The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-07-30
INSIDE Of. FOOD
Elements Necessary to Life
ShOuld Be Known.
Many Diets Furnish Them in
Exact Proportions.
iron IMPORTANT TO BODY
Milk and Whole Wheat Suffi-
cient To Sustain Life.
Man, However, Would Come to
Grief on Sugar Diet.
IRON IMPORTANT TO BODY

Lawrence, Kan, July 3U.-Ine sDe-
cial class in food conservation It the
University of Kansas turned today
from considering an immediate prac-
teal lesson in saving bread to further
study of the Significance of food
From food the body takes sixteen
or seventeen different elements. A@out
65 per cent re the body is composed
OF oxygen, about 10 per cent CT car
bon, about 10 per cent OF hydrogen
about per cent nitrogen, Ibous 2 per
cent of calcium and about l per cent
of PHOSPHORUS The remainder Is
made up of minute quantities OF
potassium, sulphur. sodium, chlorine,
magnesium and iron and very minute
quantities of iodine, Hluorine and
silicon.
If the materials and quantities re
Quired by the body have been so near
" determined, why not weigh cut so
much sugar for food and SO much
gelatin for protein or tissue building
quantities of the other substances
needed, and eat that? Because food
may be shown by chemical analysis
to contain the elements needed. Is no
indication the food is of the COM
position that will enable the body to
get much good from it. A business
man could live nicely on a loaf and
half of whole wheat bread and two
quarts of whole milk daily. The
bread and milk would supply every
food requirement, but should he try
to depend on sugar alone for fuel food
he'd become i'll or out of condition
very quickly.
Sugar Irritating.
Have you ever held a piece of
hard candy. say an all-day-sucke in
your mouth against your cheek?' ask
ed Miss Gertrude Hazen, instructor in
haV Won ro-
call how irritating it was. In the same
way much sugar irritates the stom-
ach. You could mitigate that to some
extent by drinking water, and I be-
heve it is an old rule of hygieTe to
drink a glass of water for each piece
of candy eaten"
1t might be very good logic to say
a pure carbohydrate like sugar
should be eaten instead of potatoes,
for the body takes the starch of the
potato or similar food and converts
it into sugar before absorbing it, but
1t would be good only as logic and
not as practice. The body needs the
bulk and the mineral salts contained
( in potatoes. cereals and other foods,
and sugar, which is a concentrated
; fuel food, isn't sufficient. :
Just as sugar contains the food fuel
elements,so does gelatin contain nitro
gen, which is the essential element in
proteins. Proteins are the substances
tAAdt AtAdh6 HP~-HuCIt OF InuScle tissue
and enter into the life of every cell
/ in the body. Yet gelatin is a very
| poor food. Its protein is not in the
right form for the body to make use
of. If it is not supplemented by some
other protein. The same is true of
the protein in corn meal.
Need Amino Acids.
The digestive process breaks these
food proteins down into amino acids,
/ from which the body builds proteins.
There are seventeen. of these acids
| In gelatin some of these amino acids
are lacking, therefore, despite its
nitrogen content it is lacking as
food. Other proteins are called COM
plete proteins because they contain
| all the essentials for body proteins
Milk, meat. eggs, fish, cereals. beans
/ and other vegetables are sources of
protein.
A mixed diet containing milk,
meat. cheese, eggs. cereals and vege-
tables usually contain all the protein
required. So does the diet of loaf
and half of whole wheat bread and
two quarts of whole milk. If no
| meat is used in the diet, milk or
cheese should be added because vege-
table proteins may lack amino acids
| The adequate diet for proteins also
will contain all tie sulphur the body
needs. Phosphorus is contained in
every active cell Of the body Com
mon food sources of PHOSPHORUS
are: Milk, eggs. spinach. celery,
| asparagus. lean beef, lettuce, cauli-
flower. cheese. beans. peas. onions,
rhubarb, turnips, cabbage, tomatoes.
oatmeal. corn. potatoes, peanuts and
| raspberries
Iron Is Important.
| The body is about .O04 per cent
| iron, yet that minute quantity is of
vast Importance. While iron is one
| of the most important 70 ID elements,
like other mineral salts It is disre-
| garded too frequently in +he diet. The
iron tonic we sometimes take appar-
emily is limited in effec. unless we
increase the foods containing iron
The iron in the tonic cannot be taken
up by the body. but II stimulates the
absorption by the body Of the iron
contained in the foods. Particularly
is iron important to all growing per-
sons Ordinary foods containing iron
| are:
Spinach. beans celery. onions. cab
bages. strawberries, eggs tomatoes.
peas, carrots potatoes, tuIi.ips. bread
grapes, figs, raisins. prunes. oatmeal,
milk.
Calcium is the chief mineral ele-
ment of the bones and cheek Milk
is its main source in food. Whole
wheat also is a considerable source.
! Other common sources are:
Celery, spinach. cabbage, beans
carrots. onions. blackberries. straw
berries, figs. tomatoes. lemons peas,
oatmeal. prunes. raisins, potatoes.
Ia1r