El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-06-18
MILK AS FOOD.
MILK Not a Luxury But an Econo.
miCa1 Article of Diet.
Written especially for the HERALD.

'Fresh Milk" is q recognized fea
ture of the country board" adver
tisements that occupy the columns o
the newspapers at this time OF thu
year. In the diet of the countr.
bOSrder. however, milk is only shade
more important than it is in the sum
mer fare of the city-dweller, and for
this reason a late publication of the
Agricultural Department on milk a.
food IL of general interest. This pam
phlet of some fifty pages was prepared
under the supervision of Prof. w. o
Atwater, and includes the results o.
authoritative Investigations by the de-
PAL tment as we'll rs Information deriv.
ed from other sources.
A quart of milk, We are told, con-
taiDs about the same amount OF nutr1-
ment as three quarters II pound OF
beef, namely about four ounces. Six
ounces of bread would likewise supply
not lar from four ounces of nutritive
substances. To put it in another way,
about one-eighth of the whole weight
of the milk, one-third of the beef, and
two-thiros of the bread con- list of &C.
tually nutritive ingre dients. The
other seven-eIghths of the milk and
one third of the bread are wate-,
while the tw o tbiros of the meat which
is not actual nutriment is mainly wa
ter, but consists in part OF bone. The
chief bulk of milk is made up Of water,
the amount of which may vary even in
unadulterated milk from 80 per cent
in q poor product to s4 per cent in un-
usually rich milk. The corresponding
solid ma tier, or ''totai Solids" varies
from ten per cent to 16 per cent. Thie
solid matter, or total nutriments," is
mace up protein, fats, carbohydrates,
and mineral matter. The proportion
of these vary within certain limits;
but, roughly:speaking, one twentieth of
the total solids are mineral substances,
one-fourth protein, three-tenths fat,
aud fOur-tenLhs carbohydrates.
The principal heterogeneous compound
of milk is casein. This, when the
milk is drawn from the COW, is in a
form which is called caseinOgen, but
undergoes change s which bring it into
the form of casein. Besides the casein
there is Q certain amount OF albumin
present, called lact albumin, or al
bumin of milk. This is more or less
similar to the albumin which occurs in
blood and in white of egg. The
quantity of albumin is very much
smaller than that of the casein, being
on the average about one-seventh of
the total protein. There are other
heterogeneous substances occurring in
milk, but in insignificant quantities.
The total protein of milk should not
vary in any great degree. 1t will
average not far from 3.3 per cent of
the whole milk, or about % per cent of
the total sol. de. The fats of milk are
commercially the most important OF
it's con stituents, since it is the source
of butter and enters largely into the
composition of cheese. They are call
ed stearin, palmitin, and olein. Be-
sides these three fats there are others
in smaller amounts, but of consider
able importance, since it is to them
that the flavor and aroma of the butter
is due. Good unad ulterated milk from
q herd of well-fed cows should average
not far from four per cent of butter fat
or about 81 per cent OF the total solids
of the milk.
The chief carbohydrate which &C.
ours in milk is lsctose, or sugar of
milk. Milk sugar is similar in che
mical composition to cane sugar, but 1t
is not early as sweet. 1t Is largely
used by physicians and pharmacists as
the basis of powders and pills. In
amount it ranges from four to six per
cent, but on the average may be said
to be five per cent, of the milk, or
about 3s per cent of the total solids.
There is q considerable variation in
the composition of the milk of differ
emit animals. The richest milk appears
to come from the dog, the poorest from
the horse. Human milk Is richer in
sugar and poorer 10 protein than cows
milk, but the fuel value is about the
same.
Milk, in general, ranks as a very di-
gestible food, but our authority re-
minds us that 1--WE live upon what We
digest, not upon what we eat" Phe
protein of milk. especially
when it is used with other
food materials, is quite readily
and completely digested. In this
respect it is like the protein of ordina-
ry meats and fish. The protein of We
getable foods is much less completely
digested. Thus, in potatoes and whole
wheat and rye flour it may sometimes
happen that as much as ope-fourth of
the protein may escape digestion and
thus be useless for nOurishment. From
one-sixth to one tenth of the protein of
wheat flour corn meal beans. and peas
may in like manner be assumed to
escape digestion, or rather to leave
the body without being used for nutri-
ment. These estimates assume that
the materials are cooked and eaten in
the usual way. Under the same cir
cumstances, from nine-tenths to the
whole of the protein of milk, meats,
and fish are assumed to be digested.
The digestibility OF the fats is likewise
variable. Sometimes large part of
the fat of the food fails of digestion. In
general it may be assumed that about
five per cent of the fat of milk, meat,
eggs, butter, and lard, and conside-
rably larger proportion of fats of some
vegetable foods, will usually escape di-
gestion.
When milk is taken into the stomach.
it is speedily curdled by the action of
the pepsin and acid of the gastric Juice.
When milk is eaten alone or in large
quantities, the cssein gathers in large
Jumps, which may be difficult of
digestion by some. This
is particularly the case
with infants and with adults whose di-
gestion is weak, and is one OF the
reasons why milk should be used with
other foods and not taken in large
quantities alone. Human milk differs
from cows milk in the way in which
it curdles when taken into the stom-
ach The casein of the former is not
precipitated in such large Jumps, but
is more f1occulent, and is thus more
easily digested and does not cause ir-