Milford chronicle., 1901-07-12
THE VALUE OF FOOD.
Work of Sanitary Chemists For the
HenIth of the Rnce.


The old theory that the best food for
man is that which his appetite demands
is still considered good enough for the
government of people in the ordinary
walks of life, although discarded as
worthless when any definite call is made
upon the human machine. The training
table, for example, has shown that when
some special effort is expected from the
college athlete intelligent discrimination
in the selection of his daily food means
an immense gain in physical strength and
endurance and upon the same principle
special hospital diet is ordered by the
physician in order that his patients may
have the best possible chance of recovery
Although the public is generally indif-
ferent to the advantage Of food REFORM
students of the subject are confident that
the reform will eventually come, and they
are preparing the way by an exhaustive
analysis of all sorts of materials and
fOodstuffs which are likely to be utilized
for the sustenance Of the race. The
study of sanitary chemistry, as it is IN
dertaken, for example, at the Massachu-
sets Institute of Technology, not only
establishes the comparative value of food
stuffs, but also determines, by the chem
ical analysis of air and water, how these
factors may be made most efficient in the
maintenance Of public health.
As a typical food milk contains all the
elements necessary for sustaining life and
is used as the basis in the calculations Of
comparative values. 1t has been found
by experiment that milk contains certain
definite proportions of heterogeneous sub
stances, fats and carbohydrates. Thes'
elements can be measured and tabulateC
as they appear in other foods, so that
sanitary dietary becomes merely matte
Of mathematics. By reference to table
/ it Is learned that butter, which contains
/ So per cent of fat, contains no carbohy
drates and only per cent Of nitrogenou
substance, while dried peas, which ma.
contain less than per cent Of fat, ma,
have 81 per cent of carbohydrates and 2
per cent OF heterogeneous substance, so tina
butter and peas may be logically CON
bined. Walnuts contain but per cen
Of water and no refuse, while in beets
eabbages, carrots and green corn the wa
ter and refuse amount to more than
per cent.
Even In potatoes there is 20 per Ger
of refuse and " per cent Of water, whic
gives them a nutritive value far belO'
that OF figs and practically the same q
that Of bananas. Yet potatoes and Otht
similar vegetables are valuable forms {
food, though less concentrated than
generally supposed. In a list Of 10
sorts Of food material the watermelon
placed at the bottom, as containing but
per cent Of nutritive elements.
All such determinations, however, de-
with foods OF a standard quality, and I
sooner has the sanitary chemist esta
lished dietary laws than he must, in
own justification, expose the adulter
ton. deterioration and misrepresentation
Of the materials to be used and finally 81
that they are properly prepared for Il
table. While the public is slow to a
cept the results Of such investigation
friends Of the reform movement find cor
fort in tho fact that sanitary chemist
has become a recognized course of stuC
at the leading educational institutions
! the country.