Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1878-10-09
Foods.

The two great duties which food has
to perform in the system are tn maintain
the heat in the body and to supply ma
terial for its growth and renewal.
Hence foods are divided by writers on
the subject into carbonaceous or heat
producers. and heterogeneous or
muscle-makers. This division, how
ever, is arbitrary and of only partial
application, since nearly all carbona-
ceous foods contain nitrogen, and
nearly all heterogeneous foods contain
carbon. In lean beef, which ranks
with heterogeneous foods, there is more
| or less fat or carbon, and in vegetables
richest in nitrogen, as beans, peas, cab
bage and onions, there are sugar and
starch. So that all foods are more or
less heterogeneous, all foods are more or
less carbonaceous, and those terms are
used with relation to food simply to in
dictate what quality they possess in the
greater degree. The chief function of
the three carbonsceous foods-sugar,
fat and starch-is to keep up the ami
NAL heat, and if more OF these sub
stances is used than is necessary for
the purpose, it Is stored up in the body
and produces corpulenee. Hence all
foods containing large proportions of
these elements must be avoided by those
who do not wish to increase their
weight. In the potato, for example,
the composition is, for every hundred
parts, water 20, nitrogen, 81, starch
lS-S, sugar 3.2, fat o., salts, or. IT
will be seen that the proportion of
starch is nine times as great as that of
nitrogen, and the sugar also ex-
ceeds the nitrogen. Wheat flour con-
tains 100 parts, water, 10.7. phosphates
O.96, nitrogen, "a, albuminoids, 1874
starch, 6s.4, celiulOse, 9.S. Wheat
flour, therefore, contains more wheat
in proportion than potato does, but the
conversion of a large part of the starch
into dextrine by toasting bread neutyal-
izes in a degree, its fat producing quail
ity. Then, as foE-fifths of all we eat
supports respiration, there must of ne
cessity be in our food four times a.
much carbon as there is nitrogen. The
wheat alone will supply this suffi-
ciently for persons tending TO fstness,
so that the starch in the potato is sur
plus, and should, therefore, be de-
clined. In new milk, though the con-
stituents vary with the kind and guam
tity of food given te tie producer of the
milk there are in every hundred parts,
water, Sc, heterogeneous matter, 80,
sugar, 3.S, fat, 80, salts 0.66 So add
ing the fat and sugar together, they
exceed the heterogeneous matter, ana
hence milk ranks among the carbona-
ceOus foods. But from the lime it con-
tains. milk is the growing food, and
better tor children than any other food.
since its constituents are blended in
just the proportions required by the
growing child. Milk is also very CRATE
ful to men and women of large osseous
Developments who are not inclined to
corpulence, while small-boned and
plump persons complain that it makes
them bilious" An egg weighing
Ia ounces contains 1925 per cent OF
carbon and two per cent. of nitrogen.
In the classification referred to, eggs
would rank with carbonaceous foods,
but they are so rich in the various
salts required by the body, that they
are permitted, even in the diet OF cor
pulent people. On the scale of nutri-
ton beef has always been regarded as
the kind of flesh which gives the best
nutriment to the eater, while mutton
and poultry are softer in texture and
more delicate in flavor. Fish is richer
in phosphorus than flesh, but on the
whole less nutritious. Ii is recon-
mended, however, that fish form a part
of one meal every day. Next to fish in
nutritiye qualities, eggs deserve mem
ton, aud then comes caseine or curd,
which is strained from milk, but exists
also in seeds, as peas, beans, almonds. |
OF all vegetables, peas and beans rank |
highest in nutritive qualities, as they
contain from twenty-three to twenty
five per cent. of heterogeneous matter.
OF the grains, oats are richest in nitro |
gen; wheat comes next, and then, in |
order, maize, millet, rye, barley and |
rice, the latter being the least nutri- |
tious seed in extensive use. Fruits are
nutritious to greater or less degree. |
but are valuable chiefly for their fiavors, |
the relish which they give to food, the
acids which they contain which pro-
mote digestion, and the various salts |
which render them peculiarly grateful, |
not TO the palate alone but to the whole |
body. 1t is impossible in the space at
command to do more than outline the |
subject. What has been said is in
tended to answer inquiries already
made and TO stimulate research in those |
who read. In the preparation of this |
article Edward Smiths book on
" Foods" which is volume in the In
ternational Science Series, has been
consulted, also Pereira ON Food and
Diet" and also the articles on various
kindred topics in the cyclopadias. To
these we refer those who wish to pursue
these inquiries further. In all these
books the chemical composition of arti-
cles treated of is given. and there are
tables showing comparative values of
foods with respect to their power to
produce heat in the body, to promote
its growth, and to restore its wasted
tissues.
The True Cinderella.
In true Cinderella history there are