The weekly true Democrat., 1907-11-01
ALCOHOL AND SWEETS.
~ We Have one We Reject the Other.
The Consequent Uses Of Caidy.

The consequent uses Ot Canoy.
II was noted long ago by Baron Liebig
that heavy consumers of alcohol rarely
care for sweets, and that abstainers, on
the contrary, are generally fond Of them.
This fact and its bearing on general
questions of diet snd' hygiene have re-
Gently come to the front In medical lit
eratnre. In opening a discussion in the
Psychological section of the British Asso-
citation, on the effects of alcohol, re-
ported in the Times, (London, August o. t,
Professor Cushney, who holds the chair
Of pharmacology in the University of
London, stated that sugar is chemically
q member of the alcohol series, though
more complex than ordinary alcohol, and
that the behavior of the two substances
in the organism is similar, since the
greater part of each is oxidiEed in the
tissues with the production of both mus
cular and heat energy. He strongly as
serted, however, that these facts by no
means prove alcohol TO be suitable food,
either in sickness or in health. DR.
Dixon, one Of the later speakers, took
up the point in the following manner.
to quote the Times report
"The most remarkable point about al
cohol was its rapid absorption from the
stomach, and during absorption It as
sisted in the absorption of other not
easily absorbable substances, including
ordinary articles of food. 1t was alb
sorbed and oxidized exactly as starch
and sugar, and these could be replaced
by alcohol as an energy-producing sub
stance. The action OF small
quantity of alcohol in giving the heart
readily assImilable form OF food sub
stance was exactly similar to that of
sugar, which was FORMALLY Oxidized to
alcohol. 1t was very likely that ordinary
sugar in the body was not burned off
directly into carbonic acid gas and wa
ter, but that it passed through series
of terment changes of which alcohol was
one, and that that was one reason why
alcohol was found in the brain, liver and
tissue Of the body"
In fact. the general tendency Of the
discussion, so far as il touched on this
point, was TO find analogies between SUI
gar and alcohol, the only difference that
was brought out being noted by DR..
Reid Hunt, of Washington, who stated,
as a result of his experiments on guinea
pigs, that sugar increases resistance 20
pOisons, while alcohol reduces it.
The similarity between sugar and alco-
hol, according to Dr. Abbott. chief 0
the Philadelphia bureau of health, shou "A
lead.us TO regard the growing American
appetite for candy as an encouraging
symptom, his idea being that the appe-
tite for alcohol is likely TO decrease in
proportion. Commenting on this sub
iect, the Evening Sun New York, Au-
gust 16) remarks that while teetotalers
may find some consolation in this cir
cumstance, topers will be better pleased
with the argument DR. Dixon quoted
above. Regarding the latter's cOnten-
tion that alcohol and sugar serve much
the same purpose, and that drinkers of
wine are less fond of sweets than tee
totalers, the Sun writer says, in conclu-
sion:
"This Is agreeable TO DIR. Abbott's
observation, only it will be remarked
that as Dr Abbott would have sweets
used as substitute for alcohol, so DIR
Dixon seems 10 argue that, the two be-
ing very much alike, it may be safely
left to the consumer to make his choice
That is doubtless what he will do, and
Just what he would have done had nei.
ther Of the doctors spoken - Boston
Transcript.