Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-12-05
FACTS ABOUT FISH DIET.
Best Fish Far Below Meat in Yielding
Substances That Support Life.

Best Fish Far Below Meat in Yielding
Substances That Support Life.
Philadelphia Press.-Fish, with few
exceptions, is far below meat in nutri-
tive value in proportion to bulk, but
+ the same elements are contained in
both. 1t is only necessary to eat
enough fish to secure the same
amount Of essentials. The nutrients
of the human body are protein, fat
and carbohydrates. Besides these all
foods practically contain a large per-
centage of water and a small percent
age of mineral matter
The fish containing the most nutri-
ment are Spanish mackerel, salt water
cells, salmon, shad, shad roe, sailed
mackerel, sailed and dried cod "bone-
less goldfish, caviare, salted, smoked
and dried herring, sailed, smoked and
dried halibut, and of the canned fish,
sardines, salmon, fresh and salt mack
erel funny haddock, lobster, crab and
shrimp. Nearly all of these mentioned
are equivalent in nutritive value to an
equal amount of veal. California sal
mon, No. l sailed mackerel caviare,
sailed, smoked and dried halibut,
canned Sardines, canned salmon and
canned salt mackerel are equivalent
to the average of beef, veal and NUT
ton. Caviare, indeed. contains twice
the nutriments Of almost all meats
and is almost equal to side pork,
which contains the highest amount of
nutritive elements of any meat The
large proportion of the nutriment in
| pork, however, it may be incidentally
in the scale as REGARDS protein, the
most valuable nutriment
According to government publica-
lions based on Investigations made by
| Professor w. 0. Atwater and the New
| Jersey fish commission, the percent
age of actual nutriment in preserved
/ fish is much larger than in the CORE
! spending fresh fish, while canned fish,
which in effect is cooked fish, COM
pares favorably with the fresh fish.
Shellfish resembles meat and food
fish in general composition. A quart
| " W OIOAO1 AOuShly OOCAAAoCOO,
tains about the same quantity of ac-
tual nutriment substances as a quart
of milk, or three-fourths of pound Of
beef, or two pounds of fresh Goldfish,
or pound of bread. Oysters come
nearer to milk than almost any other
common food material as regards both
the amounts and the relative proper
tiOns of nutrients. Many oysters are
'fattened" after being taken from the
beds and before being sold by floating
them about forty-eight hours in fresh
or brackish water. BY this process
the oyster acquires plumpness, and it's
bulk and weight are proftably in
creased. Oyster men commonly be-
lieve that the oyster, Dy this process,
actually does become fatter and gains
in flavor. Careful experiments indi-
cate that what the fresh water actu-
ally does is to dissolve the salt from
the tissues of the oyster and distend
them with water. This increases the
weight and reduces the nutritive ma
terial from one-eighth to one-fifth
Many consumers think the improve
ment in flavor compensates for the de-
crease in nutritive value. The ''fat-
tening" also decreases the vitality of
the oyster. Green oysters are not in
: furious, as some suppose. This color
is due to the green plant life on. which
oysters sometimes feed
Experiments indicate that in the
case of man, fish and beef are about
equally digestible, and that salt fish
is less thoroughly digested than fresh
fish. Most psychologists regard fish as
a particularly desirable food for per-
sons of sedentary habits. The wide
spread notion that fish contains a
large proportion of phosphorus, and
is, therefore, especially valuable as a
food for the brain, is not accepted by
many psychologists. There is no ex-
perimental evidence to warrant this
assumption.
There are several species of fish
which are actually poisonous, but few
of them are found in the United
States, and the chances of their being
offered for sale are small Fish may
contain parasites, some of which are
, injurious to man. Thorough cooking,
however, destroys them. To insure
freedom from ptomaine poisoning care
should be taken to eat fish only when
it is in perfectly good condition. Fish
!, which has been frozen, and, after
thawing, kept for a time before it is
cooked, is especially likely to contain