The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-11-17
TIME-HoNORED THEORY UPSET.
After All That Has Been Said, Fine
Flour Is Decided to BE Best.
Boston Transcript

EAOoE - ECAoC ~ DG DCse
Boston Transcript
Long-accepted ideas possess a certain
sacredness, and to see one OF them upset
conveys a sense Of shock. For example,
what belief, among everyday affairs, has
been founded more solidly upon the rock Of
established knowledee than the popular
faith in the superiority, in respect to nu-
tTitious quality, Of whole wheat bread
and other coarse-grain preparations. such
as oatmeal? Yet this theory is totally con-
tradicted and turned upside down by an in
vestigation recently conducted by govern
ment food experts. They made prolonged
and thorough experiments with a number
Of human beings who volunteered for the
purpose In addition, they conducted trials
of various hours and other cereal prepara-
lions in the laboratory, Subjecting them to
artificial digestion. All results obtained
the coarse hOurs were decidedly less nu-
tritious than the fine bolted flours, and,
therefore, not so suitable for consumption
by persons engaged in active bodily labor
or exercise.
The mistake in this regard which has so
long prevailed is due to a half knowledge
of the facts. 1t is perfectly true that coarse
and branny fiours contain more actual nu-
triment than fine bolted hours. but the
trouble with them is that they are not
nearly so digeStible. The larger particles
IN them are not assimilated. and thus con-
tribute nothing to the building Of the body
or TO its fuel power. Quantity for quantity,
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coal under the boiler. Now, these ideas are
positively revolutionary. For a generation
past people who credited themselves with
exceptional Intelligence and advanced in
formation have been III the habit of feed
ing their children, and occasionally them
selves, upon oatmeal and coarse flour bread.
In the notion that they were building Drawn
and bone at the fastest possible rate. Cereal
preparations of more delicate quality have
tended TO become unpopular, especially in
Boston and other centerS Of superior knOWl-
edge. How painful to be thus deceived!
Inasmuch as everybody eats bread, and
most people are fond Of cereals in other
shapes, the matter is one of more than
ordinary interest. AS for the accuracy of
the conclusions drawn by the government
dietetic experts. it is beyond question. their
experiments having been performed SO
carefully as TO admit no possibility of mis-
take. Briefly summed up. their decision is
that coarse-ground -four contains moro
Eutr1ment than h~ne-grOund; that the fine
ground flour is decidedly more digestible
than the coarse-ground; that, owing to
its superior digestibility, the foreground
flour contributes more to the body in the
way of energy and hesh-forming stuff than
is obtainable from an equal quantity of
graham or "entire-wheat" -four.
1t is also decided hat the supposition
that whole-wheat meal is, weight for
weight, more nutritious that ordinary bread
-four is IAN utter fallacy founded on text
book theories and entirely unsupported by
experienCe:" that it is just the poorer-fed
and Woodworking people should have
the ordinary flour bread in preference to
the WnOle-meal bread; that those who
work the hardest. and who consequently
appreciate soonest a difference in nutritive
quality (stevedOres, for example), always
prefer the whittier bread, saying that it
stays by them better and finally that
whOle-wheat bread and other coarse cereal
preparations are better adapted for the
Overfed and sedentary people.
In order to determine and compare the
actual amount of nutriments contained in
graham, whOle-wheat and patent roller
process hours analysis of them were made.
All kinds were tried, from the first pat
ent' -four to the red dog" flour, which is
the lowest grade produced. dark in color
and composed largely of the germ of the
wheat. Red dog is highly nutritious, though
dark colored in the loaf. Then there was the
graham, from the entire wheat kernel, in
GLIDING the outer covering or bran; and tie
entire-wheat flour, which is the wheat
kernel ground with a part Of the bran.
Sometimes this whole-wheat flour is called
purified graham" The artificial digestion
experiments were made by placing samples
of breads from the different kinds of flour
in a pepsin solution for four hours. As a
result the bread from the standard patent
flour was most completely digested: bread
from entire-wheat -four was less digested.
and bread from graham -four was least di-
gested OF all three. These observations
agreed exactly with those made in the ex-
periments with human beings fed for a
number of days in succession upon the
various kinds of breads.