Amylaceous Dyspepsia.—Not a few “gouty” subjects suffer from atonic dyspepsia, with acidity due to organic acids arising from fermentation. Frequently it appears to be the outcome of some previously prescribed regimen forbidding all flesh food, or of too frequent or irregular meals or habitual overfeeding, food-bolting, excessive smoking, etc. Correction of such faulty habits is an essential prelude to any dietetic rules.
In such cases it is advisable to reduce the intake of starchy and saccharine foodstuffs, such as bread, potatoes, pastry, sugar, milk puddings, and the like. Bread should be stale, or dextrinised by dry heat, as in thin toast and rusks. Potatoes, if taken, should be in the form of purées. Sweet dishes should be partaken of sparingly, if at all. They should be encouraged to take the more digestible forms of meat and the lighter kinds of fish. Green vegetables and fresh ripe fruit, raw or cooked, are valuable. Fats of the more digestible sorts are also desirable. Grilled but not fried fat bacon is easily digested.
As to beverages, light China tea is more suitable than strong Indian kinds. Frequently I have found substitution of cocoa most beneficial. But in any case the amount of fluid at meal-times should be restricted.
As a guide to the formulation of a dietary in such cases the following may be suggested:—
On awaking in the morning a tumbler of hot water should be slowly sipped. A squeeze of lemon may be added if liked.
Breakfast.—Boiled or plainly grilled sole, whiting, or flounder, or a slice of crisp grilled bacon or lean cold tongue, or a soft-boiled egg. A slice or two of crisp dry toast or stale bread and a little butter. At close of meal sip slowly one cup of weak China tea, or the same of cocoa or milk and water.
Lunch.—Chicken or game, or lamb, mutton, or beef, hot or cold, roast or boiled. Gravy to be free from fat. One only of the former kinds of meat to be taken with a reasonable quantity of tender, well-boiled vegetables. Spinach, kidney or French beans, sea or Scotch kale, vegetable marrow, or salad may be taken, but without oil, vinegar, or beetroot. Dry toast or rusks. Half a tumbler of water sipped after eating.
Afternoon Tea.—One or two cups of weak tea with milk or one cup of cocoa.
Dinner (two courses only).—Fish of the kinds allowed for breakfast without potatoes, or a slice of any tender meat, e.g., saddle or loin of mutton or thick part of an underdone chop, or small portion of fresh game, without bread sauce or crumbs. One or two slices of stale bread or dry toast. A little well-stewed fruit or custard, junket, or jelly. Half a tumbler of water with from one to two tablespoonfuls of spirit if desired.
If there be any suspicion of chronic gastritis, condiments and stimulants must be renounced, but not in purely atonic dyspepsia, in which they are of value. In either disorder the patient should abstain from salted and cured meats, tinned foods, pastry, sweets, raw vegetables, and cheese. Before retiring a tumbler of hot water with a squeeze of lemon may be sipped slowly.