Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-30
SCIENCE OF DIET.

Errors Made by Both Those Who Eat
to Live and Who Live to Eat.
from the London Mail.
OF the 1,16O 600 persons born in this coun-
try in year, one-fourth die before their
fifth birthday, one-half reach the age of
fifty, and barely quarter live the natural
span of threescore and ten. Thus. three
out Of four people in the healthiest country
of the world die before their time.
This is very remarkable state of things
for the twentieth century. And it is more
remarkable when we consider that much of
this extraordinary shortening of life is due
to the food we eat
Some time, no doubt, we will have a real
science of diet. When that day comes life
will probably be prolonged to $50 200
years, and centenarians will think nothing
of playing polo, breaking cycle record. or
performing on the tight-rope or in the prize
ring.
There Is absolutely no physiological rea-
son why people who escape disease and ac-
cident should die at all. Those who gradu-
ally wear out and die of old age succumb
to long course of food which was not ex
actly what their body required. Compare
son of the human body with any machine
serves to prove this statement. Both the
body and a saw, for example, wear out by
their daily work. No art can replace the
PARTICLES removed from the saw, ana so a
time arrives when it is completely worn
out But in the body, the moment a parti-
Gle of brain, nerve or muscle is worn out,
1t is replaced by perfectly new particle.
AS rule this new particle is exactly SINH
lar to and quite as good as the old one. If
this were in every case, then our bodies
would be immortal But it Is not so in
every case. Now and again a defective
brick replacesSa sound one in the human
edifice TILL at length, SO many defective
bricks are intercalated that the whole edi-
flee colapSes.
But the bricks are made of material de-
rived from the food we put into our stom-
achs.
Hard water, for instance, has in it pre-
cisely those elements which most of all
bring about death from old age. If bot
tie be filled with London water, in a few
days it will have become almost Opaque
from dirty white coating over the inside.
The coating is composed of lime salts-car-
Donate and Sulphate of calcium. Now,
what mostly causes death in old people is
the deposit of these very lime salts In the
walls of their arteries and'veins. A healthy
blood vessel is very elastic and allows the
blood to flow freely through it. But in old
age the vessels become hard and unyield-
ing, their bore is diminished, and the blood
stream is lessened. This results from the
presence in their walls of lime, and the con-
sequence is that neither brain nor muscles,
liver nor lungs, receive sufficient nourish-
ment, and life goes out like the light of a
lamp without oil. g
very slowly, for the blood has the power
of absorbing the pure water only and re-
jeeting the lime But now and again it lets
a small quantity in by accident, and a
tissues Of the body. 4
Any kind of food that throws too much
work on the bodily organs must neces-
Sarily shorten life. 81 Z a
Among meats and vegetable there are
many things which shorten, peoples days
upon earth. Roast pork, for instance,
throws. an enormous amount of labor on
the stomach and pancreas. So do roast
duck, salmon, mackerel, and other things
The stomach gets its extra energy from
the brain, and it also draws on the blood
for digestive material. This overdraught
must be supplied from food, or otherwise
the rest of the body will have to go short
But unless a man is very healthy he can
not assfmiate enough of food to make good
the increased loss. In most people, there
fore, these indigestible foods inevitably
shorten life.
Many city people make their lunch off
some bread and cheese and beer. Most 81
them would undoubtedly live longer if
they took more suitable food. Cheese is
packed with nutriment. But the digestive
organs have such hard work extracting
this nutriment that it is doubtful whether
there is not loss in the transaction
Cabbage the British vegetable lis an
other shortener Of life in a great many
cases. Cabbage consists mainly of cellu-
lose, but the human stomach can make
IOlHinB Oh 1t. IL OIten decays In the in
side and gives rise to poisonous cases.
OF course. excess Of any kind Of stimu-
liant hurries us on to the grave. Beef tea,
for example. increases the pace of life and
overindulgence In it would cause the body
to wear itself out quickly. The same holds
good with coffee or tea.
The question whether vegetable food or
animal food shortens life most is not yet
solved Vegetable food makes the blood
vessels hard and stony. deposits tartar on
the teeth and makes them fall out It in
creases the fat of the body, and tends to
cause fatty degeneration Of the heart, liver
and brain.
But meat gives govt. Possibly 1t is the
cause Of rheumatism. It produces trichi-
nosis. tapeworm disease, erysipelas and
other things. Some people think that the
cancer. And 1t is certainly a fact that the
Jewish people, who remove all blood from
their meat, are exceptionally free from
these two, diseases. -y-.,. - -