The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-03-08
STUDY OF DIET FOR WOMEN.
Results of an Experiment in Club
of schoolgirls.

Hes Ills OF an I-NDerisIt- mt in II tiuD
of schoolgirls.
Il r I-aGd. Professor of Chemistry in
North Dakota Agricultural College. has
made "a dietary study OF club Of women
students - thC college mentioned The
results OF his observation have been
given 10 the Agricultural Department. In
the course OF his report Prof LaGi says
The greater number of dietary studies
carried Oh under the auspices of the Office
! Of Experiment Stations of the Depart
meEt Of Agriculture in different parts Of
the United States have been made with
men or With families or groups com
posed of men and women Few have
been undertaken with women alone
Such studies. however should prove of
considerable interest II is generally as
suned that women eat less than men. the
commonly accepted dietary standards
placing the amount at 0.8 of that t.
qUired by man with the same relative
amount Of muscular activity. 1t is o-ten
sand that women prefer different fools
/ being more fond of pastry and sweets
and less fond Of meat ! study was
therefore undertaken in a eollese board
/ iuS-houSe at Fargo, y. Oak. 10 deter
uin- the character, amount. and compo-
! Sition Of the food consumed by the young
I women students in the agricultural col
| Iege.
| 1t was believed the results would be
/ Interesting in themselves and useful for
/ comparison With the results OF similar
studies made eIseW here The club stEdIeI
comprised nine stud -lJs and Il cook The
head OF ,hc department Of domestic sci
ence. who was responsible for many Of
the details of the Investigation. also
lived ut the clearinghouse during the
study. The eleven young women under
Investigation ranged in g from zou1teea
! TO twenty-seven years. the AZ rag being
nineteen years In weight they raugeI
from lg4 L" 10 pounds, the average being
- pouuds- They represented, as re-arls
/ birthplace. wildly CifI=rsnE regions tn. e.
{ ha- Ir-s been horn ii Norway. IU-J In on
( tarIo. two IN Kansas @lf ono each il
( Iowa Minnesota, Pruuzyl vauia mi Yer
mont HOWeN er. the Total number fro "a
any one region WAS nOj large enough t.
AFFECT materially the dietary Harits,
! Tar as can he learned. nor was amy ten
J deucy in this dire ctiGn Observed The
Z young women were living under uniform
conditions. and in the AUTHORS opinion
/ thu gTpUI studied may he considered as
! fairly representative Of similar groups It
{ tie educational Institutions o. the -siOu-
Account was kept Of the food on hand
at the beginning and end Of the study
and of that purchased while il was in
. prDSI eSs- From these data the total
( amounts Of the different foods used We're
found Their composition was GsterTnin-
ed from analyses made in connection
with Tie study or from tables showing
! the average composition Of similar mate
rails
/ Account was also kept Of the number
I IF meals eaten bg the persons studied
Some of the students were absent from
meals few times ard two meals were
. taken by visitors. From The recorded
data the total number Of meals eaten
/ Was calculated ms quantity divided ny
Z three gave the equivalent number of days
( for one woman.
Several years ago a study Of a woman
7 Students club in Connecticut was report
/ ed by AJWater and associates y num-
I her OF studies of men students have also
I been reported II is Interesting 10 com
/ pare the results of the dietary study of
( the women > club IN North Dakota with
those Of the similar study III Connecticut
AMI with the average results Of the stu
dents clubs At Il number Of different in
/ The foods selected in the North Da-
/ kOta dietary study were varied in kind.
! These students ate such foods as are gen
orally found on the tables OF families lly-
. ing in this region Meat constituted Isl
/ per cent of the total food In the similar
. study made IN Connecticut with women
/ the average amount found in eighteen
studies Of college clubs fsiNteeu being
. clubs Of men. the others the TWO clubs Of
. women Just mentioned Was los per cent
/ The women stud nts at Fargo. y. d. used
. &b ut the same proportions Of cereals.
; bread. etc as vas found ia the study Of
: the Connection, club They used. however
/ considerably more sugar. namely. some
! % per cent of the I-tal weight Of the
/ food eaten. as compared E~ith 60 per cent
/ ir thu Connecticut sat dy- This was great
7 II than the proportion found IN the diet
I aTE studies OF PIen s denis clubs. with
: the exception OF q - 1T the University
! of Tennessee and a similar club at the
( University Of Maine. the proportion in
: these TWO cases being about the same as
( at Fargo i large variety Of dried fruits
. was used IL the North Dakota club. Yet
+ this class of foods constituted "a some
I what smaller proportion of the total food
/ material than similar foods in the dietary
! Of the Conn, CJicut women students The
. former club used a somewhat larger per
/ centag- Of vegetables than the latter
! The differences pointed out above are
! doubtless more or less accidental Taken
: Is whole the results differ 50 little from
( the average results for students clubs
! that the women students at Fargo can
! net hc said u differ markedly, as regards
/ foods selected from the Connecticut WO-
I men students OF from the average Of men
/ students clubs. The commonly accept
I cd dietary standard Tor a DOMAIN 1t light
J muscular work calls for 90 grams OF
/ protein and :. 400 calOries IF energy JUdg-
/ 81 by this standard the young women IN
! the club studied NJ Fargo. We're receiving
( too IittIe protein. The fuel value of the
! diet was. however. higher than the stand
; ard calls for. The average amounts OF
/ nutrients per woman per day in the die
/ t:sry OF the womens club in Connecticut
! Were - grams protein. l2S grams fat. and
! POI grams carbohydrates This would
J supply @,tl0 cdlOTleS. The amounts eaten
! in North Dakota were considerably less
/ than IN Connecticut.
In both cases the young women seemed
| well nOurisheG.. and. it would be unfair to
| assume from the limited data available
that the North Dako-a students were
! not receiving all the food that they need
/ ed II is believed that an abundance OF
/ energy may make up for a deficiency of
| protein within certain Unite. and. as
I pointed out above the amount Of energy
! IN the North Dakota dietary was greater
| than is called for bv the commonly ac-
| CeDted dietary standard. Many dietary
( studies are on record in which persons
/ have consumed much less food than these
| rrOmen students and yet have seemed 10
| he In fairly good condition.
The total amount OF waste in the
| North Dakota dietary is not unusually
Iatge. The fat IN the vegetable waste
probably came in Large part from the but
ter and lard used In cooking the yegeta-
hes Il was Of course impossible to sep
! arate this into animal and vegetable fat
| when the samples OF waste were pre-
pared for analysis. The cost. Of the food
purchased. 13.S cents per day, was small"
L10H5c O1IEe Do not con-