The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 1 of 2 - Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry

TABULATED RESULTS OF EXAMINATIONS OF MEDICINAL FOODS

Column Headings:
2 = Glycerin and undetermined matter
3 = Per cent nitrogenous matter (6.26)
4 = Calories as proteids in 500 grams
5 = Carbohydrates after inversion
6 = Calories as carbohydrates in 500 grams
7 = Calories as proteids and carbohydrates in 500 grams
8 = Alcohol, by weight
9 = Calories as alcohol in 500 grams
10 = Calories as proteids and carbohydrates per diem dose
11 = Total calories in per diem dose*
12 = Number c.c. required per diem to supply 1,430 calories

Name of Preparation and Manufacturer	2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12
Carpanutrine—John Wyeth & Brother	28	.45	4	.28	102	.7	5	.34	109	.5	212	.2	12	.5	437	.5	25	.5	78	.0	1,100	.7
Carpanutrine—John Wyeth & Brother	21	.29	6	.24	149	.8	5	.78	118	.5	268	.3	14	.0	490	.0	32	.2	91	.0	942	.9
Liquid Peptones—Eli Lilly & Company.	3	.63	4	.50	108	.0	6	.05	124	.0	232	.0	18	.0	630	.0	69	.6	258	.6	829	.4
Liquid Peptones, with Creosote—Eli Lilly & Company	4	.34	3	.84	92	.2	13	.47	276	.1	368	.3	18	.0	630	.0	110	.5	299	.5	716	.2
Nutrient Wine of Beef Peptone—Armour & Company	14	.97	0	.64	15	.4	15	.43	316	.3	331	.7	17	.5	612	.5	66	.3	188	.8	757	.4
Nutrient Wine of Beef Peptone—Armour & Company	13	.70	0	.43	10	.3	15	.57	319	.2	329	.5	17	.0	595	.0	65	.9	184	.9	773	.3
Nutritive Liquid Peptone—Parke, Davis & Company	1	.02	1	.86	44	.6	12	.89	264	.2	308	.8	18	.8	658	.0	74	.2	232	.1	739	.5
Nutritive Liquid Peptone—Parke, Davis & Company	1	.95	1	.16	27	.8	13	.19	270	.4	298	.2	17	.7	619	.5	71	.5	220	.2	779	.2
Peptonic Elixir—Wm. Merrell Chemical Company	3	.21	2	.54	61	.0	11	.46	234	.9	295	.9	16	.5	577	.5	53	.3	157	.2	818	.6
Tonic Beef S. & D.—Sharp & Dohme	12	.91	3	.40	81	.6	2	.36	48	.4	130	.0	12	.0	420	.0	13	.0	55	.0	1,300	.0
Tonic Beef S. & D.—Sharp & Dohme	12	.63	3	.28	78	.7	2	.22	45	.5	124	.2	13	.0	455	.0	12	.4	57	.9	1,234	.4
Liquid Peptone—Stevenson & Jester Company	0	.44	1	.81	43	.4	0	.55	11	.3	54	.7	12	.0	420	.0	9	.8	85	.4	1,506	.8
Cow’s Milk (3.8 per cent. fat)	....		3	.50	84	.0	4	.80	98	.4	182	.4	....		....		7	.3	1,429	.6	2,000	.0

*: Total calories per diem dose includes the calories of alcohol in the liquid medicinal foods and the calories of the fat in milk.

In order to get a fair conception of the actual food value of these various preparations, it is desirable to make some comparison which can be readily comprehended by every physician. The amount of good milk necessary each twenty-four hours to sustain the vitality of a patient during a serious illness is not less than 64 ounces, or approximately 2,000 c.c. The food value in calories represented by this amount of good milk may be placed at 1,430. This includes not only the proteid and carbohydrate matter, but the fat as well. By comparing this available potential energy with the total energy available in the predigested foods under consideration, it can be readily seen that if a physician depends on the representations made by some of the manufacturers, and feeds his patient accordingly, he is resorting to a starvation diet. The largest number of available calories, including alcohol, present in any of the recommended daily doses, is less than one-fifth of the number of calories represented by 2,000 c.c. of milk; and the calories represented by the daily dose of the preparation poorest in food products is only one-twenty-fifth of the amount present in 2,000 c.c. of milk. These figures tell their own story.

Making 2,000 c.c. of milk the basis of calculation, and estimating the amount of the various preparations required to yield this number of calories, it is found that the quantity to be administered daily to supply 1,430 calories, including alcohol, varies from 716.2 to 1,506.2 c.c. In many cases the amount of alcohol exhibited by these quantities would keep the patient in an alcoholic stupor continually. The cost necessary to supply this energy varies from $1.48 to $3.39. Compare these prices with the cost of two quarts of milk. Is further comment necessary?

It is urged in justification of the use of preparations of this class that they contain constituents not found in our ordinary foods and in a more perfectly assimilable condition. As pointed out above, these so-called predigested foods contain no fats; the carbohydrates in them are the ordinary sugars present in our common foods, while the proteins belong to the peptone or albumose class. It is for these latter that the greatest claims are made, but even here no value can be pointed out not found in whey, peptonized full milk or peptonized skimmed milk.

There is likewise another point of considerable importance to consider in this connection. The terms peptone and albumose include bodies of very uncertain composition, and their suitableness as food substances depends largely on how they are prepared. Animal experiments have shown that nitrogen equilibrium may be maintained, for a time at least, by use of enzymic hydrolytic products of the proteins, even where the hydrolysis has been carried far beyond the so-called peptone stage, but it appears to be likewise true that the mixtures secured by acid or high temperature steam hydrolysis have no such value. Some of these, indeed, may exhibit a toxic behavior. This is true in particular of some of the commercial varieties of peptone, and until more is known of the source of the bodies of protein character employed in the makeup of these “predigested” mixtures it is unwise to assume anything concerning the food value of the nitrogen compounds found in them by analysis or even to dignify them by the name of foods.—(Abstracted from The Journal A. M. A., May 11, 1907.)