The true interpretation of the word "assimilation" is the absorption of all food substances through the walls of the intestinal tract, and the final passing of them into the circulation.
It is nothing unusual, however, for a person to become afflicted with predigestion, and, at the same time, with poor or faulty assimilation; in other words, digestion being too rapid, and assimilation being too slow. This condition frequently occurs in cases of superacidity. On account of the excess of acid, the food digests or passes from the stomach prematurely; that is, before it has been dissolved by the action of the hydrochloric acid. The food, thus super-charged with acid, passes from the stomach into the lower intestines, and sets up a condition of irritation. This irritation or swelling of the mucous surface (lining) of the intestines, closes the small canals, or winking valves, as they are sometimes called, thus seriously interfering with the passing of the dissolved food matter into the circulation.
The following table is designed to show the comparative assimilability of the leading articles of food, together with their starch, sugar, and water content:
TABLE SHOWING COMPARATIVE ASSIMILABILITY AND CARBOHYDRATE AND WATER CONTENT OF CEREALS, LEGUMES, AND VEGETABLES
FOOD | Assimilability | Percentage of | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starch | Sugar | Water | ||||
| CEREALS | ||||||
| Barley | Somewhat Difficult | 61.6 | 1.5 | 13.7 | ||
| Buckwheat | Difficult | 48.0 | 6.0 | 12.0 | ||
| Corn | Difficult | 60.5 | 3.0 | 12.2 | ||
| Oats | Difficult | 54.0 | 2.0 | 12.0 | ||
| Rice | Medium | 79.1 | 0.4 | 13.0 | ||
| Rye | Somewhat Difficult | 62.0 | 0.95 | 15.06 | ||
| Wheat | Medium | 62.0 | 0.95 | 15.08 | ||
| LEGUMES | ||||||
| Beans—dried | Good | 53.0 | 3.0 | 12.0 | ||
| Lentils—dried | Good | 50.0 | 2.0 | 11.0 | ||
| Peas—dried | Good | 57.0 | 4.0 | 11.0 | ||
| * VEGETABLES | ||||||
| Banana—very ripe | Very good | 8.0 | 11.0 | 48.0 | ||
| Beets | Good | 1.7 | 7.8 | 68.0 | ||
| Cabbage | Medium | 4.3 | — | 78.0 | ||
| Carrots | Very good | 1.0 | 6.1 | 83.0 | ||
| Parsnips | Very good | 1.5 | 6.0 | 82.0 | ||
| Potatoes { Sweet | Good | 24.4 | 5.6 | 69.0 | ||
| { White | Very good | 19.8 | .7 | 72.0 | ||
| Pumpkin | Very good | 3.9 | 2.0 | 74.3 | ||
| Squash | Very good | 4.1 | 1.2 | 83.0 | ||
| Turnips | Good | 5.1 | 2.1 | 91.0 | ||
* While all the vegetables mentioned in the above table belong to the carbohydrate class, yet the starch element contained in them is very much more assimilable than the starch contained in grains or legumes, therefore these vegetables may be eaten freely by those having rheumatic or gouty tendencies.
The starch and the sugar content in fresh vegetables appears low owing to the fact that they contain a large percentage of water. Eliminating the water, these foods rank in their starch and sugar content with cereals and legumes, and are much more easily digested and assimilated. In other words, if the chemist should reduce the water content to the same per cent as that of cereals, the carbohydrate content would rise in the same ratio as the water content is reduced. Both the starch and the sugar content of these vegetables is more digestible, and more readily assimilated than the starch and the sugar found in cereals and legumes.