A text-book on hygiene and pediatrics from a chiropractic standpoint

by J. H. Craven

Fats come from animal and vegetable sources and are represented by butter, fats of meat, olive oil, cottonseed oil, nuts and seeds. Oily substances are found in practically all vegetables. A vitamin known as fat soluble A is found in certain fats, but not in others. It is found in the fat of milk and usually in other fats of animal origin; and also in eggs and in leafy plants. Lard and oil of plant origin furnish very little of this vitamin. It can readily be seen by this that all fats do not have the same food value.

The condiments are the spices such as pepper, mustard, cloves, coffee, tea and alcoholic beverages.

Inorganic salts are not ordinarily classed as a food. However, it is essential in the maintaining of life. It performs a very important function in the building of bone and assists also in digestion and metabolism. The vegetable acids, such as tartaric from grapes, lemon and citric, will be found in combination with the bases calcium, sodium and potassium, for example, especially when they are taken from fresh vegetables and fruits. When absorbed they form carbonates and are therefore indispensable in the process of metabolism, since they aid in maintaining the alkalinity of the body. If the food of the growing infant is deficient in calcium phosphate, or if there is an interference with transmission which hinders the activity of calcium phosphate in the body, the bones of the child will be poorly developed and will become abnormally soft. In this case they yield under the weight of the body and become deformed. A good illustration of this is seen in rickets.

Milk forms an excellent source of calcium in large quantities and in a utilizable form. The fact that milk is deficient in iron must be taken into consideration when it is used as a sole article of diet for growing children.

Vitamin is the name given to a chemical substance found in yeast and in rice polishings. It was so named by Dr. Casimir Funk, a Russian chemist, in 1913. The chemical nature of the vitamin is unknown, but it has been proven that it possesses great growth-producing qualities, a small amount producing great results. Only three vitamins have been recognized. One is soluble in fat and has been called fat soluble A, the other two are soluble in water and are known as water soluble B and water soluble C.

Fat soluble A is found in the leaves of plants, spinach, carrots, peas, peanuts, but more abundantly in eggs, butter and milk; it is also present in such glandular organs as the liver and kidneys. Cod liver oil is found to contain this vitamin. It is found to be almost, if not entirely, missing from lard and the fats of vegetable origin; sugar from cane, milk and beets, bolted flour, starch and glucose and polished rice are entirely devoid of this vitamin, while the rice polishings are exceedingly rich in fat soluble A.

Experiments have been made upon rats and dogs which show that if they are fed upon a diet devoid of this vitamin they develop a condition similar to rickets. Their eyes become inflamed and dry and eventually blindness results.

The vitamin known as water soluble B is probably the most widely distributed of the vitamins. It is obtained in tubers, seeds, leaves of plants and in animals, but not in the oils or fats of either vegetable or animal origin. This vitamin promotes growth. The prolonged absence of it induces beriberi. Water soluble B is not destroyed by boiling the foods in which it is found. This vitamin is found in yeast, navy and soy beans, milk, parsnips, potatoes, spinach, whole grain, rice, maize, carrots, onions, oats, cauliflower, celery, rutabagas and whole wheat bread. This vitamin is present in very small quantities in such foods as cabbage, tomatoes, peas, eggs and wheat bran. All ordinary foods contain this vitamin. Water soluble B is known as the antineurotic vitamin.

The water soluble C vitamin is known as the antiscorbutic vitamin. In experimentations it has been found that animals entirely deprived of this vitamin have developed scurvy. The condition disappeared when the vitamin was included in the diet.

The experiments by which it has been hoped to associate many dis-eases with vitamins have not proven satisfactory, and while it is a recognized fact that they play an important part in the bodily metabolism yet dis-ease can not be corrected by a scientific endeavor to supply the needed vitamins through diet.