Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-04-21

| pensive diet. Milk is much nearer a per-
| feet food. 1t contains all of the elements
OF nutrition; but milk, though it suftices
Tor certain period of human existence,
would pail as the staple food of a lifetime.
Pork and Beans.
Experience has taught us, and the ex-
perments of Prof. Atwater have proved,
the practical value of certain food combi-
nations. Bread and meat go well together.
The Scotchmans oatmeal and herring, both
rich in porten, in connection with his
coarse flour and potatoes supply the needed
elements In something like the right
proportion. Pork and beans balance
each other well because the former
Is rich and fat, while the latter consists
almost entirely of protein and carbo-hy-
drates. In certain sections of the country.
among the rural population, staple sup
per dlsh Is cornmeal mush and milk The
users may not know it, but this is one of
the best proportional and most economical
foods 1t Is possible to find. 1t is eaten be-
cause 1t Is cheap, but it is well to know
that 1t Is also good
While experience has been an accurate
guide III causing US to adopt certain dishes,
1t has misled us in regard to others. For
example, the hog and hominy' diet so
general among the poorer classes of the
south and southwest is Unbalanced and de-
hclent in strengthening power. 1t contains
too little protein and TOO much fat. White
potatoes offer the opposite objection. In
OF people throughout the country conforms
TO the standard proposed. Prof. Atwater
and his associates have applied results of
the calorlmeter experiments in the Observa-
tlon OF actual conditions. The government
experiment stations and scientific inStitu-
tons in different parts of the country have
contributed to the work by making OBJ
servauons in their own sections.
Studied the Diet of the Poor
In New York large number of dietary
studies were made in the crowded tene-
ment districts, with the aid of the Cathe-
rine Mission. and in Chicago a similar work
was carried in conjunction with Hull
House. Other studies were made in Maine
Tennessee, New Jersey, Minnesota, Mis-
souri, and other states. Food chemists
visited the houses. weighed the food plrr-
chased for the days supply and took sam
pies of it for analysis. This branch of the
work is by no means completed, but while
experience has been a safe guide in regard
to certain food combinations, there are
cases in which 1t has mised us.
In the future Professor Atwater and his
assistants expect great things from their
new experiments with the respiration
caiorimeter especially as these are to be
supplemented by wide and close observa-
ton of actual conditions
For example, it was found that most peo-
pie eat too much. Food that is taken into
the body in excess of its natural require
ments is not merely thrown away. 1t is
worse than wasted. because it works
positive injury to the health
In the second place, the prevailing diet
among nearly all classes is one-sided The
error is not always in one direction but
in general it may be SAID that the food has
relatively too little protein and too much
lat. starch and sugar. This is due partly
to our large consumption of sugar which is
greater than that of any other nation and
partly to the of too large quantities of
fat meats. In the European dietaries that
have been studied, the quantities of fat
range from one to five ounces per day In
America the range is from four to sixteen
ounces. The quantities of carbohydrates
Starch and sugar. in the European
dietaries range from nine to twenty-four
ounces, while in the corresponding Ameri-
can tests the carbohydrates amounted to
from twenty-four to sixty ounces The re-
lection of so much of the fat meat at the
markets, and on our plates, is not mere
willfulness. 1t is natures protest against
one-Slded and excessive diet.
Pay Too Much for Food.
The third mistake commonly found in the
selection Of our daily food is that it is not
economical. This error is most marked
among the poor classes of the great cities.
where it should be least over and over
again it was found in the course of the
studies that poor people buy high-priceti
meats, which they cannot afford They
could obtain equal amount of nutritive
materials for about half the money if they
would buy the cheaper cuts, which are
quite as nutritious, and can be made as
palaJable, and more vegetables and cereals
This subject has been investigated In the
east end of London. 1t was found there,
as in the American cities, that the poorest
people buy meat in preference to purchas-
ing the cheap fresh vegetables and cereals
which they could easily secure
IN order to correct this popular fallacy
the London society which has conducted
thn inv tttrAtt ion 1Fll
pamphlets setting forth the advantages of
more general vegetable diet These tracts
are distributed free throughout the poorer
districts, and have led many to substitute
vegetables and cereals, in part at least, for
the strtngy and unwhOlesome meat which
alone they can purchase.
Twenty-Five Cents Worth of Food
Prof AtWater says on this subject:
''Hhere is no doubt that n certain amount
of money will buy more nutritive materials
in the form of vegetables than in animal
foods. A quarter of dollar invested in
the sirloin of beef at - cents per pound
pays for one-sixth of a pound of protein
and one-fifth of pound of fat, and sup
plies 100 calories of energy The same
amount paid for oysters at 30 cents a quart
brings two ounces of actual nutrients an
ounce of protein and 30 calories of en-
ergy. In buying wheat flour at 81 per bar
rel, the - cents pays for six and a quarter
pounds of nutrients, with eight -tenths of q
pound of protein and IL, 100 calories of en-
ergy.
''On the face of IT the wheat flour is bv
all odds the cheapest food, while oysters
are decidedly expensive and uneconomcal
In the accompanying chart is shown the
amounts of actual nutritive ingredients OBJ
tanned in different foods for twenty-five
cents. A brief comparison will show what
foods are economical and what are not
There is another factor that comes into
play here Animal foods crafty the palate
in ways that vegetable, foods do not Peo-
pie who can afford it the world over will
| have the former. and win compete with one
another to secure them. In general the
animal foods more easily and com
pletely digested than tho vegetable. There
is doubtless good ground for paying some
what more for the same amount of nutri-
tive material in animal foods of good
quality. The error to which Americans are
particularly prone lies in eating too much
| meat and too few vegetables, and in buy
ing the most expensive kinds of meat when
they could secure equally nutritive kinds
much more chea ply"
Diet of Coal LabOrer
In the Investigations that have been
made fhiG state of affairs haS hoo, @o,,,,l