Breakfast.—Fried rice 150 grams, syrup 50 grams, apple 130 grams, baked sweet potato 200 grams, butter 10 grams, coffee 1 cup.
Dinner.—Lyonnaise potatoes 175 grams, bacon 25 grams, boiled turnips 200 grams, pie 130 grams, coffee 1 cup, bread 75 grams.
Supper.—Biscuit 175 grams, butter 25 grams, egg 40 grams, stewed apples 150 grams, tea 1 cup.
III. EXPERIMENTS WITH UNIVERSITY STUDENTS, TRAINED IN ATHLETICS.
Men in training for athletic events deem it necessary to consume large amounts of proteid food. Great muscular activity, it is true, calls for the expenditure of corresponding amounts of energy, but it is by no means clear that the energy so liberated comes from the breaking down of proteid material. Indeed, there is more reason for believing that the energy of muscular contraction comes primarily from the oxidation of non-nitrogenous matter. Nevertheless, custom and long experience sanction a high proteid diet, composed largely of meat or of other foodstuffs rich in nitrogen, for the development of that vigor and strength that go to make the accomplished athlete. For the development of new muscle tissue, to make two muscle fibres where before only one existed, to increase the number of available fibres, thereby adding to the bulk of the active tissue, a certain amount of proteid food is absolutely necessary, just as it is for all active tissues and organs of the body. But that this fact constitutes a satisfactory reason for the daily use of such quantities of proteid food as usually enter into the diet of the average athlete is very questionable.
As an illustration of the character of the diet frequently made use of by men doing prolonged muscular work, I may quote a few figures from an article by Professor W. O. Atwater[41] and H. C. Sherman on “The effect of severe and prolonged muscular work upon Food consumption, Digestion, and Metabolism,” in which are recorded observations made upon several professional bicycle riders during a six-day race. On one day subject “M” rode 334.1 miles, consuming for food on that day meat extract, 311 grams; milk, 4937 grams; bread, 35 grams; boiled cereals, 877 grams; pastry, 142 grams; sugar, 53 grams; fruit, 2003 grams. His urine for the day contained 46.2 grams of nitrogen, corresponding to the metabolism of 288.7 grams of proteid matter. Subject “A” on one day rode 352.7 miles, taking as food, meat, 149 grams; meat extract, 24 grams; broth, 283 grams; eggs, 369 grams; butter, 78 grams; milk, 142 grams; malted milk, 78 grams; jelly, 213 grams; soup, 191 grams; bread, 361 grams; boiled cereal, 532 grams; sugar, about 400 grams; fruit, 933 grams; cocoa wine, 198 grams. His day’s urine contained 39.0 grams of nitrogen, corresponding to the metabolism of 243.7 grams of proteid material.
Obviously, if such high proteid metabolism as these figures imply is a necessary concomitant of vigorous or excessive muscular activity, then a rich proteid diet is needed to make good the loss of nitrogen to the body; but we are more inclined to believe that the large quantity of nitrogen excreted was the result chiefly of the high proteid ration, and only in small measure connected with the work done. With a sufficiency of non-nitrogenous food, the energy of muscular contraction does not come in any large degree from the breaking down of proteid matter, and there would seem to be no adequate reason for assuming a necessity for such rich and excessive proteid diet as athletes in training ordinarily adopt. Yet the contrary view is almost universally held and followed. As a prominent trainer said to the writer not long ago, “if the men are not fed on a rich meat diet and plenty of it, they will grow soft and lose their strength.”
With a view to testing some of these points and thereby broaden the scope of the investigation and enhance the value of the study, a group of eight students in the University, all trained athletes, was secured. These men volunteered to aid in the study, and at considerable self-sacrifice gave intelligent and hearty co-operation in all ways possible. The men were under observation from January 15, 1904, to the middle of June, 1904, a period of five months. From January 15 the urine was collected daily, and for a period of ten days the regular diet of the men was adhered to without any deviation whatever, with a view to ascertaining the extent of the proteid metabolism characteristic of each individual. No restrictions whatever in diet were suggested, but the ordinary food that the men were accustomed to eat while in training was taken. After this period the men were instructed to diminish somewhat the intake of proteid food, and in following out this plan most of the men diminished quite appreciably the quantity of food consumed at breakfast time, and in some cases stopped taking food of any kind at breakfast other than a cereal, with possibly coffee. No specific diet was imposed, but the men, being willing collaborators in the experiment, gradually cut down the intake of proteid food, diminishing likewise in considerable measure the total volume of food for the twenty-four hours.
