COMPOSITION OF FOOD MATERIALS
Nutritive ingredients, refuse, and fuel value.
Fig. 45.—Graphic Chart of the Composition of Food Materials.
114. Non-proteid Animal Foods. Butter is one of the most digestible of animal fats, agreeable and delicate in flavor, and is on this account much used as a wholesome food. Various substitutes have recently come into use. These are all made from animal fat, chiefly that of beef, and are known as butterine, oleomargarine, and by other trade names. These preparations, if properly made, are wholesome, and may be useful substitutes for butter, from which they differ but little in composition.
115. Garden Vegetables. Various green, fresh, and succulent vegetables form an essential part of our diet. They are of importance not so much on account of their nutritious elements, which are usually small, as for the salts they supply, especially the salts of potash. It is a well-known fact that the continued use of a diet from which fresh vegetables are excluded leads to a disease known as scurvy. They are also used for the agreeable flavor possessed by many, and the pleasant variety and relish they give to the food. The undigested residue left by all green vegetables affords a useful stimulus to intestinal contraction, and tends to promote the regular action of the bowels.
116. Fruits. A great variety of fruits, both fresh and dry, is used as food, or as luxuries. They are of little nutritive value, containing, as they do, much water and only a small amount of proteid, but are of use chiefly for the sugar, vegetable acids, and salts they contain.
In moderate quantity, fruits are a useful addition to our regular diet. They are cooling and refreshing, of agreeable flavor, and tend to prevent constipation. Their flavor and juiciness serve to stimulate a weak appetite and to give variety to an otherwise heavy diet. If eaten in excess, especially in an unripe or an overripe state, fruits may occasion a disturbance of the stomach and bowels, often of a severe form.
117. Condiments. The refinements of cookery as well as the craving of the appetite, demand many articles which cannot be classed strictly as foods. They are called condiments, and as such may be used in moderation. They give flavor and relish to food, excite appetite and promote digestion. Condiments increase the pleasure of eating, and by their stimulating properties promote secretions of the digestive fluids and excite the muscular contractions of the alimentary canal.
The well-known condiments are salt, vinegar, pepper, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and various substances containing ethereal oils and aromatics. Their excessive use is calculated to excite irritation and disorder of the digestive organs.