Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-02
WHAT FOODS ARE NUTRITIOUS

MUCH careful work has been done in
AvA recent years, especially by the De
partment of Agriculture, in measuring accu-
ratelv the actual nutriment contained in all
sorts of foods commonly eaten. We know
now not only which foods are generally nu-
tritious and which are not, but just how nu-
tritious any particular food is, and just how
much work man ought to get out of it.
We measure energy of various sorts IN
calories: among Others, the energy con-
tanned in our food. Naturally, of two foods,
otherwise equally desirable, we shall some
times wish to- choose the more nutritious.
1t requires from two thousand to four thou
sand calories of energy to put an ordinary
man through his days work, the precise
amount depending on the size OF the man,
the character of the work, and the temper
allure in which the work is done.
All foods are mixtures of three elements.
These three are: First, fats and oils. These
Weld about 4 900 calories to the pound; SO
that if one could eat pound OF pure tat las
no human stomach outside the arctic regions
could possibly do) that alone would carry
him through hard days work. Then, sec
ondly. there are other nutrients besides fat.
These yield, perfectly dry trifle less than
1000 calories to the pound. Two pounds OF
pure sugar, then, if only one could eat 1T,
would be good for days duties. Thirdly,
there are water, the woody fiber OF plants,
flavoring matters, and the like, which to-
pether make up more than four-hfths OF our
daily intake. These yield no energy at all.
Let us now apply this simple principle to
a number of actual foods, beginning with
some of the least nutritious and going up.
Barring clear soups and thin gruelS, which
are the weakest of all foods, | suppose the
palm for innutritiousness may fairly 60 to
celery. cucumbers, and lettuce. These are
ninety-five per cent water. Dried out, they
should be worth about their proper 1900
Galleries to the pound. Fresh, as we buy
them, they run so or 90. The general run of
fresh egetables-cabbage, turnip, cauli-
flower, beet, and the like-is not quite so
watery. The worst of them lie just above
100 calories to the pound: common potatoes
average 385, sweet potatoes $40, and fresh
butter beans occasionally as high as 700. In
short, the great group of fresh vegetables has
a nutritive value lying between 100 and 400
Galleries to the pound. Evidently, then, we
do not eat fresh vegetables for the work we
can do on them. Their special value is their
alkaline salts.
Four other groups of foods are just about
on the level of green vegetables. The first
includes thick soups, meat stewS, and thick
prues. The second includes Holsters, clans,
muSSels, oysters, frogs legs, ana the IKE;
flesh, in short, without fat. The third in
cludes milk at 1926 when whole, $50 when
SKINNED, and 125 when only the whey re-
mains. White of egg, with Sc per cent.
water and $50 calories of nutriment to the
pound, drops naturally into this group; with
whole eggs as an CUTLER at 72O calories, corn
parable with the most nutritious of fresh
vegetables, or with, let us say, baked beans.
The fourth group is the fruits, which on the
whole, because of their abundant sugar, run
little better than the rest $50 for grapes,
AGO for bananas. Fish, chicken and turkey
liver, kidney, and the like, and lean meat lie
between 500 and 900 calories to the pound
though a few fish go below 400. About
equally nutritious are the great mass of pud-
dings and pies, of the general type of squash
and custard pie and indian and tapioca pud
ding, which contain good deal of water and
not much fat.