This is not pleasant information but it is simply commonplace, every-day fact. Sausage, hamburger steak and "game" with a high flavor, are little if any better than carrion, and the poisons which such foods introduce into the body must all be detoxicated by the liver and eliminated by the kidneys, and thus they are worn out prematurely by overwork.
"As sweet as a nut," is an old bon mot which hides no such repulsive picture. The nut, inside its germ-proof shell, is solid nutriment of the purest sort, the very quintessence of nutrient value, sunlight in cold storage. The nut represents food energy in its most delectable and concentrated form.
From an economic standpoint, the nut leaves flesh foods so far behind that they are almost out of sight.
Experiments to determine the digestibility and nutritive value of nuts were conducted several years ago by the eminent Professor Jaffa of the University of California. His researches conducted over many months, using human volunteers as subjects, showed that nuts were well digested and created no intestinal disturbances. Later experiments confirmed and extended the observations of Professor Jaffa. These experiments, conducted by Professor Cajori of Yale University in the Yale laboratory and in the laboratory of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, have finally definitely settled the question.
Says Professor Cajori, with reference to his results: "A few years ago a rather extensive series of digestion experiments were inaugurated at Yale University in an effort to settle the question of the indigestibility of nuts and also to test out some of the commercial nut products to find what effect roasting, boiling, and other processes that nuts are subjected to had on their digestibility. Through the courtesy of Dr. Kellogg of Battle Creek, it was possible to follow up these experiments with a series at Battle Creek. It is of the result of these tests that I wish to speak."
"Our digestion experiments show the following results: For protein digestion of nuts—almond 89%, pecan 84%, pine nut 89%, English walnut 83%, Brazil nut 88%, and coconut 88%."
"How, then, explain the undoubted discomfort that many people experience after eating nuts? I believe the explanation rests on the fact that our common American way of eating nuts is not the rational way. We would not consider topping off a heavy meal with eggs, meat, or cereals, or eating these in large quantities between meals without realizing that we were exposing ourselves to possible digestive discomfort. No more, then, can we expect to eat nuts, which are even more concentrated or "heavy" than meats or eggs, merely as an adjunct, without occasional discomfort. Unpleasant results from so eating does not condemn the nut as indigestible; rather it condemns our mode of using that nut. Further, we must recognize that a nut is a hard compact substance, and that unless completely masticated is not readily penetrated by the digestive juices of the alimentary canal. This was very well brought out in our experiments with dogs. The dog bolts his food and where there were large fragments of the nuts in the food they appear unchanged in the feces, while if the nut was ground fine before feeding it was readily digested. Comparisons of nut butters and nut pastes with the whole nut also brought out this point. The completely comminuted nut butters showed consistently higher degrees of digestion than the whole nut."
Nuts should be used as a food staple, a major element in the bill of fare, rather than as a dessert, and special care must be taken as to thorough mastication, which is almost equally true of apples, bananas and numerous other fruits which possess a firm flesh.
To overcome the objection that some people are unable to masticate nuts properly on account of defective teeth, and to insure the proper assimilation even if not properly chewed, the writer some forty years ago conceived the idea of converting the nuts by crushing and grinding into a paste, in other words, chewing the nuts by machinery. The peanut was first utilized in this way and rapidly won its way to public favor. Now, many scores of carloads of that nut are eaten under the name of "peanut butter."