The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-17
DO WE EAT TOO MUCH?
PROF. ATwATER's REMARKABLE
FOOD INVESTIG STIONs.

suits OF Five Years investigation
Under the direction of the Govern
ucnt-NVhat - Cents VIII Buy
Nutrittve Value of Various Foods,
Is There Perfect Food Pork
and Beans. Oatmeal and Herring,
NfuSh and MiI<-HOv the Diet OF
the Poor Was studied-COmpnra-
tive value Of Animal and Vegeta-
BILE Foods.
New York. April ADO we eat the right
kind OF food? DO we eat too much or too
Httle2 Could We obtain the same amount
Of nutrition for less than We pay at pres
ent? Is our diet properly varied for mus
cular ana mental activity?
Five years ago the United States Con-
gress made an appropriation to answer
these questions. By so doing it started
an investigation of the utmost scientific
and practical Importance. The work has
been under the direction Of Prof w. o.
Atwater of Wesleyan College. Middletown,
Conn., who IL now ready to announce some
OF his more notable conclusions.
Two important aspects in the matter of
diet are covered by this investigation.
First the relation which food bears to
physical well-being. Too much food is
injurious; so is too little, and so is food in
which the sustaining elements are not
present in the correct proportions. Sir
Henry Thompson, the noted English phy-
stefan, says:
Il have come to the conclusion that
more mischief in the form of actual dis
ease, of impaired vigor. and of shortened
life accrues TO civilized man from erro-
neous habits of eating than. from the ha-
bitual use of alcoholic drink, considerable
as l know that evil to be-
Secondly, the present investigation
touches directly upon the vital question of
individual economy. Half the income of
the workingman who earns $500 a year
goes for food. If the income is less then
proportion spent for food becomes larger,
and 1t Is likely to maintain about the same
ratio as the income grows.
The present inquiry Is likely to aid in
the solution of this question by showing
how the ordinary diet of ordinary people
may be made more economical. The
most economical food of course, is that
which furnishes the most nutriment for
the least cost.
gently. it was necessary to obtain stand
ard of nutriment-in other words, to as
certain what proportions of various food
elements are necessary to enable an in
dividual TO work or to sustain life To
determine this standard Prof. Atwater de-
vtsed special apparatus which he calls
a respiration calorimeter
A Man in a Box.
This is simply a big box large enough
to accommodate a man without discom-
fort. The box is air-ught. No heat or
sound penetrates the walls. When the
subject of the experiment enters it he is
in little world of his own. All the food
and air that goes to him are measured and
analysed. The waste products are care
fully weighed. even to the moisture ah-
sorbed by his clothing Special appliances
make record of the amount of energy i'm
parted by his food either in the form
of muscular activity or heat
BY this means it has been found that
man engaged in moderate muscular work
requires per day twenty-eight hundredths
of a pound of protein, twenty weight hun
dredths of a pound Of fats and sixty-six
hundredths of pound of carbohydrates.
These amounts, it was found. represent
a fuel value of $500 calorics. A woman
engaged in ordinary house duties requires
about eight-tenths OF this amount; a
child needs from four to six-tenths of it.
For man whose occupation requires less
physical exercise the amount of food nee
essary is less
Protein, ii may be explained is the brain
blood and muscle building element of food
1t forms a large proportion of lean meats
cheese and wheat -four The fats, pork
butter, etc, produce fatty tissue and serve
as fuel. The carbohydrates are the
starchy and sweet constituents in which
the cereal foods and sugar are especially
rich. In the body they are transformed
into fats, and serve as fuel.
Value of Various Foods.
Sugar, for example, consists almost en-
tirely of carbohydrates, while pork is
nearly as rich in carbon. Butter contains
hardly any protein, but cheese is rich in
that element. The foods that contain the
greatest proportion of fats represent the
highest fuel value. Certain foods, such as
oysters, fish and meats, include a large
proportion of refuse while there is yerv
little waste material in the cereals. An
these matters are to be taken into ac-
count In computing an economical diet.
No one kind of food affords a perfect
diet. Bread and milk and some Others
contain all the necessary materials hut
not in the right proportion To obtain
the correct amount of nitrogen and car
e.
qulres too great consumption of carbo-
hydrates. The injunction to live mot bv
bread alone" is physiologically sound.
The proper proportions of the food ela-
ments may be obtained by various combt-
nations. The selection then becomes a mar
ter OF individual taste or of cost A mart
OF milk, three-quarters of a pound OF sir
ION steak, and five ounces of wheat dour
contain about the same amount of nutri-
tive material, but we pay different prices
for them and they have different valuss
for nutriment. A man might live on haof
but II would be a very one-sided ana ev-
pensive diet. MIX Is much nearer a r,ar.
feet food. II contains all of the elements
OF nutrition But milk. though il sunless
for o certain period of human existence
would pail as the staple food of a life.
time.
Pork and Beans.
Experience has taught us, and the e,,.
periments of Prof. Atwater have proved
the practical value Of certain food combi
nations Bread and meat 80 wei together
The Scotchman's oatmeal and herring sun
ply the needed elements in something Ink,
The right proportion Pork and beans bal