As regards quantity, the main general principle of dietetics for climacteric women is that over-nutrition is to be avoided, that the quantity of nutriment must be reduced to the absolute minimum necessary to supply the needs of the tissues. In view of the fact that we are concerned with women at a comparatively advanced period of life, whose physical labours are not as a rule exhausting, that quantity of food will usually be sufficient which is competent to furnish 35 to 40 calories per body-kilogram per diem. If we assume that the mean body-weight of a woman as the climacteric age is 60 kilograms, the heat-equivalent of the food required daily by such a woman may be estimated at 2,100 to 2,400 calories. This will be approximately supplied by a diet consisting of 100 grams albumen, 60 grams fat, and 350 grams carbohydrate. The customary preference for a large amount of nitrogenous food is, however, not dependent upon physiological requirements, and provided that the needful minimum of albumen is supplied (about 1.5 gram per body-kilogram per diem), the requisite number of calories may be furnished by very various combinations of the different nutritive elements.
The general principles of the qualitative regulation of the diet of climacteric women are: first that after the necessary minimum of albumen has been supplied, there shall be added an amount of carbohydrate and of fat varying in relative proportions and quantities according to the physiological requirements of the individual, but taken together sufficient to supply the necessary heat-equivalent; secondly, that there should be an abundant consumption of water; thirdly, that stimulating dietetic adjuvants should as far as possible be avoided.
The nitrogenous equilibrium of the body may be maintained either by animal or by vegetable proteids; in the case of the former (animal albumens), the climacteric woman should avoid those containing considerable quantities of nucleo-albumen or of deleterious products of tissue-change; in the case of the latter (vegetable albumens), she should avoid those likely to cause undue stimulation of the intestinal tract. Of flesh foods (mammals, birds, and fishes), those kinds are to be preferred which contain small quantities only of extractives (kreatin, xanthin, etc.) since these substances are supposed to have a stimulating influence upon the nerves and the heart. Hence, boiled meat is better than roasted, and the flesh of young animals (veal, for instance) and fish are to be preferred to game, and the last-mentioned is to be avoided especially for this reason, that the flavours for which it is valued by the gourmet are products of partial decomposition arising from prolonged hanging; for similar reasons, meat extracts, animal soups, sausages, smoked flesh and fish, and preserved (potted) meats, should all be avoided. From the intimate connexion between the ingestion of nuclein and the formation of uric acid, albumens rich in nuclein are to be forbidden; such are the various foods consisting chiefly of gland-cells—sweetbread, liver, brain, kidneys, etc. As well as from the appropriate flesh-foods, the requisite albumen may most suitably be obtained from eggs and milk (including buttermilk); on the other hand, caviare is unsuitable owing to its stimulant action on the genital organs, cheese because it contains large quantities of the products of decomposition of casein and milk-fat; the fermented milks, koumiss and kefir, are likewise unsuitable. Suitable vegetable foods for the supply of albumen (in addition to carbohydrates) are porridge, bread, and the leguminosae; nuts, on the other hand, cause too much irritation of the stomach and intestines.
For women during the climacteric period we recommend a mixed diet moderate in quantity; the amount of flesh and fat in the diet should not be large, whilst cereals, green vegetables, and fruit may be taken in greater abundance; irritant vegetable foods must be avoided, and especially those which tend to stimulate unduly intestinal muscular activity and intestinal secretion. It is important that an abundance of water should be taken, not less than two or three pints daily, and a pure, fresh, spring water is preferable to the aerated waters, natural or artificial. Alcoholic beverages are to be avoided, and more especially those which are rich in extractives as well as in alcohol. For this latter reason, beer and champagne are harmful, whilst spirits and liqueurs are to be condemned on account of the high percentage of alcohol they contain. The stimulating alkaloidal drinks, tea and coffee, are also to be avoided, or if taken at all, only in a very dilute form. With regard to the preparation of the food, the cardinal principle is that it should be as little irritant as possible; neither mechanically irritating the alimentary tract by an excess of indigestible or undigested residue, nor irritating it chemically by an excessive admixture of sugar, salt, vinegar, pepper and other spices; nor, finally, giving rise to thermal irritation by being excessively hot or extremely cold.
The individual meals are preferably small ones and they must therefore be taken at comparatively short intervals, five times daily, the principal meal being taken at one or two o’clock in the afternoon, and the supper (which should be small) comparatively early, at seven or eight o’clock.
Note.—In his discussion of the details of diet for women during the climacteric period, hours of meals, actual dishes, etc., the author refers exclusively to Austrian and German customs in these matters. The translator has not attempted to adapt the following pages to the needs of English readers, as he feels that the general principles already given will enable the English medical man to construct without serious difficulty suitable diet-tables for the cases with which he has to deal.
Suitable articles of food are the following:
Soups, Broths, and other Liquid Foods: Soups and broths made from the flesh or bones of beef, mutton, veal, chicken, or pigeon, without the addition of meat extract, or of meat juices, peptones, somatose or nutrose, but with the addition of barley, oatmeal, rice, wheatmeal, ryemeal, peas, beans, lentils, vermicelli, or macaroni; also broths or porridge made from any kind of ground cereal, or from potatoes, or from peas, beans, or lentils.
Flesh Foods: Lean beef, veal, mutton, roast or boiled, pigeon, chicken; certain fresh fish—pike, haddock, sole, perch, and trout. Unsuitable are: pork, goose, eels, salmon, herrings, oysters, caviare, lobster, crab, smoked meat, hare, venison, wild-duck, brain, liver, kidneys.
Vegetables, Sweets, and Savouries: Green peas, spinach, cauliflower, carrots, turnips, buttered eggs, omelette, boiled and baked puddings, rice boiled in milk, apples and rice, whipped cream, salads, wheaten bread, French rolls, biscuits, and rusks.