New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-11-20
FOOD VALUE OF RICE.
IT'S READILY DIGESIED.
Supplies Body zoith Requisite Heat
and Po7cer Cheaply.

last Sunday The Tribune printed. under this head,
the initial number OF a series of articles, the pur-
nose of which is to present and discuss the facts
concerning rice as CLEANED through exhaustive
scientihc research and experiment by the best au-
+bor+ies on the comparative values of food.
The subject is OF the last Importance whether
viewed from the standpoint of health or OF econ
omy for there is much truth in the saying that
I'VE dig our graves with our teeth. ana the pres
ent high and increasing cost Of living makes IN
ouiry into thu relation of expense and value. in the
foods which constitute the major portion or that
cost a matter OF great moment AS regards the
first there's little doubt that most people eat too
much; but that is not the chief menace to health
found in their diet for too often ii not only has
little to recommend it. save that it is agreeable TO
the palatea desirable quality II is true In that II
is a recognized aid to digeston-its principal IN
gradients being decidedly injurious 70 the whole
system
In the matter Of economy, the lowest priced food
is too frequently mistaken for the cheapest, where
as only that is the cheapest which most nearly
furnishes the body with the requisite fuel-or, in
other words heat and power-at the least COM
parative cost and it must be borne in mind that.
as said in first of this series, seveneghths Of
the food consumed expended in the production
of fuel.
Even the fuel meeting the requirement as to cost
proportion to It's of tissue building and
fuel supplying ingredients is not always the cheap
est for 1t may be that 1t taxes the body as to
use up too much of the energy II furnishes and
escape digestion. and be given off from the body
instead of being taken into the circulation.
So. II will be SEEM food must be best proper
toned, TO its constituents. to the bodys needs
and must be most easily and entirely digested, to
establish claim to superior healthfulness and its
greater cheapness is decided by its lesser cost per
unit of nutritive value than other foods and Its
greater ratio OF availability.
But there is still another phase Of this very
pick question to be considered and that is that
all NJ ant
as TO greatly Its desrablity; for if nearly
perfect, 20 it with other foods is to unbalauce
it-and surely If were compelled to subsist on
anbrosla alone. he would soon lose the appetite
which is absolutely necessary to good digestion
Thus wheat is almost perfectly balanced and
combining 1t with other foods greatly impairs its
value; while beef and ricethe first entirely lacking
IN carbohydrates and the second inferior to both
wheat and beef in proeine and fats. though richer
in carbohydrates-can be proftably associated with
complementary foods the beef with rice for in
stance and the rice itself, with the Iegurnes. In
the quality Of Of digestion. rice is superior to
either beef or wheat. since it is dgested in one
hour. while beef takes three and wheat bread three
and one-half hours in fact all the common arti-
ces Of food, and oatmeal turkey and chicken
oysters Goldfish, red snapper and salmon eggs
apples. and bananas, and tomatoes etc, fake from
one hour and fortynv minutes to three hours to
digest
The deductions from the foregoing are that the
food which has the greatest fuel value which is
the easiest and most thoroughly digested. which
combines most satisfactorily with the foods that
supply those compounds OF proteine the "alburni-
noids' and ''gela -'proteids"-that make
the basis of bone muscle and other tissues and
the "extractivee," that act stimulants and ap-
petzers and which costs least Per unit of value is
the most desirable And that rice all these par
ticuars easily surpasses the various foods IN com
mon use-beef, wheat and the rest-is demonstra-
be for II is only exceeded in fuel value by sugar
is wholly dgested. and in much less time than any
OF the other foods. combines admirably with all
and is cheaper per unit of value than any save
milk sugar beans and potatoes To-day the
chemistry Of food and the knowledge of ITS uses is
pretty nearly exact science, and the evidence to
support these assertions readily be furnished
and will be in the next number OF this series.