Personal hygiene and physical training for women

by Anna M. Galbraith

Uric acid is built up from purin bodies in the food, so that it would be well for those with a gouty diathesis to abstain, at least when an attack of gout threatens, from all aliment in which purin is at all abundant. The most valuable of the purin-free foods are eggs and milk, and to these the uric-acid sufferer has to turn in times of trouble.

Carbohydrates Physiologically Economic.—This group of compounds comprises starches, sugars, and gums; the elements of which they are composed—namely, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen—are so balanced that if all of the carbon were removed the residual hydrogen and oxygen would be in the proportions to form water.

Carbohydrates are usually characterized as the fuel portions of the food, or, in other words, that part which is burned to produce the various forms of energy. They are also essential for the well-being of the organism; reduction of the intake below the essential point frequently leads to acetonuria.

When the metabolism is perfect, any carbohydrates consumed in excess of the ordinary requirements are converted into glycogen and fat and stored for providing fuel at a future date. When stored as fats they are completely oxidized in the simplest compounds, carbon dioxid and water, and are eliminated through the lungs and skin, possibly part of the water so formed acting as a solvent for the urinary compounds. Investigations seem to prove that the body has a preference for the carbohydrates over fats or other nutrients as a source of energy. There is every justification for the abundance of starches in man’s diet.

Fat is essential in the food of mankind; it is absorbed ready formed from the food, or manufactured in the body from the proteins and carbohydrates. Neutral fats and fatty acids are valuable foods; their primary function is to supply the body with fuel for heat and energy.

The mineral substances form 5 or 6 per cent. by weight of the human body, and are constantly leaving it by different channels; they are indispensable elements of food. They give solidity and stability to the organism, constituting a considerable proportion of the bones. They keep various proteins in solution and confer upon them the property of electric conductivity. They are necessary for all of the secretions and assist in the general metabolism. The carbonates of soda, potash, iron, and other minerals render the blood and secretions alkaline. The removal of carbon dioxid is performed mainly by the alkaline carbonates, which take it from the blood and surrender it to the lungs. We have already considered the need of sodium chlorid. The total daily requirements of salts is estimated at about 360 grains.

Vitamins a New Factor in Nutrition.—But recent investigation has proved that something more is essential for the maintenance of growth and well-being than protein, carbohydrates, fats, and salts; that food contains a minute portion of accessory bodies, and that when they are deficient or absent from the diet the immature body does not grow, the mature body does not maintain its condition, and there are manifestations of more or less serious disease. These accessory bodies have been called “vitamins,” and they are essential to maintain the normal metabolism of the body.

It is recognized that although vitamins are undoubtedly widely distributed in food products, they occur for the most part in very minute amounts, and the various foods differ in the proportion which they contain. If the diet is made up of substances which are poor in vitamins, or rendered so by their mode of preparation, abnormal metabolic processes have been found to follow.

The study by many scientists during the past few years of the enzymes and their striking specificity; of the salts; of the insufficiency of many proteins, and of the vitamins is epoch making, and has caused a corresponding advance in dietetics. These discoveries are so important as to raise the question whether nutritive failure or success does not depend as much on the accessory bodies—the vitamins, the enzymes, and lipoids—as on the primary element of the diet.

In addition to these food principles, there exists in our food a number of compounds which, while not indispensable, act beneficially as flavorings, stimulants to digestion, etc.; these are termed food adjuncts, and comprise such bases as caffein, essential oils, organic acids, etc.