The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1914-11-13
WHITE FLOUR FOOD.

WHITE FLOUR FOOD.
"A little learning is Il dangerous thing:
Drink deep. or taste not the Plerian
e spring:
There shallow. drafts intoxicatc the brain.
And drinking largely sohers us again.'
A recent magazine article written by
an expert" on food matters misquotes
the first line Of the above and then
gives particular point to the truth Of
the quotation by grossly misinterpret-
ing clean cut, scientific demonstra-
ton of disease resulting from the use
of sophisticated food matter.
The article in question reads as fol"
lows: I'VE are told about biochemical
properties of wheat offals and as proof
we are referred to the ravages of beri-
beri from eating hulled rice. This is
'jugglery,' something on the order Of
the magician kellar. TO be specific,
beri-beri is disease that has no con-
nection with the whole wheat and
white -four question. 1t is as remote
as it can be. Beri-bert ie form Of
nervous disease that has affected the
natives Of Asia. who live mainly on
rice. and of late years the introduction
of hulled rice has increased the dis
ease. II has been found that when rice
polish was used as food along with
the rice the disease was lessened In in
tensity.
From this it has been argued that
the rice hulls contained nourishing
substances which had been removed
from the rice in polishing. This looked
very plausible. From these facts it VAS
argued that wheat bran must also con-
tain nourishing substances and they
should not be removed from the wheat
in the manufacture Of flour. For
tunately. however. the subject of beri-
beri has been worked out scientifically.
and Funk. Of the Lister institute. has
shown that the disease Is caused by
some toxic action Of rice protein
"This should show the danger Of be-
ing Influenced by the exaggerated &C.
counts Of white bread and hulled rice
starvation. Gtstamonts which have 10
IN lrovsd facta White
bread il safe food. Polished rice u
safe food, 10 scientific Investigation
has proved"
The discerning reader will note that
the matter in the body Of the article
controverts the finding stated in the
closing paragraph quoted. The whole
truth Is as follows:
Casimir Funk of the biochemical de-
partment, Lister Institute of Prevent
i've Medicine, discovered that sub
stance could be recovered from the
matter ground from the surface of rice
In polishing it which would in few
hours cure q disease known as poly.
neuritis, or beri-beri In the Journal
Of Physiology. August, 1912, page Is,
under the title, The Preparation from
Yeast and Certain Foodstuffs of the
Substance the Deficiency Of Which in
Diet Occasions Polyneuritis in Birds"
will be found his last report known to
the present writer. In this article
Funk shows that he obtained q sub
stance from rice polishings which In
doses Of 0.02 gram (0.3 grain) rapidly
cured polyneuritis In a large number
Of pigeons.
Underlying every happening in this
| universe is law or principle, and the
same principle will be found producing
many widely separated results. The
statement that beri-beri has no con-
nection with whole wheat and white
-four Is not strictly true. because the
same principle applies. Beri-beri Is
caused by 4 mineral starvation. and
we know many diseases are caused by
the mineral starvation resulting from
the too free use Of demineraltzed foods,
including hour. The writer personally
knows Of large 1ocks Of chickens be-
ing killed by feeding them on denim
eralized grain, and Of dogs killed by
feeding them on demineralized meat
and white bread. Every physiologist
of note states that the vitality of the
individual cell depends on free sup
ply OF mineral matter consisting Of al
least three elements. It would be rea'
sonable then to expect some definite
deleterious result from diet com
posed largely Of mineral'free matter
and the fact that all white bread eat
ing peoples are greatly troubled with
constipation may be considered cyl
dence to this belief. Further evidence
that white bread 10 not healthful IL
given by Sherman, who states thai
washed bran fed to cows was found tt
be constipating, indicating that thu
laxative property Of ordinary bran and
whole wheat products Is dependent MOI
simply upon mechanical irritation.
1t would be AZ logical to state thai
'while you might break your neck fall
ing of thirty foot brick house, fall
ing of thirty foot frame house ovel
In the next block 10 safe because it hal
no connection with the brick house
1T Is as remote % 1t can be-" Tha
NAV be. Int nevertholeaa. the chance,