The record-union., 1891-11-05
ADULTERANTS IN BAKING POWDER.
Ammonia and Alum Are the Principal
Adulterants Used.


Adulterants Used.
[San Francisco Pacific Medical Journal.l
To prove the presence of ammonia in a
baking powder, very simple but quite
satisfactory test may be made by anyone
over his own cooking stove. Take
tablespoonful Of the powder to be tested
and dissolve it in a tablespoonful of water,
place the solution over the fire and stir if
while heating, then introduce your nose
into the cup. The resemblance to bot
tie of aqua ammonia will, in many in
stances, be very impressive. To detect
the presence of alum would require q
more critical analysis
Probably the most nearly perfect bak-
ing powder would be that composed of
pure cream of tartar, bicarbonate Of soda
and starch. The starch is a food. The
other two ingredients when united chem
ically in the dough would liberate car
bonic acid gas and leave no Objectionable
residue
We might appropriately introduce here
some remarks on dyspepsia and outline
what, in our opinion, constitutes one of
its prominent causes.
The extensive hold which disorders of
the stomach have secured upon the
people of America has become proverb-
ial; so much SO, that dyspepsia has been
designated by some as the american Dis
case. 1t may be met with all over our
great country, in almost every house
hold, and is becoming more prevalent
day by day. 1t is a disease of civilization,
and largely Of modern civilization. The
Geological factors which might enter into
a treatise on the subject are numerous,
but the actual effects of many often very
indefinite. No one, in fact, has vet salts
factorily accounted for the great preva-
lence of dyspepsia in America.
But while numerically these causes
1p Orp3f If q the
that those exerting any significant influ-
ence are comparatively few. Without
attempting TO mention them all, there is
one particularly which has been slowly,
insidiously, yet none the less danger
ously. exerting its inf1uence, and to
which the attention of the medical pro-
fession has not yet been carefully drawn.
We refer to the constant introduction
through the food into the stomach of am
monia.
If any one will take the pains to study
the modern history of dyspepsia, he will
soon discover that its march of progress
has been cOntemporaneouS with the
introduction and use of baking powders.
The consumption of this article has be-
come enormous. No pantry to-day is
without it. Not every brand however is
impure. There are one or two worthy
exceptions; but many of them are con-
taminated, and the most deleterious sub
This ammonia introduced into the
dough is not all set free by heating. Ac-
cording to Professor Hiigard, University
of California, THE ammonia may not as
sumo the gaseous state further than does
the water itself, of which it slightly
lowers the boiling point; when present
in large proportion, the ammonia gas
itself will aid in the initiation of the
dough. A biscuit hastily baked may
have lost only from ten to twenty per
cent. Of the total amount introduced into
the baking powder. After cooling, the
carbonic gas contained in the bread cells
gradually diffuses and is replaced by air
in the course of time, while the ammonia
remains in absorption or solution in the
water of the bread, recount bined into car
Donate"
So much for the presence of ammonia
in some of the popular brands of baking
powders now on the market and for it's
retention in the bread. Now, what are
some of it's effects? Bartholow, chasing
it among the agents that increase waste,
says: 1.-The long-continued use of am
monia impairS digestion by neutralizing
the gastric juice. Increased waste of
tissue is also one result of its administra-
ton, manifested by pallor, emaciation
and feebleneSs. When introduced into
the blood in sufficient quantity, it dam
ages the structure of the red blood gIob-
ules. and in this way also it affects the
nutrition Of the body, besides the action
which it has in common with the other
articles, of increasing the rate of waste or
retrograde metamorphosis." This ques-
ton regarding the effect of ammonia
upon the human economy is one upon
which authorities do not differ, and the
individual experience of every physician
is in accord with the assertion of author
tiles. The agent is drug, not food; an
excrement, not nutriment. The amount
received by the system through these
means, while not great at any particular
time, and not sufficient to prove iniuri-
Gus, becomes both great and deleterious
by being continuous. Physicians owe it
it to their patients and to the people gen
orally to inform themselves regarding
this matter, and without fear or favor un-
qualitiedly to condemn injurious prepa-
rations, and the various boards of health
throughout the State, in dealing with the
question of food adulterations, would do
the people great service to look well to
the brands of baking powders contain
ing ammonia and other injurious ingre-
dients.