Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-05-26
HOUSES OF JAPAN SUGAR AS A Food
Value of Sweets Has Been
Scientifically Proved.
INCREASED CONSUMPTION
Used in Some Countries at the Rate
of a Hundred Pounds Annually
Per Individual.

Miss r. J. Wilbur. in American Food Journal
| In the last century sugar production
| has been marvelously increased by the
| discovery that 1t could be obtained in
commercially valuable quantities from
| materials other than the sugar cane and
sugar maple tree. It Is not surprising.
therefore, that the consumption of sugar
| in food has also greatly increased.
| amounting 10 some countries to nearly a
| hundred pounds annually for each indi-
vidual. or in some cases two pounds a
week
| Sugars are of several kinds. such as
| cane sugar, grape sugar fruit sugar and
milk sugar, but whatever their class or
| name, they are all carbohydrates. or mix
| lures capable of being resolved into car
| bon and water. This fact seems to have
an important bearing on their nutritive
value. 1t is significant in this connection
| that the nations who consume the most
oil and light wines, all Of which contain
| greater or less amounts of compounds
of carbon and water. consume the least
sugar per capita. The natives of Italy.
| Greece and Turkey. for example. consume
| annually but one-twelfth Of the amount
| of sugar per capita that is consumed by
| the natives of Great Britain.
| Some interesting facts regarding sugar
| as food have been published by the
| United States Department OF Agriculture.
| 1t is largely due to the experiments OF
| European and American investigators In
| the last few decades that the former
prejudice against sweets as an indication
| of a perverted taste has been lessened and
| the true function of sugar as food ele-
| ment has been recognized, so that 1t Is
| now considered useful addition TO the
| army rations of soldiers and to the diet
L ~ oil ottvy
| A sweetening material resembling sugar
| has been manufactured in Japan for the
| last 1000 years. 1t Is called anne and is
produced from glutinous rice. or glutinous
| millet, or even from common rice, In
dian corn or sweet potatoes. by subject
/ ing the starch which they contain 10
| the action of diastase which converts 1t
| into maltese. This process seems SIM
| liar to the physiological processes by
| which starch is modified by the digestive
| ferments. such as the ptyalin of the
| saliva, and the ferments poured upon 1t
| in the intestines which transform the
| starch into dextrose. which Is combusti-
BILE material available for furnishing heat
] or muscular energy to the system.
| The production Of sweet materials re-
sembling sugar is by no means lin
tied to the vegetable world. They can
also be produced from volatile hydro
carbons. One of these is saccharin.
which is benzine compound, and can
only be taken in very small amounts.
Native of Asia.
/ The ordinary sugar in general use is
sucrose or cane sugar. 1t is found in
many vegetable juices and occurs in
the stems and roots Of all the grasses
especially in sorghum and in the gil
gantic jointed grass called sugar cane
Sugar cane is a native of Asia. having
been used in China ages ago. but IT
Y ss1t~ q N
India into Europe and thence to Amer
lea a few centuries ago.
Sucrose is also found In feshy roots.
such as the beet, carrot turnip and
sweet potato. but thus far it Is only
from the beet that it has been OBJ
| tanned in quantities commercially prof
liable. The beet root today yields by
| far the greater part of the worlds
sugar supply
| Sucrose is also obtained from the sap
of trees such as the date palm and the
sugar maple the yield of the latter
| being almost entirely pure cane sugar
Maize also contains cane sugar The
| nectar Of flowers and almost all sweet
| fruits yield cane sugar, and it is from
| such sources that the bee distills the
cane sugar necessary for its honey
supply
ranges from less than one per cent in
| lemons to IA per cent in a certain kind
Of plums. Bananas contain IL per
cent.
| Grape sugar. dextrose or glucose, is
found in grapes and other fruits.
| Dextrose Is the result of process
called inversion which occurs when
cane sugar. starch and similar ma
| terials are heated in a solution with
dilute acids or by some other way are
| made to unite chemically with water
| This process reduces cane sugar to
what is called 'invert sugar" which
is mixture OF dextrose and levulose
| Ia 10
Of per cent in large early apricots
Strawberries. gooseDerries. raspberries
and apples contain three or four times
as much, while grapes and certain
kinds of sweet cherries contain as high
as 10 per cent OF 1t.
Carbon and Water.
1t seems quite clear that 1t is not the
sugar itself which is directly beneficial
as FOOD. as 1t Is the products yielded
oy II on chemical decomposition. and
these are carbon and water. Carbon is
the building stone of nature and water
It's chief nutrient. 1t is natural, there
| lore. TO find that tests In the German
army maneuvers showed that ten
Jumps OF sugar per day prevented ex-
naustion and on long marches ap-
peased the munger and mitigated their
tnlrst. indicating the disintegration of
| 'uSol iHto water ana carbon.
| cane sugar solution injected directly
INTO the blood is apparently unfit for as
sanitation for 1t IL eliminated by the kid
neys unchanged. The real value of sugar
seems to be that the carbon obtained
| from its disintegration Is available for
forming the gas known as carburetd n.y.
drogen or methane, which seems indis-
pensable to the growth and respiratory
procsesse of all living organisms.
1t Is this gas which seems the primary
one mainly emitted through the skin and
| lungs. When near the surface it ia oxi-
| died by the air into water and carbon
| dioxide. which are then eliminated from
| the system, and a part Of its HYDROGEN
| may be nitrogenized into ammonia. These
facts concerning methane are not gener-
ally recognized. but a little study and
observation will convince any careful
| student of their truth.
The generation Of methane and its
| oxidation seems also factor of the
| nutrition of the intercellular and intra-
cellular life. When 1t becomes mixed
with the suitable proportions of air,
methane becomes explosive and will ex-
plode II subjected to an electric spark
or great compression. Some such pheno-
mena seem to occur in the processes of
growth within the body. 1t is we'll known
| that the nitration Of hydrocarbons pro-