| Carbohydrates | |||||||
| Food Materials | Water Per Cent | Protein Per Cent | Fat Per Cent | Starch etc. Per Cent | Crude Fiber Per Cent | Ash Per Cent | |
| Wheat | 10.4 | 12.1 | 2.1 | 71.6 | 1.8 | 1.9 | |
| Rice | 12.4 | 7.4 | 0.4 | 79.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | |
| Oats | 11.0 | 11.8 | 5.0 | 59.7 | 9.5 | 3.0 | |
| Rye | 11.6 | 10.6 | 1.7 | 72.0 | 1.7 | 1.9 | |
| Breads and Crackers: | |||||||
| Wheat bread | 32.5 | 8.8 | 1.9 | 55.8 | ..... | 1.0 | |
| Graham bread | 34.2 | 9.5 | 1.4 | 53.3 | ..... | 1.6 | |
| Rye bread | 30.0 | 3.4 | 0.5 | 59.7 | ..... | 1.4 | |
| Soda crackers | 8.0 | 10.3 | 9.4 | 70.5 | ..... | 1.8 | |
| Graham crackers | 5.0 | 9.8 | 13.5 | 69.7 | ..... | 2.0 | |
| Oatmeal crackers | 4.9 | 10.4 | 13.7 | 69.6 | ..... | 1.4 | |
| Oyster crackers | 3.8 | 11.3 | 4.8 | 77.5 | ..... | 2.6 | |
| Macaroni | 13.1 | 9.0 | 0.3 | 76.8 | ..... | 0.8 | |
| Flours and Meals: | |||||||
| Flour, wheat | 12.5 | 11.0 | 1.0 | 74.9 | ..... | 0.5 | |
| Corn Meal | 15.0 | 9.2 | 3.8 | 70.6 | ..... | 1.4 | |
| Oatmeal | 7.6 | 15.1 | 7.1 | 68.2 | ..... | 2.0 | |
There is no part of the world, except the Arctic regions, where cereals are not extensively cultivated. From the oats and rye of the north, to the rice of the hot countries, grains of some kind are staple foods.
“An idea of the importance of cereal foods in the diet may be gathered from the following data, based upon the results obtained in dietary studies with a large number of American families:—Vegetable foods, including flour, bread, and other cereal products, furnished fifty-five per cent of the total food, thirty-nine per cent of the protein, eight per cent of the fat, and ninety-five per cent of the carbohydrates of the diet. The amounts which cereal foods alone supplied were twenty-two per cent of the total food, thirty-one per cent of the protein, seven per cent of the fat and fifty-five per cent of the total carbohydrates—that is, about three-quarters of the vegetable protein, one-half of the carbohydrates, and seven-eighths of the vegetable fat were supplied by the cereals. Oat, rice, and wheat breakfast foods together furnished about two per cent of the total food in protein, one per cent of the total fat, and four per cent of the carbohydrates of the ordinary mixed diet, as shown by the statistics cited. These percentage values are not high in themselves, but it must be remembered that they represent large quantities when we consider the food consumed by a family in a year.”[7]
If one’s work calls for extreme muscular exertion, the cereals may be eaten freely, but if one’s habits are sedentary, and the cereals are used in excess, there is danger of clogging the system with too much glycogen, or converted starch. Indeed, for one whose occupation is indoors and requires little muscular activity, a very little cereal food will suffice; the carbohydrates will be supplied, in sufficient quantity, in vegetables. Mineral matter is supplied in sufficient quantity in almost all classes of foods.
The power of the system to throw off food, over and above the needs of the body, is a wise provision of Nature, because where foods are not supplied in the proper proportions, a more liberal diet enables the system to select such foods as it needs from the abundance.
Cereals and legumes supply nutrients cheaper than any class of foods; therefore a vegetarian diet involves less expense than the mixed diet. Meat, eggs and milk, which usually supply the proteins, are the most expensive foods, and where these are eliminated, a large proportion of proteins should be supplied by the legumes.
Wheat. Perhaps no food is as commonly used as wheat, in its various forms. It is composed of:
First—The nitrogenous or protein compound, chiefly represented in the cerealin and the gluten of the bran.
Second—The carbon extracts,—the largest contributor to the flour.