LABORATORY REPORT
Sanatogen is a fine, nearly white powder having a faint yellowish tinge. A circular which is enclosed in the package states:
“Sanatogen is a definite organic combination of 95 per cent. of pure, specially prepared casein and 5 per cent. of sodium glycerophosphate,...”
Qualitative tests indicated the presence in Sanatogen of casein, sodium, a phosphorous compound and glycerin or a glycerin compound. Starch and sugars were absent. Quantitative analysis showed that the composition of the specimen was essentially as follows:
Water (loss at 130 C.) | 8.60 |
Ash | 6.23 |
Casein and other proteins (N × 6.38) | 83.10 |
Casein (N in precipitated casein × 6.38) | 80.57 |
Proteins other than casein (by difference) | 2.53 |
| Sodium glycerophosphate (NaC3H7O6P) | |
(P in filtrate from casein precipitation × 6.79) | 5.59 |
Insoluble matter | 0.84 |
Undetermined | 1.87 |
While these results show that the claims concerning the composition of Sanatogen are not entirely correct, they indicate that the essential element in Sanatogen is casein.
The slight variation between the composition claimed for Sanatogen and the composition as determined by chemical analysis is of minor importance. Whether there is 83 per cent. of casein as found by the Association’s chemists or 95 per cent. as asserted by the manufacturers matters little. The important fact is that casein makes up about nine-tenths of the preparation and, as must be perfectly evident, Sanatogen derives whatever food value it may have from that casein. Casein is known in its commonest form as the curd in milk, or as “cottage cheese.” After the cream has been separated, the milk which remains contains nearly all the casein and milk sugar originally present but practically none of the fat.
WHY NOT COTTAGE CHEESE?
Whence comes the stimulation of metabolic activity, the wonderful nourishment of the system, the marvelous revitalizing and rejuvenating power claimed for Sanatogen? Not from the sodium glycerophosphate, for the consensus of opinion among leading physiologists indicates that phosphorus in the form of glycerophosphates has little influence on metabolism. Not from the glycerin, surely, for even granting that glycerin has food value the amount present is so small as to be negligible. The real source of energy in Sanatogen, then, lies in the casein which comprises about nine-tenths of its ingredients.
| Kind of Food Material | Price per Pound | Cost of 1,000 Calories Energy | Calories. Energy for One Dollar | |
| Sanatogen | $4 | .54 | $3.01 | 332 |
| Celery | .05 | .77 | 1,300 | |
| Eggs ($0.36 per doz.) | .24 | .16 | 6,300 | |
| Milk ($0.07 per qt.) | .035 | .11 | 8,850 | |
| Pork, loin roast | .12 | .10 | 10,350 | |
| Butter | .30 | .09 | 11,250 | |
| Mackerel, salt dressed | .10 | .08 | 11,850 | |
| Beef, stew meat | .05 | .07 | 15,300 | |
| Wheat bread | .06 | .05 | 20,000 | |
| Rice | .08 | .05 | 20,250 | |
| Sugar | .06 | .03 | 29,200 | |
| Pork, fat salt | .12 | .03 | 29,500 | |
| Potatoes | .01 | .03 | 29,500 | |
| Beans, white | .05 | .03 | 30,400 | |
| Oatmeal | .04 | .02 | 45,000 | |
| Cornmeal | .025 | .02 | 65,400 | |
| Wheat flour | .025 | .02 | 65,400 | |