Page 13. “It has been discovered that the complete suppression of carbohydrates from the dietary is not only unnecessary but is highly detrimental and even dangerous.” “The complete suppression of carbohydrates from the dietary” is the only means the physician has to determine the diabetic’s carbohydrate tolerance. If carbohydrate-poor foods are so “highly detrimental and even dangerous,” why does the company exploit foods like “Pure Gluten Flour” and “Pure Gluten Biscuit,” whose chief claim to excellence is their comparative freedom from carbohydrates?
Page 17. “Cream is an emulsion, and, with the exception of egg yolk, is the only form in which animal fat is found in an emulsified state.” Milk, Nature’s most wonderful emulsion, is apparently overlooked.
Page 19. “... these foods ... will be found of great value ... especially as substitutes for the breads and meats which are the most objectionable features of the ordinary diet, and which should, as far as possible, be interdicted in this class of cases.” This is simply special pleading for the Kellogg vegetarian diet.
Page 19. “Our glutens ... are all thoroughly standardized, so that in their use the physician and the patient know just the amount of starch eaten.” This standardization is largely mythical. For instance, “Pure Gluten Biscuit” claims 0 to 5 per cent. “carbohydrates (starch),” whereas I find 14.84 per cent. carbohydrates with 4.02 per cent. starch. “40 per cent. Gluten Flour” claims 40 per cent. gluten and 40 to 45 per cent. carbohydrates, whereas I find 33.63 and 55.35 per cent., respectively. “Pure Gluten Meal” claims 0 to 5 per cent. “carbohydrates (starch)” whereas I find 16.77 per cent. carbohydrates and 6.77 per cent. starch. I have a record of six analyses each of “40 per cent. Gluten Flour” and “40 per cent. Gluten Biscuit,” which show the hollowness of this claim of “standardization.” The flour showed 33.6, 35.0, 42.9, 36.8, 35.6, and 40.9 per cent. of protein, with from 40.8 to 55.4 per cent. of carbohydrates; the biscuits 32.7, 33.2, 39.5, 43.3, 33.9, and 41.2 per cent. of protein, with from 41.1 to 54.0 per cent. of carbohydrates. In fact, my experience shows that the Kellogg products are more poorly “standardized” than most of the diabetic foods on the market.
Page 20. “May be made to carry a large amount of fat in the form of butter, a most desirable thing in the treatment of diabetes,” while on page 16 the company claims that in an experiment of Minkowski on a dog, butter “passed through the body without change, none being absorbed”; these are certainly contradictory statements. The explanation is that on the one page the company is exploiting its biscuits, and on the other its nut preparations.
Page 20. Again the incorrect claim is made for “40 per cent. Gluten Flour” that “we believe this to be the only standardized gluten flour made.”
Page 21. The claim is made that flesh foods are “objectionable on account of the large amounts of ptomains and toxins which they contain.” I was not aware that fresh meats contained any ptomains whatever. On the same page the claim is again made that by the use of the Kellogg nut foods “diabetics lose their thirst,” a claim which I think is more than doubtful.
Page 22. “Nuts are a whole food, containing all the elements required for the perfect nutrition of the body.” A marked characteristic of nuts is that they are not “a whole food,” as with the exception of a few varieties, such as the chestnut, they are extremely poor in carbohydrates, which fact gives them their value in the diabetic diet.
Page 23. “With the exception of the potato, the beet and the carrot, vegetables contain little sugar or starch.” Corn, beans and peas are all vegetables which are relatively high in carbohydrates, and for this reason are specifically excluded from the diabetic’s dietary.