Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-11-26
INSPECTOR TELLS
What A CALOR|E
IS AND HOW USED
Used to Measure Food Val
ues-Average Man Needs
$3.50 to Do Ordinary
Labors of Life.

ASS~SAS W A@ASs
In a statement issued Saturday
Pure Food Inspector J. X. White ex-
plains this term peculiar to food val
ues, showing that 1t is a measure of
heat and that the average man or
woman needs $3.50 calories to keep
them going to perform their daily
duties. The statement of the commits
sioner follows:
When you buy corn meal for five
cents in bulk. or Sh cents in pack
ages, do you realize that the package
costs 70 per cent more than the bulk
price?
Pulled rice at q cents per pound
is over ,240 per cent higher than the
best rice in bulk at II cents and does
not contain a particle more food.
In your buying observe the relative
food value in articles.
| Food value is measured by calories.
To begin with it is measure of
heat Heat, as ordinarily understood,
is produced by burning COAL or wood
or oil, and so on. Heat is not pro-
duced by covering up in bed-that Is
| just way of saving heat.
| Anything Will puIH--SNSh elcSi,
heated red hot and put in liquid air.
will burn like a taper.
Meat, bread-anything will burn and
when it burns it produces heat. The
faster it burns the faster, it produces
heat, and the slower 1t burns the
slower it produces heat.
USED TO MEASURE.
What is burning?
Burning is just a process of-chem-
lists call it Oxidation" 1t means oxy-
gen uniting with something. When
iron rusts, the oxygen Of the air unites
with the 'front.' is a slow process of
burning. So slow, in fact, that we
cannot perceive the heat that is gen.
Grated.
Now, when we take bread or meat,
or fat into the stomach. it burns, or
oxidizes, and does 1t rapidly enough
to produce heat. That is what keeps
us warm. When you want to meas
ure how hot an oven Is you do it
with a Thermometer. If you want to
run the heat higher, you increase the
d fire. The thermometer says the heat
goes up so many degrees. Now the
thermometer is used to measure actual
heat, but suppose you wanted to know
how much heat ton Of coal will yield
when you burn 1t. The thermometer
, could not be used until you burn the
, coal. But from tests it can be cal
: culated just how much heat a ton OF
: coal or pound of steak, or pound
of cheese will yield upon being burned
and that is measured in this way:
; 1t takes certain amount of heat tc
raise the temperature Of a liter (abou'
: one quartz of water one degree, cen
tigrade. That amount Of heat Is called
calorie. Now, il a pound Of bread
is burned. it will produce enough hea
; heat to raise 1855 liters of water one
degree, centigrade; or as we say i
contains 1855 calories; If a pound O
cheese Is burned it will yield enough
heat to raise 2O55 liters of water on
degree, centigrade; hence we sa!
cheese yields 2055 calories per pound
\ This. is true whether the bread anc
cheese are burned in furnace o.
someone's body.
FOOD VALUES.
One pound of lettuce yields 10 Cal
cries.
e One pound of asparagus yields 10
: calories.
One pound of lobster yields IA
$ calories.
One pound of oysters yields 25
calories.
e One pound of white potatoes yield
v 31o calories.
One pound of rice yields 1853
+ calories.
S one pound of dried beans yield
e 1906 calories.
n One pound Of lean beef yields Go
y calories.
One pound Of peanuts yields 1913
calories.
One pound of butter yields 2s2
calories.
One pound OF cheese (full cream
3 yields 2055 calories.
A pound of full cream cheese ha
as much food value as 80 pounds Q
:. lettuce.
The average daily requirement @
the average man, doing ordinar
things, is estimated at $3.50 calorie.
II II q man needs $3.50 calories an
has only little money to spend,
would be folly. IT, not tragedy. t
spend 1t for lettuce or lobster. rattle
u than bread or cheese.