The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1914-08-10


Intestinal Disorders-Way Paved For
Vegetable Innovations.
The Journal Of the American Medi-
cal Association, commenting on the
availability of nutrients from plant
sources, says it has long been believed
that it may be possible to utilize green
vegetables so as TO make them more
available for digestion and assimilation
by man. Some experiments in this di-
rection have been carried on in Ger
many. The outcome may pave the way
for useful innovations in the use Of
vegetable foods
1t has been found that bean powder
fed to man in the form of a PURGE CON
| tains far more nourishment than string
beans served in the usual form. Spin
Ech, carrots and cabbage similarly
| prepared were enjoyed with singular
\ freedom from the troublesome intes-
| final symptoms which so often follow
| their use. The usefulness of these
plant products appears to have been
augmented By their preliminary treat
ment A group of vegetable products
/ has thus been converted into a source
1 of nutriment.
THE efficiency here recorded" says
the writer, lis rendered the more strik-
| ing by the report from the Altoona elm
ic that ten ounces a day of vegetable
powder, equivalent to six pounds of
fresh plant, may easily be assimilated
an amount which in the natural state
could not be tolerated. Possibly by
suitable preparation such plant prod
ucts as grasses. which have hitherto
been excluded from the dietary of man.
may yet be used as direct sources Of
energy in human nutrition.
Dependence Upon Plants.
without discussing the advantages
and disadvantages of the use of foods
of animal and vegetable origin. respec-
lively. we are found to admit that man
and animal alike are dependent on
plants for nutrition A recent writer
has said that man is parasite living
on the plant kingdom The final
source of human energy is found in
plants In so far as mankind obtains
energy by consuming the flesh of the
domestic animals, only fraction of
the supply taken by the latter in the
plant products can ever reach the
sphere of usefulness to man.
1.-THE animals which furnish food to
man are expensive cOnvertcrs OF the
energy of plants into a form directly
available for his uses. Only very
small residue of the energy intake of
such animals is left in the tissues
which they furnish as food to man.
The great bulk of what has been con
sumed has become lost in the processes
of animal life during the long periods
of growth and maintenance before the
animal food products can be marketed
To appreciate this one need only con
slider the enormous amounts of vege-
table food necessary to produce the
flesh of cattle for human consumption.
A COW eats a liberal plant ration daily
during several years before she is
ready for the market
1T is evident that it would be an
advantage if man could utilize more
directly the energy which he now Sc
cures only after it has been converted
by animals into the forms that suit his
preferences.
Products Science Has Made Edible.
Hitherto the contributions of the
plant world to the human dietary have
consisted of the parts of plants which
serve as storage depots-as reserve
supplies for subsequent growth. Seeds,
roots, tubers and fruits represent the
chief types OF plant products which
find their way into the ration of man
kind. These are by no means all well
adapted for food, but the progress Of
science and the industries and the in
genuity of the domestic arts have lit
tie by little so improved the form ia
which such materials as cereals, nuts,
etc., are presented for human consump-
ton that their utilization has become
greatly enhanced
Processes for grinding, cooking and
baking are not natural operations
They have been evolved by the genius
of man so that he might readily take
direct advantage of the energy which
nature has stored up. The indigesti-
bility of raw starch, as in the potato.
is overcome by cooking. The resist
ance Of grains to digestion is minimized
7 by grinding and cooking. The struggle
to wrest energy from plant products
4 has been long one.
: There are other plants which. ami
e mails use freely, but which mankind
e has not yet employed. The green parts
of plants, rich IN food material, contain
5 so much cellulose that they can be
: utilized only to a small degree and
: with enormous waste. We may soften
: them by cooking and by mastication
without liberating their foodstuffs to
: any extent"