Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-05-29
CHEW ALL YOUR FOOD
FACTS IN DIGESTION AND HABITS
THAT DISTURB 1T.

Strong Acids on Cereal Foo Objection
able-Shun Ices and Cold W ater.
The necessity of carefully chewing the
food is popularly considered to rest upon
the advisability of separating it into
small portions, so that when it reaches
the stomach it may be better acted
upon by the gastric juice. But impor-
tant as this is, there is another reason
namely, the necessity of mixing the food
well with the saliva, which has its own
part to play in the digestive organs 1t
is just as necessary therefore to chew
foods that are already minced or pull
verized as those that require separation
with the teeth, and failure to do so prop
erly results in indigestion. In Modern
Medicine an interesting article deals
with the evils resulting from imperfect
mastication, which it calls "Salivary
Indigestion.
At the outset our attention is called
to the fact that accurate knowledge ON
the subject was for time actually OBJ
scured by an important discovery.
Leuchs, about so years ago, found that
saliva converts starch into sugar. To
this fact indeed its value is due, since
the gastric juice will not digest starch
directly. But since the saliva will not
act upon starch thus when rendered
acid it was at once concluded that it
could have no useful digestive qualities,
since the food remained such a short
time in the mouth and the gastric juice
of the stomach is powerfully acid. Re-
cent investigations have shown, how
ever, that at the beginning of digestion
the fluid contains no free acid, and that
the digestive power of saliva goes on in
creasing till it's alkaline qualities are
actually neutralized. Hence it has half
an hour or so to act-ample time for its
purpose The article goes on to say:
During the half or three-quarters of
an hour which intervenes between the
swallowing of the food and the produc-
tion of degree of acidity sufficient to
prevent the action upon the starch
through the appearance of free hydro
chloric acid very active conversion of
starch is taking place. If the food has
been thoroughly masticated, so that it
is broken up into fine particles, thus also
insuring an admixture Of an abundant
quantity of saliva, the great share of the
starch elements of the food will be rem
dered soluble by conversion into dex-
trim, even if not completely converted
into sugar, thus setting free the nitrog
enous elements which may be acted
upon by the gastric juice in their turn
"It must not be forgotten also that
the saliva is the most active peptogen-
that is, the presence of saliva in the
stomach, in connection with the food,
stimulates glandular activity on the part
of the stomach, whereby an active and
abundant supply of gastric juice is pro-
duced
"Another cause of salivary indigestion
which we should mention is the abun-
dant use of sweets. In order that the
saliva shall exercise its properties eff
fciently it is necessary that it should
act in suitable medium. A tempera-
ture Of 100 degrees and an alkaline or
neutral reaction are necessary for prompt
and vigorous action on the part of the
saliva upon the farinaceous elements Of
food. A low temperature hinders this
action and acidity stops it altogether.
The presence of a large amount of sugar
also hinders the action of the saliva.
''It is thus evident that the copious
drinking of cold water, or the taking of
iced foods i'll connection with meals, is
a means of producing salivary indiges-
tion. The free use of strong acids, such
as vinegar, in connection with cereal
foods, is equally Objectionable. Nothing
could be more absurd than the combina-
tion of strong acids with vegetable ele-
ments, as in pickles. This is probably
the reason why SO many persons find
themselves unable to use acid fruits
without fermentation. The acidity may
be sufficient to neutralize the action Of
the saliva upon the starch.
Evidently it is not only psycholog-
ically absurd to add sugar to farinaceous
foods, since the starch, which composes
one-haf the weight Of these foods, is all
converted into sugar in the process of
digestion, but the practice is also highly
injurious, since it prevents the normal
action of the saliva upon the starch. In
this way sugar, preserves, sweet sauces,
confectionery, ice cream, cakes and 9TH
er sweets are in the highest degree con-
ducive to salivary indigestion. The con-
sequences of saEvary indigestion are
Acid lamentations, heartburn, stomach
and intestinal collie, dilation of the
stomach, catarrh of the stomach and
many evil effects arising from these con-
ditions.
"The remedy for salivary indigestion
consists in prohibiting sweets, ices and
soft foods and requiring patients to
masticate thoroughly every particle of
food swallowed. In many cases it is we'll
to aid the process of salivary digestion
by exposing the cereal food substances
to the prolonged action of heat, thereby
converting the starch into dextrin, rem
dering it more readily soluble, and hence
more readily acted upon by the saliva
Granola and swieback are invaluable ar
ticles of food for use in cases Of this sort
The malt preparations are useful as pal
hatives in some cases, but it should be
remembered that it is wrong to become
dependent upon any artificial digestive
AGENT
How Bulow Conducted an Orchestra.
It is said that no one who ever saw
Bulow at the conductor desk, control
ling an orchestra as if it were a single
instrument ON which he himself was
playing, could ever forget the influence
of his wonderful personality. A Bee
thoven symphony conducted by Bulow
was revelation. His manner of con-
Quoting was inimitable. With him ey-
erything was impulse, every movement
personality-thee expression Of deli
cate sensibility, and it was this that
made the communication Of his purposes
to the orchestra so effective.
No one understood how to extract
such a brilliance, such a fullness, from
his orchestra as Bulow did The clear
ness and absolute precision Of his rhythm
were unsurpassed. His epigram, SIN
the beginning there was rhythm" is
notorious No one could make his Or
chestra speak with such passion. And
the same works played the next day un-
der another conductor were no longer
the same things that they had been un-