The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-07-26
WHAT is FOOD?
Miss Hazen Tells Students the
Best Things To Eat.
Sugar Alone Not Sufficient To
Sustain Life.
.BEEFSTEAK IS LARGELY WATER
Food Should Furnish Heat, En-
ergy and Tissue.
Mans Body Requires $500 Cal
cries Heat Daily.
BEEFSTEAK IS LARGELY WATER

campaign, students in the special
class in "Hooverizing' at the Univer-
sity of Kansas today discussed the
first chapter of Feeding the Family
by Mary Swartz Rose. The lesson
dealt with fundamentals in the COM
position of food. The man or woman
who would economic successfully in
what he eats must to certain degree
master these fundamentals, said Miss
Gertrude Eazen, who is conducting
the class. He must know what food
is food, what the body does with it
and what the body must have to
thrive.
Food is that which when taken
into the body supplies heat and ener-
gy, builds and repairs tissue or regu-
lates body processes" That is the
definition of food the class learned.
There are five principles of food"
Miss Hazen said. They are protein,
fat, carbohydrates, minerals and
water From the protein tissue is
formed; from the fats and carbohy
drates come energy and heat, while
| minerals make up the bones and are
present in all the tissues and regulate
body processes; water forms the larg-
er part of the body, carries food to
the tissues and removes waste. Pro-
teins, fats and carbohydrates are the
foods that supply fuel to the body"
Different Food Values.
In the combined lecture and reci-
tation that followed it VS. brought
cut that one gram of carbohydrate.
say sugar, would furnish four calories
of heat to the body, a gram Of pro-
| tein would furnish the same amount,
while gram of pure fat would fur
nish nine calories. Therefore it does
rot pay to use steak for fuel, for, a
piece of lean steak would contain ap
| proximately about rs per cent water
and 20 per cent protein, with some
| bone and a little fat besides. If the
| steak cost rs cents a pound, that
would be paying 20 cents for water
and bone for only one-fifth OF the
meat was protein. On the other hand,
sugar, which is pure carbohydrate,
would give whole pound of heat
producing food at about 10 cents a
pound and would be much superior
| than the lean meat as a source of fuel.
! Potatoes, too, might have produced
| heat more cheaply than the meat, for
| potatoes are Is per cent carbohydrate
and about rs per cent water But
the sugar could not do what the meat
| does, build or repair tissue, and the
potatoes could build tissue only to a
| slight extent, because of the very
small protein content. An English
physician tried living on sugar alone.
| His death proved the failure OF sugar
as a sole food.
The foods derived from the plant
world are most valuable for furnish
ing carbohydrates. mineral matter and
bulk Some plants also furnish rats.
| Sugar in Fruits.
| Sugar, which is a pure carbohy-
drate, is found in corn, peas, oranges,
apples, grapes and other sweet fruits.
| Another pure carbohydrate is starch,
which is found in potatoes, corn,
beans, peas, nuts, wheat and other
| grains and various fruits and vege-
tables Olives, peanuts, cottonseed,
nuts, cocoa beans, corn, furnish vege-
| table fat. Protein from plants comes
largely from beans, peas and peanuts,
wheat, oats, corn, almonds, walnuts,
pecans, fi1berts. Various vegetables
! furnish comparatively small proper
| tons of protein. Animals eating these
| plant foodstuffs produce animal pro-
tein, animal fats and animal carbohy-
drates and man eating this animal
foodstuff finds his main source for
protein and fats, but practically no
| carbohydrates. Lean meat, SKINNED
milk, cheese, eggs, are his great
sources of protein.
The chemical process by which the
body extracts fuel from food is prac-
tically of the same nature as burning
the food outside the body. If a lump
of sugar is burned under conditions
to make the process complete and the
heat produced is measured the food
y
be expressed in heat units called
calories. A calory is the amount OF
heat required to raise one pound OF
water four degrees Farenheit So the
bomb calorimeter has been devised to
measure the fuel value of foods. The
food to be tested is burned by cleo
trical current in an atmosphere OF
pure oxygen in a gas tight chamber
surrounded by water. The heat is
| taken up by the water and shows the
| a Of liberated &c
food. Hundreds of digestion expert
ments have been checked against the
ca1orimeter tests and it has been de-
termined generally that for the nor
NAL healthy person on a mixed diet
an ounce of pure carbohydrates OF
the body and an ounce of fat, 255
calories.
The Body's Needs.
The average business man requires
between 2.20o and 2,5O0 calories daily;
the average woman, about 1900 cal
cries. and the laboring man 5000 to
5000 calories, according to the effort
required.
The student who learns the body
needs and the composition of foods
can proportion the foods according to
the needs of the body. To obtain 10C
calories one could eat or drink various
proportions of various foods A cur
and an eighth of SKINNED milk would
give 100 calories, or one-fourth cup OF
cream, or tablespoon of butter, olive
oil or any other kind of fat would give
the same food fuel value. A slice oil
bread three by 81 inches and an inch
thick would furnish 100 calories. Sc
would one large apple or orange. one
medium banana or bunch of grapes
two medium peaches or pears. or ar
I exceptionally large egg, a medium size
potato, two ounces of cooked lear
meat, four small thin slice- of bacon
a tablespoon of graduated sugar. Ye
whole pound of celery would yielt
but eighty-four ca1ories of food fue
] and man would require more thar