The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1906-09-27
TEMPER ANCE
TOPICS.
Food Value of Alcohol.

FOOO value or ALCOHOL.
A food is a substance which can
enter the structures of the body. 1t
is substance which can be digested,
absorbed, and assimilated into the
body. The food is reduced to a IL
guild in the digestive process, and in
that state it is carried off by the
blood, and becomes part of the me-
dunn with which the cell is sur
rounded. The cell selects from this
| medium materials which it needs.
| These materials form part of supply
of lymph, being used by the spongio-
| plasm of the cell, and utilized; but it
must first be reduced to liquid form,
| and it must enter into the very
| structure of the cell before it can be
| utilized and assimilated. In the pro-
! cess of tissue activity, we have first
building up of tissues, and then
| tearing down of the tissues ana
bolism and katabolism. Anabolism
is building up. 1t is like building
| tower out of stones. KatabOlism is
taking down. Here is a cell which
has been built up. Energy, is stored
| there. Energy cannot be obtained
except by the liberation of the ener-
| gy which has been utilized in the
| building up of the cell. Here is
| tower built of stones; by and by the
! tower falls. The energy which is put
into those stones in building up the
| tower is released and expended in it's
| fall. Now suppose there are some
| stones lying around on the ground
| which are not built into the tower; is
there any energy manifested by them
in the falling down of the tower?
No. Just so, in order to be source
| of energy to the body, alcohol must
enter into the very structure of the
body.
upon the view that food serves to
heat material for the bodily pro-
cesses, and upon the foundation prin-
ciple of the transformation of energy,
the purely theoretical deduction was
made some time ago by r. Mayer
that alcohol must serve the function
of a food since it burns in animal or
human bodies. This deduction
stands or falls with the assumption
that food materials simply burn in
the body, proof of which has never
been advanced.
1.-The experiments with alcohol
prove that katabolic change of mat
ter does not take place. That alco-
.hol is narcotic poison and can de-
I stroy all living protoplasm is an ac-
knowledged fact. In the view that
has been accepted, purely dogmati-
cally, that alcohol, which is q poison,
is at the same time a nutritive sub
stance, a tonic, we see paradox,
which no one would think of making
about any other poison. On the other
hand, no substance which is truly
nutritive destroys protOplasm. Ex-
pertinent can decide the question.
Chauvean had dog work upon
specified diet; the animal accom-
plished every day certain amount
of work, and in so doing gained in
weight. The dogs food was then al
tered so that, while all else remained
the same, certain amount Of carbO-
hydrate was replaced by quantity
of alcohol, which, upon the assump-
ton of the katabolic change of mat
ter, was equal to the carbohydrate
omitted.
eff, then, the alcohol acted as
food, there would have been no diff
ference noted. However, the animal
experimental upon not only did less
work every day, which is to be set to
the account of the narcotic effect of
the alcohol, but it grew thin, while
with less work accomplished and the
same food, still greater addition of
body weight must have taken place.
The experiment, therefore, proves
that alcohol as poison cannot act as
food, but only injure protoplasm.
Alcohol is in every way deceiver.
It fulfils none of it's promises. 1t re-
lieves hunger because it destroys the
appetite, and the power to digest
food; but it does not nourish the
body. 1t destroys pain by paralyzing
the nerves, but it does not remove
the cause of the pain. 1t makes the
poor man feel for a brief time that
he has boundless wealth; but it
leaves him poorer than before. If a
man is cold, it gives him a sensation
of warmth; but he is actually colder
| than before. The man who is weak
imagines he is strong, while he is act
ually weaker than before Assuredly
alcohol is not food.