The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-06-26
Do PEOPLE EAT TOO MUCH ?
Evidence That We Give Our Bodies
More Food Than Needed

The director of the Sheffield Scientific
school. Prof. Russell H Chittenden,
throws little light on an old question
in the Popular Science Monthly for
June. He mentions a discrepancy which
he has observed between fact and the
DRY regarding the amount of food man
should take. Volt of Munich and Atwa-
ter of MiddletOWn Conn., for instance
have set up certain standards, which are
fairly close together. A person doing
moderate work, say these experts,
should take from us to 125 grams of
proteids and enough fats and sugars to
raise the total fuel value of his ratiOns
70 between 5000 and $500 large calor-
les For heavy work they recon-
mend a diet yielding from 1870 to 4,5O0
calories daily Careful experiments with
laboratory assistant at Yale showed
that 45 grams of proteids with fat and
sugars sufficient to develop only 1000
Galleries, would keep him in splendid
condition. He maintained his weight
perfectly, and met physical tests in the
Yale gymnasium in a surprising fash
ion. The comparison suggests the pos
sihility that the food allowances of Volt
and 4tWateT are WaSteful in n pecuniary
sense. and hamper the system by involv-
ing unnecessary work. in digestion and
elimination.
Probably no fact in everyday life is
better established than that the major
ity of people eat too much. Medical men
are continually declaring that far more
4 harm comes from dietary excuses and
carelessness than from starvation. A
/ large variety and amount of sickness
/ result from that cause. Moreover, even
/ when he is in apparent health, mans
/ activity is often sensibly impaired for
/ two or three hours by a hearty meal.
/ Professional men in particular are thus
! affected. Efficiency is Influenced by
other factors. Exercise, ventilation and
sleep or the lack of them. tell on ones
capacity. Nutrition depends on the way
! in which one eats. as well as on what
j he eats. Again. taste or some social
/ obligation, rather than recognized
need Of nourishment will often dictate
/ the character of even an ordinarily alb
| stemious mans reDast. If he wants to
get the largest amount of work and the
4 best quality of work out of himself,
/ however, he is almost sure to cultivate
moderation at the ia bic. at least until
the conclusion of his days labor.
Whether the example cited by Prof.
| Chittenden should be accepted as a
standard is another question. Possibly
the requirements of that individual are
exceptionally small No one mans eX-
/ perience can be safely taken as rule
/ for others. Two persons of the same
weight and performing precisely the
same duties, and eating their food with
equal delibera ton, may differ sufficient
/ " il other ways to demand dissimilarity
in the amounts they consume. one may
Z
/ poor one If on the other hand. there
/ is difference in the character amount
and hours of their work. still greater
disparity in their needs might be ex-
4 pected Professor Chittenden does not
himself consider the question settled. He
wants it to be studied further. It is to
/ be wished that series of tests might
I be devised in which the conditions
] would be altered so as to represent a
variety Of types. Occupation, sex. age,
! general health. leisure hour pursuits and
other circumstances ought to be taken
( into account. A sliding scale would pro-
I baby be the outcome of the research.
/ Instructive as such a result would be. it
might be necessary. even then, for some
people to act little Independently 1t
would hardly be correct to say that ev-
! erv one is capable of working this prob
/ lem out for himself; but since no two
persons are exactly alike. it would occa-
sionally be iudicious TO rely largely on
observation of ones own needs.-New
/ York Tribune