The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1918-01-22
SHORTAGE
CAUSE OF MANY
new SUBSTITUTES
Medical Men Claim Sugar is
Not Necessary Article
of Food.
SACCHARINE USED
IN MANY PLACES
Other Substances Used in
Place of Cane or Beet
Sugar.

The shortage of sugar has natural
ly raised the question as to it's real
place in the dietary of the people, and
some medical writers have gone so far
as to argue that sugar is not a neces-
sary article of food. 1t is a fact
that for ages the human race did we'll
enough without sugar as it is used to-
day. But sugar in the modern form
refined cane or beet SUGARS a
chemical product, and could not be
known until the processes of manufac-
ture had been invented and develop
ed on a commercial scale.
From this statement, however, it
must not be concluded that the use
of cane sugar was unknown to our
early ancestors.
AS a meter Of fact it is mentioned
in two places in the Bible, and it
must have been an article of food of
the Egyptians, as the cane grew on
the flooded districts of the Nile. II
is now a gradually increasing product
from Egyptian soil. 1t is natural to
conclude that the Greeks and Ro-
mans imported sugar cane from the
| Orient.
Various references to crude sugar
are made by ancient writers, especial
| ly in the medical writings of Diosco-
rides. All this evidence shows that
it is by no means correct to say that
sugar was unknown until modern
times. Still less is it likely that any
races, ancient or modern, were entire
| ly ignorant of its culinary uses.
Chemists regard sugar as a unique
foodstuff, since it is the most digesti.
BILE of chemical substances being as
useful in its crystalline form as in its
native state in fruits and theil
| juices. Certain chemicals have beer
thrust into notice as substitutes fol
it,
OF these saccharine, German
product extracted from coal tar, is the
most widely known. 1t produces
marked effect on the organs of taste
and is said to have more than 10(
times the sweetening power of or
binary sugar. But the resemblance
between the two substances end
here.
Sugar is a carbohydrate and play
an important part in human nutrition
and is especially needed in the cas-
of growing children. Saccharine ha
no food value whatever though i
does appeal to the palate, but evel
here difference may be detected b,
some people. Thus, its use was one
restricted to the equity and diabetiC
who were sometimes able to distin
guish it's somewhat metallic taste.
During the past year saccharine ha
been studied anew. In Italy it i
now sold in tablets by government
authority as a substitute for sugar
owing to the general shortage of su
gar. Sugar cards have been intro
duced, and many people find it les
trou blesome to sweeten their tea an
coffee with saccharine tablets than t
obtain sugar from the government of
fees.
The official review in the papers o
saccharine is at once a warning an
a recommendation. Generally it ma
be said that, while there is no objec
ton to the use of saccharine for mos
people in tea and coffee, 1t is pest t
{ restrict its use as much as Possibl
in cookery Excess induces at lengt
the condition of indigestion which tn
y use of other coal tar products exhibit
l loss of appetite and blood change!
g At one time saccharine was niue
/ in favor for the purpose of adulter
t ating sirups That the health of man
= people was impaired in this way wa
t proved by actual tests in which tn
s symptoms were deailed with carefl
: accuracy throughout the experiment
), AS long as the scarcity lasts it
= probable that saccharine will be use
n in various illicit ways. The only di
ficulty about these tests IS that 1t is
poor business proposition to adulte
ate sirups or ketchups with a drI
which sells at about a dollar
} drachm or SO grains. 1t might
. said that the purpose is to sweet
and to preserve, and that the deal
might profit indirectly.
But the recent researches made
Europe which are now published In
scientific journal, the ApnaH d'Igiel
show that saccharine has scarcely a