The Topeka state journal., 1918-08-05

Washington, d. C., Aug. 2.-It-has
taken a world war and a world famine
to get people interested in the science
of nutrition, but interested they now
undoubtedly are, and scientists have
an unparalleled chance to teach the
public how to eat.
There are four essential elements
in human diet. An understanding of
! these elements, and the parts they
+! play. will enable anyone to regulate
| his diet more intelligently than he can
| by merely following the dictates of
appetite. Appetite is a good adviser.
and one upon which we must rely
great deal, but it is not infallible.
| These four essential elements which
we must obtain from food are fuel,
repair material, minerals and Wit
amines. The body uses fuel much as
an internal combustion engine or
steam engine does; that is it runs on
! the heat of certain materials which
| it oxidizes. Altho this process in the
body is much slower than the burning
! of coal or oil in an engine, it is essen
| TALLY the same process, and 1t fur
| niSheS the heat which warns us up,
as well as he energy which we work.
| Sugars and fats are the principal body
| fuels. The important thing to remen-
| Der is that the more work you do.
and the more cold you are exposed
! to, the more of these substances you
require. The basic heat production
i of the human body is about 1900
| calories for twenty-four hours. This
means that If you lie perfectly still
| in a moderate temperature, this is
| the amount of heat you must generate
| to live. 1t varies somewhat, being
more for tall. thin persons than for
! fat ones. A woman doing light work
would need about 200 more calories
| than this. A house servant might use
up from 24O0 to $500 calories a day.
And a man doing the hardest manual
labor may requir1 5000 calories. OF
course, these calories mean little to
| the layman since he has no means
J of estimating the caloric value of the
food he eats; but the figures show
| that the same individual may need
| three times as much food under some
| circumstances as under others. DO
not be afraid, therefore, to eat heart
sugars when you are taking exercise
| in cold weather, but when you are
| inactive, it is well to regard your ap-
petite with suspicion.
The second essential element of
food is repair material. This is sup
| piled by the proteins, which are meat
like substances. The best repair ma
terial in the world for the human
| body is beef, because 1t most econom-
ically replaces the waste of the bodily
tissue. This does not mean that one
| should eat a great deal of meat. A
quarter of a pound of meat a day is
enough fer anyone. This might be
advantageously increased in winters.
and decreased in summer.
Protein foods may be conveniently
divided into several classes The first
class includes the animal substances
such as meat, milk and eggs. This is
the form of food which most easily
and economically replaces the waste
of the body. The second class of pro-
tein foods includes the legumes, such
as beans AMI peas, and the cereals
such as corn, wheat, oats and barley.
The third class of protein foods are
valuable of all for repairing waste.
The building elements in the pro-
teins are known chemically as amino
| acids. A number of these acids to-
about twenty of them in ALL A pro-
tein which contains them all is a
complete and adequate protein; it will
completely replace the wasted pro-
teins of the body and will enable an
animal to grow normally. Some of
ficient, in that they contain only some
of these acids. Consequently a diet
of such proteins will not support
growth or repair completely. The
safe and advisable thing to do, there
fore, is to n a variety of proteinS-
meat, milk, eggs, beans, peas, other
vegetables and fruits, breads and cere-
Also that you will be sure to get all
The third essential element in food
is mineral matter. There are about
a dozen minerals that enter into the
composition of the body. The most
important are calcium, magnesium.
sodium, potassium, chlorine, sulphur.
phosphorus and IRON You cannot live
without any one of these. The one
needed in the smallest quantity is iron.
1t requires a very small amount of
iron to enable the body to function
=. | T7n htlt ha tU q
absolutely essential, for it is the iron
that enables the blood to carry oxygen.
You couldn't live a fraction of a Sec
ond If you didn't have iron in your
body.
Now nearly all of your tissues con-
tain nearly all of the elements that
have been discussed. Some of these
elements are acids and some of them
are alkalies. The tissues must con-
tain the acids and alkalies in proper
proportion, so that they neutralize
each other. as free acid or free alkali
would be deleterious. A balanced
diet, therefore, must contain an ade-
quate amount of both acids and al
: kalies.
When you eat meat you are eating
, acid. The acid IF meat is not or
ganic like that of fruit, but is min
eral aciI. This acid requires alkal
to neutralize it, and that is why you
always eat meat with potatoes; fol-
, the potatoes contain a strong alkai ir
the form of potash. Other vegeta blei
also contain alkali, and so do fruits
: That is why we naturally crave pota-
: toes, vegetables and fruits with oul
meat, and why straight meat die
makes us sick. If you haven't a tasts
e for vegetables cultivate one.
The fourth essential element in die
[ | is the vitamines. and it is also ths
least clearly understood element
I About Ill that is known is that the
3 absence of vitamines from the die
: produces a serious condition of tn.
v | body. Scurvy, for example, which af
flicts people who have lived long OF
l. { diet containing no fresh fruits o
vegetables, is due to the absence o
a vitamines from such a diet. Beriberi
a disease which afflicts the natives O
the far east. is also caused by lack o