | 98.2 | 0.2 | .... | 1.4 | 30 |
| Parched corn coffee (1.6 ounces to 1 pint water) | 99.5 | 0.2 | .... | 0.5 | 13 |
| Oatmeal water (1 ounce to 1 pint water) | 99.7 | 0.3 | .... | 0.3 | 11 |
| Coffee (1 ounce to 1 pint water) | 98.9 | 0.2 | .... | 0.7 | 16 |
| Tea (0.5 ounce to 1 pint water) | 99.5 | 0.2 | .... | 0.6 | 15 |
| Chocolate (0.5 ounce to 1 pint milk) | 84.5 | 3.8 | 4.7 | 6.0 | 365 |
| Cocoa (0.5 ounce to 1 pint water) | 97.1 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 65 |
| Skimmed milk | 88.8 | 4.0 | 1.8 | 5.4 | 170 |
By reference to Table [VII] it will be seen that cocoa and skimmed milk contain much more nutrition than any of the coffees. The chief value of cereal coffees is that they furnish a warm drink with the meal. They should not be too hot.
Barley or wheat, mixed with a little molasses, parched in the oven, and then ground, makes a mixture similar to the cereal coffee.
The old-fashioned crust coffee is just as nutritious as any of the coffees and has the advantage of being cheaper.
Barley water and oat water, made by boiling the ground kernel thoroughly and then straining, are nourishing foods for invalids and children. They are often used as drinks by athletes and manual laborers, as they have the advantage of both quenching thirst and supplying energy.
Gruels are made in the same way, only strained through a sieve. This process allows more of the starch to pass with the water.
Legumes
The legumes are the seeds of peas, beans, lentils, and peanuts.
TABLE VIII
Legumes
| FOOD MATERIALS | Water per cent. | Protein per cent. | Fat per cent. | Carbohydrates per cent. | Ash per cent. | Fuel Value per pound Calories |
| Dried Legumes: | ||||||
| Navy beans | 12.6 | 22.5 | 1.8 | 59.6 | 3.5 | 1605 |
| Dried peas | 9.5 | 24.6 | 1.0 | 62.0 | 2.9 | 1655 |
| Lentils | 8.4 | 25.7 | 1.0 | 59.2 | 5.7 | 1620 |
| Lima beans | 10.4 | 18.1 | 1.5 | 65.9 | 4.1 | 1625 |
| Peanuts | 9.2 | 25.8 | 38.6 | 24.4 | 2.0 | 2560 |
| Peanut butter | 2.1 | 29.3 | 46.5 | 17.1 | 5.0 | 2825 |
| Fresh Legumes: | ||||||
| Canned peas | 85.3 | 3.6 | 0.2 | 9.8 | 1.1 | 255 |
| Canned lima beans | 79.5 | 4.0 | 0.3 | 14.6 | 1.6 | 360 |
| Canned string beans | 93.7 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 3.8 | 1.3 | 95 |
| Canned baked beans | 68.9 | 6.9 | 2.5 | 19.6 | 2.1 | 600 |
| String beans | 89.2 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 7.4 | 0.8 | 195 |
| Shelled peas | 74.6 | 7.0 | 0.5 | 16.9 | 1.0 | 465 |
Like the cereals, they are seeds, yet they contain a very much larger proportion of protein and may be substituted for meat or eggs in a diet. In all vegetarian diets, under normal conditions, the legumes should be used freely to replace meats.
All legumes must be thoroughly cooked and thoroughly masticated. Because the protein in these foods is less digestible than that in meat or eggs, particularly if they are not thoroughly masticated, they are better adapted for the use of those who do manual labor. Soldiers in battle, day laborers, and others whose work calls for hard physical exercise, can digest legumes more easily than can those whose occupation is more sedentary.
If not thoroughly masticated legumes usually produce intestinal fermentation with consequent production of gas. For this reason they occasion distress in those who partake of them too freely and with insufficient preparation by cooking.
The protein of the legumes is of the same nature as the casein of milk. It has been called vegetable casein.
Peanuts. While an underground vegetable, grown like potatoes, peanuts resemble nuts, inasmuch as they contain so much fat. The extracted oil is used in several commercial products.
Like other legumes, they require cooking. They are roasted because this develops the flavor.
Because they contain a more balanced proportion of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, they will sustain life for some time without other food, as they provide rebuilding material, energy, and heat. Used alone, however, there is no counteracting acid, and it is better to add some fruit, such as apples, or apples and dates. For this reason lemon juice is mixed with peanut butter.
In eating peanuts it is imperative that they be masticated until they are a pulp, otherwise they are very difficult of digestion. The pain which many people experience after eating peanuts is probably due to eating too large a quantity and not fully masticating them, forgetting that they are a very rich, highly concentrated food.
The habit of eating peanuts between meals and then eating a hearty meal is likely to overload the digestive organs.
Both peanuts and peanut butter contain over twenty-five per cent. of protein and about thirty-nine per cent. of fat; therefore they yield much heat and energy.
Peanuts have been made into a flour; they are also to be had in the form of grits which are cooked like oatmeal. When nuts or peanuts are used as an after-dinner relish the quantity of meat should be cut down.
Their popularity is evidenced by the fact that between 4,000,000 and 5,000,000 bushels are raised annually in America.
Peanut Butter. While peanut butter contains 46.5 per cent. fat, it contains only seventeen per cent. carbohydrates. Since sugars and starches are protections to fat, being used for energy before the fats are consumed, if these sugars and starches are not supplied in other food, the fats in the peanut butter are consumed for energy. If starches are consumed in other foods, it is clear that one who wishes to reduce in flesh should avoid peanut butter, as well as other fats.
Peanut butter is more easily digested than the roasted peanut, unless the latter is chewed to a pulp. It can be made at home by grinding the peanuts in a meat grinder, and then further mashing with a rolling pin or a wooden potato masher. A little lemon juice mixed with the peanut butter makes it not only more palatable, but more easily digested. A peanut butter sandwich is quite as nourishing as a meat sandwich.
Shelled Peas. Shelled peas were used in Europe as far back as in the Middle Ages, and there, to-day, the dried or “split” pea is used quite as extensively as the dried bean. In America, peas are used almost entirely in the green stage, fresh, or canned.
As seen by Table [VIII], the green, shelled pea contains seven per cent. of protein and sixteen per cent. of sugar and starch, while the dry or “split” pea contains over 24.5 per cent. of protein and sixty-two per cent. of sugar and starch, the difference being in the amount of water contained in the shelled peas. Canned peas contain even a larger percentage of water.
A variety of the pea is now being cultivated, in which, like the string bean, the pod is used as a food. They are sweet and delicious.
Dried peas are used in this country mostly in purées.
Beans. Baked navy beans may well be substituted on a menu for meat, containing, as they do, 22.5 per cent. of protein. It is needless to state that beans and lean meat or eggs should not be served at the same meal. Beans have the advantage of being cheaper than meat, yet, as stated above, the protein in the legumes is less easily digested than the protein of meat or eggs. They must be thoroughly cooked and thoroughly masticated.
There is but a small percentage of fat in dried beans; for this reason they are usually baked with a piece of pork. They make a very complete, perhaps the most complete food, containing nutrient elements in about the proper proportions.
A bean biscuit is used for the sustenance of soldiers on a march; it gives a complete food in condensed form.
In baking dried beans or peas, soft or distilled water should be used, as the lime of hard water makes the shell almost indigestible. Parboiling the beans for fifteen minutes in two quarts of water with a quarter of a teaspoon of baking soda softens the shell, making them easier to digest.
String Beans. The string bean contains very little nutrition, as shown by Table [VIII]. The pod and the bean, at this unripe stage, contain nearly ninety per cent. water. Their chief value as a food consists in their appetizing quality to those who are fond of them, thus stimulating the flow of gastric juice.
Like all green vegetables they stimulate the action of the kidneys. All green vegetables are particularly valuable to those who drink little water.
The dried Lima bean, used during the winter, may be boiled or baked. If old, they are practically indigestible.
Kidney Beans contain much water but are more nutritious than the string bean.
Soy Bean. In China and Japan this bean is used extensively. Being rich in protein, used with rice it makes a well-balanced diet.
The soy bean is made into various preparations, one of the most important being shoyo, which has been introduced into other countries. To make it, the soy bean is cooked and mixed with roasted wheat flour and salt; into this is put a special ferment. It is then allowed to stand for an extended time in casks. The result is a thick, brown liquid with a pungent, agreeable taste. It is very nourishing.
A kind of cheese is also made by boiling the soy bean for several hours, wrapping the hot mass in bundles of straw, and putting it in a tightly closed cellar for twenty-four hours.
Lentils are not commonly used in this country, but they were one of the earliest vegetables to be cultivated in Asia and the Mediterranean countries. They are usually imported and may be obtained in the markets. They are used like dried peas and are fully as nourishing, but the flavor of the lentil is pronounced and they are not so agreeable to the average person as peas or beans.
Nuts
Nuts are classed with the carbo-nitrogenous foods, because of the more nearly equal proportion of proteins and carbonaceous substances.
TABLE IX
Nuts
| FOOD MATERIALS | Water per cent. | Protein per cent. | Fat per cent. | Carbohydrates per cent. | Ash per cent. | Fuel Value per pound Calories. |
| Almonds | 4.8 | 21.0 | 54.90 | 17.3 | 2.0 | 3030 |
| Brazil nuts | 5.3 | 17.0 | 66.80 | 7.0 | 3.9 | 3329 |
| Filberts | 3.7 | 15.6 | 65.30 | 13.0 | 2.4 | 3342 |
| Hickory nuts | 3.7 | 15.4 | 67.40 | 11.4 | 2.1 | 3495 |
| Pecans | 3.0 | 16.7 | 71.20 | 13.3 | 1.5 | 3633 |
| English walnuts | 2.8 | 16.7 | 64.40 | 14.8 | 1.3 | 3305 |
| Chestnuts, fresh | 45.0 | 6.2 | 5.40 | 42.1 | 1.3 | 1125 |
| Walnuts, black | 2.5 | 27.6 | 56.30 | 11.7 | 1.9 | 3105 |
| Cocoanut, shredded | 3.5 | 6.3 | 57.30 | 31.6 | 1.3 | 3125 |
| Peanuts, roasted | 1.6 | 30.5 | 49.20 | 16.2 | 2.5 | 3177 |
It will be noted, by reference to Table [IX] that nuts contain a much larger proportion of fats and less starch than the legumes. Chestnuts contain the largest amount of starch, and pecans the most fat.
Peanuts are classed here with nuts because of their similar use in the diet. Their comparative richness in protein will be noted.
Nuts are a valuable food, but they should be made a part of a meal and may well take the place of meat rather than eaten as a dessert, because of the large percentage of protein. They are too rich to be eaten as a relish at the end of a meal, if one has eaten as much other food as the system requires.
In planning a meal, if the dietary is rich in starches and lacking in protein, a side dish of nuts may be served.
Too great stress cannot be laid on the importance of the thorough mastication of nuts; otherwise they are difficult of digestion. When thoroughly chewed, however, they are as easily digested as cereals or legumes. If ground fine in a meat grinder or rubbed through a sieve, they digest more readily, but this grinding does not take the place of the grinding with the teeth and the mixture with the saliva. They are best chopped for salads, cake, or croquettes. When ground the oil extracted makes them pasty and not appetizing in appearance for use in salads or cake.
Milk
Milk is a perfect food for the infant because it contains the elements in proper proportions to sustain life and growth, though, alone, it is insufficient for the nourishment of healthy adults. The adult, in order to get sufficient nutriment, would be compelled to take a larger proportion of water than necessary, the proportion of water required by the system being about sixty-seven per cent., while milk contains eighty-seven per cent.
In many diseases, however, a whole or partial milk diet is desirable, especially in any inflammatory condition of the gastro-intestinal tract.
TABLE X
Milk and Milk Products
| FOOD MATERIALS | Water | Protein | Fats | Sugar | Salts | Lactic Acid |
| Milk | 86.8 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 4.8 | 0.7 | .... |
| Skimmed milk | 88.0 | 4.0 | 1.8 | 5.4 | 0.8 | .... |
| Buttermilk | 90.6 | 3.8 | 1.2 | 3.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Cream | 66.0 | 2.7 | 26.7 | 2.8 | 1.8 | .... |
| Cheese | 36.8 | 33.5 | 24.3 | .... | 5.4 | .... |
| Butter | 6.0 | 0.3 | 91.0 | .... | 2.7 | .... |
The milk of the cow is not perfectly adapted for the young child—it is lacking in the proper proportion of sugar, and when fed to the infant it must be modified. Mother’s milk is not only richer in sugar than cow’s milk, but it contains about half as much casein. The calf needs more albumin than the baby does because it grows faster. Human milk is also richer in fat.
An all-milk diet may be followed when it is desirable to gain in weight. Such a diet should be accompanied by exercises for the vital organs and by deep breathing, but experiments have shown that healthy digestive organs do their work better when a part of the food is solid.
A milk and cream diet of about three quarts milk and one quart cream with the addition of one to two eggs a day will keep up the strength of one in bed, but is not sufficient for one who is active.
In order for an adult to obtain the proper quantity of carbohydrates and fat, from an all-milk diet, it is necessary for him to drink from four to five quarts of milk a day (sixteen to twenty glasses). It is usually said that on an all-milk diet an active person requires as many quarts as he is feet tall.
Young babies on mother’s milk are almost always fat, because of the larger proportion of sugar and fat in the mother’s milk.
Reference to Table [X] shows that the thirteen per cent. of solids are about equally divided between fat, sugar, and protein. The sugar is lactose. It supplies heat to the infant before it can exercise its muscles vigorously. The protein is casein.
There is no starch in milk. The digestive ferment, which acts on starch, has not developed in the young babe and it cannot digest starch.
The salts promote the growth of bone.
The fat in milk is in small emulsified droplets within a thin albuminous sheath. When allowed to stand in a cool place it rises to the top.
Besides casein, milk contains a certain amount of albumin—about one-seventh of the total amount—called lactalbumin. It maintains the fat in milk in emulsified form.
In young babes the milk is curdled in the stomach, or the casein separated from the water and sugar, not by hydrochloric acid, but by a ferment in the gastric juice, known as rennin. Rennin, or rennet, from the stomachs of calves, is used in cheese and butter factories to coagulate the casein. This with other chemicals so hardens the casein that it is used in the manufacture of buttons.
Preserving milk. If milk could be kept free from bacteria, it would keep sweet almost indefinitely. At the Paris Exposition, milk from several American dairies was kept sweet for two weeks, without any preservative except cleanliness and a temperature of about forty degrees. The United States Bureau of Animal Industry states that milk may be kept sweet for seven weeks without the use of chemicals.
The importance of absolute cleanliness in the preparation and marketing of this important article of food is being recognized both by the producer and the consumer, and careful inspection has done away with many abuses. In the absence of an efficient health department, the consumer should ascertain in every case how the milk he uses is handled at every stage before it reaches him. Care in this regard may safeguard his family from disease and save him many dollars.
The best method for the housewife to follow is to keep the milk clean, cool, and away from other foods, as milk will absorb a bad odor or flavor from any stale food or odorous vegetables, from fresh paint, or other substances.
Milk must never be left exposed in a sick room or in a refrigerator unless the waste pipe and the ice chamber are kept scrupulously clean.
Milk Tests. In testing the value of milk, or the value of a cow, butter makers and farmers gauge it by the amount of butter fat in the milk, while the cheese maker tests the milk for the proportion of protein (casein). The amount of butter fat depends on the feed and water, and on the breed. If the total nutrient elements fall below twelve per cent., it is safe to assume that the milk has been watered.
In cheese and butter there is no sugar; it remains in the buttermilk and the whey, both of which the farmer takes home from the factories to fatten his hogs.
Pasteurized Milk. In pasteurizing milk the aim is to destroy as many of the bacteria as possible without causing any chemical changes or without changing the flavor. One can pasteurize milk at home by placing it in an air-tight bottle, immersing the bottle to the neck in hot water, heating the water to 167 F. for twenty minutes, and then quickly cooling the milk to 50 F. by immersing the bottle in cold water. The rapid cooling lessens the cooked taste. The best dairies pasteurize the milk before it is marketed.
Sterilized Milk. Milk is sterilized to destroy all bacteria, by heating it to 212 F. Sterilized milk remains sweet longer than pasteurized milk, but more chemical changes are produced and the flavor is changed, resembling that of boiled milk.
Formerly borax, boric acid, salicylic acid, formalin, and saltpeter were used to keep the milk sweet, but this adulteration is now forbidden by the pure-food laws.
Malted milk is a dry, soluble food product in powder form, derived from malted barley, wheat flour (dextrin), and cow’s milk, containing the full amount of cream.
The process of the extraction from the cereals is conducted at elevated temperatures so as to allow the active agents (enzymes) of the barley malt to effect the conversion of the vegetable protein and starches. The filtered extract, containing the derivatives of the malt, wheat, and the full-cream cow’s milk, is then evaporated to dryness in vacuo, the temperature being controlled so as to obviate any alteration of the natural constituents of the ingredients and so as to preserve their full physiological values. The strictest precautions are observed to insure the purity of the product. It contains:
| Fats | 8.75 |
| Proteins | 16.35 |
| Dextrin | 18.80 |
| Lactose and Maltose | 49.15 |
| (Total Soluble Carbohydrates) | 67.95 |
| Inorganic Salts | 3.86 |
| Moisture | 3.06 |
Malted milk is free from germs. The starches and sugars are converted in the process of manufacture into maltose, dextrin, and lactose. The fats are in an absorbable condition, and it contains a high percentage of proteins derived from both the milk and the grains, as well as a marked percentage of mineral salts. It is readily soluble in water and is easily digested.
The hydrochloric acid of the stomach coagulates or curds milk much as it is curded by many fruit and vegetable acids, such as those in lemons or tomatoes. Thus the milk forms into curds immediately on entering the stomach, the casein being at once precipitated by the rennin. This is the chief reason why it should be drunk slowly, otherwise too large curds will form, causing distress from pressure.
Digestion of Milk
A part of the digestion of the casein is performed by pepsin in the stomach and a part by the trypsin of the pancreatic juice.
The larger part of the digestion of the milk sugar or lactose, is performed by the pancreatic juice; although it is partly acted on by the saliva. Usually, however, the saliva is given little chance to become mixed with the milk, unless it is taken slowly and mixed with saliva by chewing movements. This is one reason why children should be given milk in which bread has been broken, rather than a piece of bread and a glass of milk. By swallowing the milk slowly, smaller curds are formed in the stomach and the milk is more thoroughly digested.
The salts of milk, to a large extent, the water, and perhaps a portion of the sugar are absorbed in the stomach.
When the fat (cream) is removed milk digests more readily, so that in cases in which the stomach is delicate, skimmed milk, clabbered milk, or buttermilk are often prescribed instead of sweet milk.
Boiled milk is also more readily digested by some; the lactalbumin is separated and rises to the top in a crinkly scum. The casein of boiled milk is also more readily digested, forming in small flakes in the stomach instead of in curds.
Sterilizing the milk by boiling will prevent the action of bacteria in producing fermentation and disordered digestion, and, if relished, milk can thus be treated. Pasteurized milk is more palatable than boiled milk.
Milk is often better assimilated if other food is not too suddenly cut off. When the diet is radically changed the digestive system is apt to show derangement. Therefore when for any cause an all-milk diet is desired, it is unwise to begin it at once, by feeding from eighteen to twenty glasses of milk a day. This amount may be approximated within a week’s time. The change in diet should be begun by cutting down all meats and legumes and gradually eliminating starches. In changing from a milk diet to a diet including more hearty foods, the transition should also be gradual.
If a milk diet is to be followed and the milk seems to disturb the stomach when taken in quantities, one may begin by taking it in very small quantities every fifteen minutes for the first hour. If one’s purpose is to gain in flesh the quantity may be increased to a glass, and time intervals be lengthened to every hour as the stomach becomes accustomed to caring for the milk. It should be sipped slowly and thoroughly mixed with saliva before being swallowed. The mouth should be carefully rinsed with equal parts of peroxide of hydrogen and water, or listerine and hot sterile water, each time milk is taken.
Milk, in whatever form it is taken, leaves a coating on the tongue and teeth. The heat of the mouth, especially if the patient is feverish, quickly causes changes which give a disagreeable taste and a chance for bacterial action. These bacterial products are carried into the stomach and excite digestive changes through which fermentation and gas formation appear and biliousness may result. This may be avoided if, after taking the milk, the mouth is carefully washed and, in feverish conditions, the tongue gently scraped or swabbed with absorbent cotton dipped in listerine or peroxide of hydrogen. Without such cleansing of the mouth milk may disagree.
When from two to three glasses of milk at a meal are taken, less solid food is needed, because the required nutriment is partially supplied by the milk. One reason why milk seems to disagree with many people, is because they lose sight of the fact that milk is an actual food, as well as a beverage, and they eat the usual quantity of food in addition to the milk. As one pint, or two glasses of milk, contains approximately the same amount of nutrition as one-third of a pound of beef, the amount of food to be taken in addition may be readily calculated.
The chief reason for the lessened activity of the bowels on a milk diet is because the nourishment in milk is practically all absorbed—there is very little residue and milk gives little rough surface to excite peristaltic action and stimulate the walls of the intestine to activity.
The calcium, one of the constituents of milk, tends to lessen the peristaltic action of the intestines and this is one of the causes of constipation. Fruit and coarse bread containing much bran, should be used with a milk diet.
Constipation may also be occasioned by drinking milk rapidly. When the hydrochloric acid is very active coagulation may take place so quickly as to cause hard tough curds to form; these enter the intestine undissolved because the gastric juice can act only on the exterior portion; the stomach retains the curds in its effort to dissolve them and fermentation may occur, with irritation and constipation from irregular action. In this case the constipating effect may be overcome by taking the milk in small sips or by the addition of one part of limewater to six parts milk. The limewater causes the curds to be precipitated in small flakes.
Limewater may be prepared by putting a heaping teaspoon of unslaked lime with a quart of boiled or distilled water into a corked bottle or Mason jar. Shake thoroughly two or three times during the first hour; then allow the lime to settle, and after twenty-four hours pour or siphon off the clear fluid. Be careful not to allow the lime to be poured off with the water.
Barley water or oatmeal water added to milk also prevents the formation of large curds.
Milk may also be taken with any variety of gruel—oatmeal, sago, arrowroot, or tapioca.
If there is much mucus in the stomach, mucous fermentation may occur in milk because of the lack of hydrochloric acid. The partially digested curds are tough, stringy, and slimy and the intestinal walls find no resistance in the mass. In this case constipation may be followed by diarrhea.
If the stomach is deficient in hydrochloric acid the juice of half an orange or a little lemon juice may be taken a half hour before the glass of milk.
Constipation and, later, diarrhea may also result when stomach digestion is weak, the curds passing through the stomach and intestines undissolved.
When there is any tendency to torpidity of the liver, daily exercise should be directed to the liver, stomach, and intestines or milk may cause biliousness, because the excess of fat and protein taken overstimulates the liver, causing an excess of bile. The bile may enter the stomach and cause nausea and vomiting. Constipation results from the disordered digestion. This will not often occur if one exercises daily and cuts down the quantity of solid food as the amount of liquid is increased.
A glass of hot Vichy or Hunyadi water taken the first thing on rising, and followed by a glass of cool water will help to relieve any engorgement of the liver.
In case of biliousness resulting from a milk diet, abstain from all food for twenty-four hours, cleanse the mouth as indicated above, and drink freely of water.
When the liver is a little inactive, milk may be diluted with an aërated water or even plain water. Daily exercise directed toward securing a greater activity of the liver and gall-bladder should be followed. Four tablespoonfuls of soda water, Apollinaris, or carbonic-acid water to the glass may be used.
As noted in the preceding pages, orange and lemon juice will encourage greater activity of the stomach and bowels.
One-third of a glass of hot Vichy water to each glass of milk renders it easily digested and most people relish it. Unless the liver is very inactive milk taken in this way will not constipate and exercise directed to the liver, as previously mentioned, will help to obviate this condition.
Skimmed milk, Kumyss, or buttermilk are easily digested and are valuable when the digestive system is weak.
The monotony of a milk diet tends to create a distaste for milk and the mental revolt may upset digestion and result in constipation. This should be kept in mind and various ways of modifying the milk be used to create variety; mental aversion and antagonism should be corrected.
When its taste is not relished milk may be made acceptable and the stomach induced to retain it by using a variety of flavors. A drop or two of vanilla, a trifle of cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper, chocolate, or any other flavor that is liked may be used, varying them so as to keep from monotony.
If milk seems to produce gas in the stomach with distress and the milk is retained too long in the stomach from the interference with its movements caused by the gas, a teaspoonful of malt extract may be added to each glass of milk. If the malt extract is not at hand, four teaspoonfuls of malted milk to each glass may be used.
Equal parts of cream and hot water to which has been added a third of a teaspoon of soda may be used, for the same purpose.
If milk disagrees because of an excess of hydrochloric acid and the formation of hard curds, a saltspoon of salt or bicarbonate of soda may be used, or one part of limewater to six parts of milk.
When milk seems to disagree because digestion is somewhat slow and the milk does not offer enough bulk to excite peristaltic action, it remains too long in the stomach and fermentation occurs. A slice of bread, a couple of crackers, a piece of zweiback, a tablespoonful of Nestle’s or Mellin’s food or of arrowroot gruel added to each glass, or eaten with the milk, will give it more body and prevent the formation of large curds.
When the stomach is excessively weak because of a lack of the digestive juices and a consequent incomplete action of the stomach, only predigested milk should be taken until the stomach has been brought to a normal tone. Pepsin or pancreatin may be used for the partial digestion. Milk so predigested must be freshly prepared each time it is used or must be kept on ice until used. The stomach will find practically no difficulty in assimilating milk thus prepared, and constipation will be avoided.
It must be remembered that milk must be sipped slowly and be well mixed with saliva before it is swallowed.
Milk can be soured and taken separated as a variation, the curds and whey being relished by many when properly prepared. A little sugar and cinnamon or nutmeg sprinkled on curds or mixed with the whey make a palatable mixture. Buttermilk or kumyss offer still other variations.
With all these means of varying the taste, appearance, or condition of milk it is hardly possible that some way cannot be found whereby milk may be taken and be well borne by the stomach and the full benefits from its use be derived.
Cheese
This is the casein (protein) which has been separated from milk by the action of rennet. It is highly nutritious and many varieties are on the market. In Europe it is largely used to take the place of meat. Cheese contains almost as much again protein as is contained in the same quantity of meat.
In this country more highly flavored cheeses are in demand, and when eaten in moderate quantities they aid digestion. They are highly concentrated food and but a small quantity should be eaten at a meal, particularly if meat has constituted a part of the meal.
The cheeses poor in fat are more difficult to digest as they are harder and not so easily masticated.
Contrary to the prevalent idea, a properly made Welsh rarebit is more easily digested than uncooked cheese.
One should use judgment, in eating any highly concentrated food, not to eat too large a quantity.
Smierkase, or cottage cheese, is coagulated casein. It contains thirty-three per cent. of protein, twenty-four per cent. of fat, and five per cent. of salts.
The thickening of the milk, or the coagulation of the casein, is like that produced by lactic acid.
Skimmed milk, as shown by the table, contains the same amount of protein as fresh milk, but more sugar and more ash, the difference consisting almost entirely of less fat, which has been removed in the cream.
Buttermilk. There is less fat, protein, sugar, or ash in buttermilk than in skimmed milk; it is therefore less nourishing, but it requires less digestive effort. The sugar has partially fermented and the lactic acid is freed. It is the free lactic acid which gives the pungent taste.
Buttermilk made by lactone or Bulgarian tablets and fresh milk is as nourishing and as desirable as that made in the process of butter making, and it has the advantage of being fresh. When the whole milk is used it, of course, contains the same amount of fat, protein, sugar, and ash as the milk. It is of value in cases of poor digestion of protein and fat, and in chronic stomach trouble. It has been claimed that the bacilli in buttermilk made from the Bulgarian tablets prevent putrefaction in the large intestine. This is disputed, however.
Clabbered Milk. The casein in clabbered milk coagulates and if kept in a hot place the coagulation continues until the water, sugar, and salts are separated. Clabbered or loppered milk is wholesome. It may be sweetened or salted and flavored to taste.
Whey is the watery portion of milk from which the casein has been removed in the process of making cheese. It is a palatable drink and may be flavored with a little nutmeg and sugar or salt. Invalids usually relish it. Beef tea or egg yolk may be added to it.
Milk Sugar. Sugar made from milk is now a commercial product; it is evaporated and transformed into a fine powder. This powder is used by physicians and druggists in compounding powders, pills, tablets, etc.
Junket. The tablets used in making junket are the essence of rennet. Milk coagulated by rennin has not the sour taste of milk coagulated by acid. It is an admirable article of diet in many weakened conditions of the digestive tract.
Condensed Milk is made by evaporating the water until it is reduced to about sixty-one per cent. It is then hermetically sealed. It is convenient for use whenever fresh milk cannot be obtained, but the process of evaporation changes its flavor so that few care for it as a drink. It may be substituted for cream in coffee, and diluted with three times its volume in water the proportions are again the same as before the water was evaporated.