The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1888-03-01
NO PHYslC WITH OUR FoOD.
A Phi hosph attic akiug Powder The
Ory thatisIDangerOus If not


No FH \ SIC WITH OSh ESOD.
A Phosphate cBakingPOVvder n Tn g .
Ory thatis Dangerous if not
Ridiculous.
That is rather dangerous PROPOSE
tion put forth by the manufacturers of
some of the patented or proprietary ar
ticles of food, that their products pos
sess superior whoiesomeness because
they contain drug,of some particular
medicinal property. Phosphates, alum
lime, arsenic, cslomel, etc., have their
places as specifics for different diseases
and are invaluable medical remedies,
each in its place. But they are not
cure, ,alfs. The physician who would
prescribe either cslomel, or strychnine
or rhuhaFb three times day to man,
woman and child, sick or well, because
either of such drugs is a well known
remedy for some certain disease, would
receive but little honor from the fra
ternity and less practice from the COM
munity.
No one will controvert this state
ment yet we find manufacturers of
baking powders claiming superior hy-
gienic virtue for their productions and
urging their continuous use because
they are alleged to carry the phosphate
used in making them "a cheap suhsti-
tute for cream of tartar, procured from
the bones Of dead animals) into the.
food. although well aware, as they
must be, of the fact that the constant
use of such article this drug must pass
into our systems daily, no matter what
may be our physical conditions or re
qpirements, or whether or not we may
be suffering from some aiIment where
in the use of suoh drug would be posi-
lively detrimental. Both alum and
phosphates are useful medicaments in
certain diseases but they should no
more be taken indiscriminately day
after day, and without the prescrip
tion of q physician, than arsenic, AGO
mite or cslomel /; indeed, there are con,
ditions of the system, particularly
with women, when the prudent ply
sicisn would be loath to permit the use
Of lime phosphates even as a medicine.
The fallacy of the claim of the msn,
ufacturers of phosphate baking pow
ders will be apparent when the fact,
well known to physicians, is stated.
that in average health and with ordi
nary food the body gets more phos-
pilates than are required or can be as
as is evidenced by the fact
that they are constantly being expelled
in the excretions, both solid and liq
uid I; likewise the statement that it is
necessary TO add phosphates to the
baking powder to restore to the fiol
which have been lost in the milling,
for it is true that fine flour as at pres
ent made actually contains larger
per centage of phosphates than the
grain of wheat itself.
The object of baking powders is not
to provide the body with a medicine,
but simply to vesiculate or make light
the mixture of -four, so as to render it
when baked easy of mastication and
perfectly digestible. The most cele-
worked for the perfection of an article
that should do this mechanically, add
ing to or taking from the -four nothing
nor in any way etfecting a change in
its properties or constituents. When
this has been done the perfect leaven-
ing agent has been discovered. The
manufacturers of the Royal Baking
powder have succeeded in this so-far
as to make a leavening agent that yes
iculates and raises the loaf most per-
feotly, and without changing the prop
critics of the flour. while the residuum
from it has been reduced to mini
mum. The acid employed, however,
to produce this result is not phosphate
but the acid of highly refine cream of
agree, renders that powder perfectly
pure and more reliable than any other.
The recent official tests show, on the
other hand, that the best phosphate
baking powder makers can do is to
produce an article that is one-third or
more residuum or impurity.
We want our food pure; especially
do we not wish to take alum, lime and
phOsphates with it at the diclu IA of
manufacturers who may find it cheap.
er TO claim a virtue for the impurities
than to remove them.