The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1908-12-10
CURIOSITIES or DIET,
How Nature Adapts Food to Man
and Man 10 Food.
GREAT VALUE or CEREALS.

Why People Can Eat Bread q. Every
Meal Without osttlns Tired Of Il.
The Fruits q the Burning Tropics
and the Fats Og ths Frozen Arctic.
Modern science has shown that ma
turc provides food for mankind with
marvellous care and foresight The hn.
man system requires certain amount
OF protcld daily to replace wornout
muscle and tissue, Fish aud meat sup.
ply this IN large quantities. In hot
climates, however, these spoil so quick.
" that their use Ia limited. Nature.
a. u 10 compensate Tor this. has given
to certain tropical fruits q much larger
quantity OF proteId than northern fruits
contain, Thus government analysis
shows that ngs have FIVE units or calo.
rica 70 tho ounce, dates two and five.
tentha and bananas one aud ilve.tcnths.
Apples have tve.tenths, peaches nine
tenths and pears seyen.tenths, Prob.
ably the figs and dates tested had lost
part OF their moisture. aud some allow.
ance should be made for this.
The Arab can. therefore. maintain his
vigor on diet chiefly plucked from
trees, Henry n. Stanley and his white
companions subssted almost entirely
on banana nour for two years In the
African jungle. Their freedom from
disease was In part attributed to the
wholesomencss OF this diet. The dried
banana contains 20 per cent OF proteid.,
about double that OF ordinary wheat
-four.
Az the opening Of the mango season
In Jamaica many Of the natives prac.
tically live on this fruit for two or
three weeks, They fairly revel In It.
An Englishman who was familiar with |
the science Of diet could not under
stand how they could not only main.
tain their health on this fare, but |
actually grow sleek and fat He knew
that an effort to live on the fruits OF
his native country would result in
weakness, sickness and eventual death. |
Chemical analysis showed, however,
that the mango contained enough pro-
teld to supply the bodily needs.
II nature has been thus kind In |
adapting food to mans uses, she has
been equally 10 IN adapting man to his
food. You may have wondered why
people can eat bread at every meal \
without firing Of II, The difficulty of
eating one quail day for thirty days
IA well known, Even such dellcacies as
asparagus and strawberries cause On
aversion when served too frequently. \
Nature sends men never falling APP
petite for cereals because they are alto
gether the most valuable OF foods.
They contain considerable amount OF
proteid, their salts are Of Importance
to tho organism, they are readily di-
gested when properly cooked, and they
furnish great deal Of nourishment In
small bulk,
Thus wheat lour, cornmeal, oatmeal
dry and rice dry have more than
100 units to the ounce. Baked potatoes
have 1927 units, cabbage has 0.2, spin. I
ach Z, asparagus Gb, apples 1874, straw
berries ia, spring chicken 1875 and
tenderloln of beef brolled SO, II a man
tried TO get even half Of his nutrition
from the coarse vegetables, which have
q considerable lndlgestlble residue, he
would have to eat pounds OF them
daily, and his stomach would be sadly
overburdened. Nature gives us the de-
sire for n varied diet, and science /
shows that this is altogether the best
for US.
In the arctic regions there Is little
vegetation. Man must live almost
wholly on animal foods. Fish and
meat would not suffice, because they
contain only proteids. These would 70. |
place wornout muscle and tissue, but
could not be burned In the body to 7
generate heat and energy, Fats, how !
over consist Of carbon and hydrogen,