Evening journal., 1913-08-27
SUGAR, GOOD FOOD
And BODY-BUILDER
More Energy in 1t Than in
Most Other Dietary
Articles

WASHINGTON. Aug. 27.-Chil-
dren's craving for sweets and the
liking of almost everybody else for
them are accounted for by Mary Hin
man Abel in a bulletin for the United
States Department of Agriculture.
All sweets are simply sugar in one
form or another. and sugar she
shows to be an essential article of
food. one of the very best articles.
One of the curious facts in her
findings is that the consumption of
sugar in different countries is In
general proportion to their wealth.
1T may almost be said" she OBJ
serves, that people eat as much SUI
gar as they can get"
II seems that the English-spaking
people are the largest consumers of
sugar. In 1910 England consumed
S63 pounds per capita and the
still larger amounts are said to he
consumed in sugar growing districts,
largely in the form of the ripe cane,
Denmark that year consumed III
pounds per capita. Switzerland SAB,
and Germany. France and Holland,
each about 40 pounds. while in Italy
Greece and Servia the rate was only
about Z pounds per capita. The con-
sumption of sugar is everywhere in
creasing.
Sugar. Never AduIterated.
! OF 500 samples of sugar examined
several years ago by the Bureau OF
Chemistry, not one was found to be
adulterated The low price of cane
sugar, in comparison with the price
of substances that might be used fol-
authorizations, protects it from such
attempts.
A more recent publication of the
Bureau of Chemistry says that SUI
gars as a class, both the high anC
low grades as now found on the
market. are practically free from
adulteration. This is particular,
true since the Federal pure food Law
of 1906 went into effect.
There Is q popular belief that gran
ulated sugar is often adulterateG
with white sand or finely ground
rock, and that pulverized sugar II
commonly adulterated with starch o
lime dust Cases of such adultera
ton, however, have rarely beei
found by the Bureau of Chemistry
though starch has been detected II
a very few samples of powdered su
gar.
The writer Of the bulletin says:
within certain limits sugar ma.
be considered as the equivalent o
starch that has been digested AM
made ready for absorption. A meal
boiled potato, like all forms o
starchy food. must be largely con
verted into some kind of sugar b
the digestive juices before il can b
absorbed as food.
To understand the utilization Q
such foods in the body better tn
process of carbohydrate digestion ma
be considered. When a starchy fooC
such as boiled potato, is taken int
the mouth it is at once acted upo
more or less by a ferment containe
In the saliva, and this action is cor
tinued by a ferment contained in tn
intestines. Il is broke up int
simpler chemical compounds, and
finally reaches the blood and muscle
as dextrose. a form of sugar whic
can be burned in the body 10 yiel
: muscular energy and heat. When a
excess of carbohydrates (sugar O
starch is consumed, the dextrose i
| the digestive tract is converted in tn
liver TO glycogen and stored until re
quired. being then, il is believed, re
converted into dextrose More CON
plex changes may take place whic
convert carbohydrates consumed
excess into fat, which Is also stored a
a reserve material.
How the Body Uses II.
when sugar Is eaten II is change
in the digestive tract before II
b taken up in the blood and carrie
5 where IL Is needed. II a solution {
7 cane sugar be injected directly into tn
blood, 1t is passed out by the kidney