Birmingham age-herald., 1895-07-29
FOOD AND DIGESTION.
HE PROPER COMBINATIONS FOR PERFECT DIGESTION.


 Animals -7 he wholesomeness of Fruits.
 They, With Seeds, Intended For Man.
 The comparative dietetie value of fruits and vegetables is matter which seems to be very little understood. Vegetables arc unquestionably valuable article of food, but ft needs only superficial study of the subject of dietetics to make it clear that vegetables are very greatly inferior to grains in nutritiye value, and in their composition are far less suited to the hu- man stomach than arc the seed products commonly known as fruits and grains. An interesting fact also, is that, considered from tho standpoint of comparative anat- omy, mans digestive organs are very diff ferent in structure from those of animals, which subsist upon roots, leaves, buds, twigs, stems and other products included under the general term vegetables. An other fact of very great interest in this connection is that vegetables were notin- cluded in the original bill of fare given to man by his Creator as recorded in tho first chapter of Genesis Vegetables were given to tho lower animals for their sustenance, and seeds and fruits were reserved for man.
 Seeds and fruits are unquestionably the most highly elaborated products of rthe vegetable kingdom. Vegetables are much coarser in character and much less per fectly elaborated. Nearly all vegetables contain large amount of woody matter, which requires the action of very power ful digestive juices and of strong muscular action on the part of the digestive organs to reduce them to fluid state and to ex- tract from them the comparatively small amount of nourishment which they con tain. To much less degree is this the case with fruits and grains, while in the case of fruits we find food substances more nearly prepared for assimilation and in a form moro easily attacked by the digestive organs of man than any other.
 The writer has met many cases in which inyalids were really suffering and that se riously, in ignorance of these facts. To person in vigorous health and with strong digestive powers, these principles may bo ignored with comparative impunity, and often for long time, but person whose digestive powers are feeble, and especially one suffering from dilation of tho stomach --an extremely common condition, espe- cially among women, in consequence of their injurious modo of dress-often suf- fers seriously in consequence of the great labor required of the digestive organs in the use of such coarse vegetable products
  some instances the etubers-parsnips, beets turnips and cabbage-are the only articles which need to bo excluded from tho diet ary, while in others even potatoes are a source of serious digestive disturbance.
 With many persons the principal evils arising from the uso of vegetables are rem dered conspicuous only when these articles are consumed in connection with others with which they do not well agree Many persons have recognized that various arti cles of food can be eaten separately or with certain others when in other combinations they prove extremely unwholesome The reason for this is the fact that fruits and vegetables require so different a degree and kind of activity on the part of the di- gestive organs. A ruling principle in rela- tion to the combination of food is this: Those articles of food should be eaten to- gether which arc digested together; in other words tho bill of fare should be so arranged that the combination of food sub stances will harnonize with the action of the digestive organs upon those substances.
 In applying this principle to vegetables we find that the starchy vegetables are hard of digestion, and that the large quan- tity of potash salts which they contain is, according to Bunge, source of irritation ., the stomach and interferes with gastric digestion. The coarse, woody structure of nearly all vegetables also renders necessary the retention of tho digested mass in the stomach for long time thus lengthening the time of disintegration. Thus we find three reasons for very considerable ex- tension of the gastric digestion of tho vege- tables.
 In the case of fruits, on the other hand, when ripe and properly cooked, we have substances which are digested and assim- Hated with very great ease The time re- quired for the digestion of cabbage is be- tween four and five hours, while ripe ap- ple digests in one hour. If these two ar tieles are taken into the stomach at tho snne time, both must remain there until both arc digested, as they will become so intimately intermingled that they cannot possibly be separated. The apple, digested and ready for absorption, if not absorbed, undergoes fermentation. It is a principle which is constantly recognizable in rela- tion to digestion that the delay of the ab- sorption of food product after it has been digestcd is certain to result in its deterior- ation through fermentation and decompo- sition, which are set up by the numerous Ilicrobes constantly present in the ali mentary canal The same is true if the digestive product of one portion of the ali mcntary canal is not passed along with due promptness to another part of the di- gestive apparatus. where it's further olab- oration is to take place preparatory to ab- sorption.
 The combination of fruits and vegetables for the reasons given form ono of the most unsuited of all combinations for person of feeble digestive powers. As before re- marked persons with dilated stomachs are especially likely to suffer from the use of vegetables, and still more so from the con- bination of vegetables with fruits, for tho reason that with theso persons there is a great delay of the food in tho stomach in consequence of weakness of the muscular walls of the stomach, and hence inability of the organ to empty itself with due promptness.
 It is quite clear to the writer that vege- tables might be wholly eliminated from tho bill of fare of human beings without any serious loss. Still, for healthy persons these esculents are sometimes valuable, as