The Colorado statesman., 1919-01-18
PROTEIN FOODS
ARE NECESSARY
Housewife Should Be Sure That
Diet Contains Some Kind of
Meat or a Substitute.
MILK IMPORTANT FOR CHILD
List Given Suggests Total Amount Of
complete-Protein Food Desirable
for Family Served in Form
of Central Dish.

In planning meals and when buying
supplies, it is well to- think of the fol-
lowing foods as in a class by them
selves: Milk, eggs, cheese of all kinds.
meats (excepting salt pork and bacon),
poultry, fish and sea food. These foods
are grouped together because they pro-
vide what is now called adequate or
complete protein or protein combina-
tions. The term adequate" or COM
plete" is used in connection with these
proteins because of their important re-
lation to the proteins of the body.
Protein is an essential part of all the
tissues of the body, including the mus
cles, the blood, and the organs. The
material out of which body protein is
made is constantly changing. 1t is
sometimes said that the muscles and
other tissues of the body ''wear out"
and are in constant need of repair"
This is not an apt description of what
really takes place, for it suggests pc
riods of disorder in the body followed
by periods of strength and well-being.
AS matter of fact, the process by
which body proteins take in new mate
rial to replace the old is a perfectly
normal and healthy one which involves
no wearing out" The process does,
however create a never-ending demand
for protein materials in the food.
Two Kinds of Proteins.
The proteins of the diet are found
chiefly in two classes of materials. To
the first class belong milk, eggs, cheese,
and flesh foods, all of which are rela-
lively expensive under most conditions
of living, and to the second belong the
cereals (wheat, oats, corn, barley, rice
and rye), and also beans, peas, and
cowpeas, all of which are relatively
cheap. There is an important differ
ence between the proteins of these two
classes of foods. The first are COM
plete and the second incomplete. This
means that of the building stones" or,
as chemists say, the amino acids, nee
essary for making body protein, the
first supply all, while the second, with
a few possible exceptions, are lacking
in one or two.
To use bread or cereals in other
forms to the exclusion of milk, eggs,
cheese and similar foods is unsafe
from the standpoint of health, but to
use the latter foods in greater amount
than is needed usually adds to the cost
of the diet. 1t becomes an important
matter, therefore, to know how much
of the perfect protein food one should
use. 1t is generally agreed that chld
under six should have either one quart
of milk day, or, better still, three
fourths of a quart and one egg. A
child over six should have minimum
of a pint of milk day and small
amount of the other foods in the group.
A family consisting of four adults
two men and two women-all doing
moderately active muscular work,
should have quart of milk day ana
at least one and half pounds OF oth-
er complete protein foods or their
equivalent in milk. For supplying pro-
tein quart of milk may be considered
the equivalent of eight ounces OF the
other complete protein foods.
Depending on Cereals.
If the housekeeper decides to depend
chiefly on the relatively inexpensive
cereals, beans and peas, for most OF
the protein needed by her family ana
to use the more expensive protein fooos
onlv in amounts sufficient for BODY
needs. she has on her hands the pron,
lem of determining how far the sman