Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-08-23
DO NOT GET ENOUGH FATS.
Consensus Of Opinion of Medical Men
Regarding Foods.

Dr. James j. Walsh. delegate to the in
ternational medical congress. sends the fol-
lowing to the New York journal under date
of Paris. August ID:
A very interesting part of the second
days meeting of the international medical
congress was taken up by series of papers
on the use Of fats in the dietary of the
present day.
Modern methods of cooking have dis
posed Of the tendency to prepare materials
for the table by frying. This has proved
of decided benefit as far as digestion is con-
cerned. Probably nothing is more difficult
of digestion than a piece of meat into every
pore of which fat has been forced during
the frying process. 1t is almost impossible
for digestive juices to penetrate such ma
terial. 1t is only by the slow process OF
gradual digestion of the outer layers that
the digestive fermentS reach the interior
at all.
But, on the other hand, the amount OF
fatty material SO important for nutritioH
as well for the proper accomplishment
of many intestinal functions is not replaced
by fat in other forms. In the. good old dayI
of the frying pan we al of us consumed
our due proportion of fat, though 1t waI
in itself in no very suitable form, and waa
eminently well calculated to disturb the di.
gestion of other things taken at the SAINT
time. Under what may be called the regime
or DrOlleTS ana rOaSt6rS the rat muSl
be consumed in some other way than witt
the meat.
1t is the custom to think that mans OWE
appetite can be trusted to tempt him to the
consumption of such food as is necessary
for him. The instinct of the animals guides
them inerrably in this matter. Under print.
tive conditions mans appetite. could be
trusted to do the same thing, but too many
circumstances tend to warp the civilized
mans tastes and to thwart natures pur-
poses. Condiments, appetizers. seasonings,
methods of cookery, all conspire to pervert
the natural taste.
For those who follow a Sedentary OcCu-
patton fats, as rule, are distastefu. This
is a wise provision of nature, since such
people require much less of the heat-giving
substances than do those who work hard.
For fat when burned up in the human sys-
tenn in the processes of metabolism, gives
off relatively large amount of heat. Now,
heat is mode of motion; that is, ii repre-
SentS the movements of atoms within chem
ical compounds. If an individual does not
convert this atomic movement into mass
motion; that is, If he fails to take exercise
enough, the heat accumulates in the tissues.
The consumption of much fat by those who
do not take exercise would lead to an ac-
tual condition of fever if some method of
dissipating the heat be not found The nat
ural distaste for fats that is the result
OF their unsutability of most people in
quantities such as would perfectly suit the
laboring man easily becomes exaggerated.
Fats soon enter so little into the dietary
most Indispensable substances they contain
are furnished to the system.
This lack of fats is first noticed in a dis
turbance of the functions of the intestinal
canal. Ours is distinctly the constipated
age Half the world at least seems to be
interested in the latest laxative that has
been discovered. As a prominent French
doctor remarked in a discussion of the
subject in the section of medicine: This
is said to be the age when the world is
locking anxiously for leading and light"
Not at all! What the people seem to want.
If we car judge from the advertisements
of every kind that manufacturing chemists
find it worth the while to pay for, is laxa-
tives and lcorice powder.
Much of this disturbance OF intestinal
function is due as has been said. to the
comparative absence of fat from tie mod
ern dietary. Some of it, however. is due
to the fact that in the craving for food ma
terials containing some heat-producing ele-
ments the sugars and starches have been
substituted for fats.
The result has been that between this and
the ill-advised use of laxatives there has
occurred in our time, under the eyes of the
medical profession, distinct increase or
intestinal disturbances that either did not
exist or were comparatively rare genera
ton ago. Even the much dreaded appendi-
citis is always a result of constipation. 1t
never occurs where constipation has not
existed for some time, and can be best
guarded against by careful avoidance Of
that condition.
The fats that are most beneficial re the
milk fatS-butter, cream ana milk Itself.
Doctors from both Germany and France
advocated the use of these substances in
greater amounts than is at present the
custom.
At the congress and in medical circles
generally it is said that when French and
Germans agree as to the ACCESSIBILITY of
some medical method there is no doubt OF
it's absolute reliability.
In Berlin and in Paris medical men In
hospital practice report that the plentiful
use Of milk, butter and cream often re-
lieyes painful conditions of the stomach
that have existed for many years and that
have resisted many different forms of treat
ment.
Another form of fat that was highly
snoken of Is that derived from plants-the
vegetable oils, of which olive oil is the best
known In the southern countries these a ,
used much more abundantly than at the
north Their highly nutritious properties.
as well as their lubricating qualities, make
them very important food materials that
should be used much more than they are
at present. There is but one time In life
when nature supplies the food that is most
suitable for man. The infants milk diet
contains a much larger proportion of fat
than the individual is ever apt to choose
for his diet later in life. Health is the re-
ward of natural living. and the more we
return tc the dictates of nature in the
mater of diet the more sure We are to en-
10y undisturbed health.
JAMES ]. WALSH, Phi. D.. NJ. D.