Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-04-30
The Yeast-Eaters
BY Frederic J. Haskin

cyccs-tbey are favored by the public
for while, and then discarded, only to
return years later.
Yeast figures unobtrusively at all times
III bread and cake, but every decade or go
it is suddenly discovered as cure for
all evils. We are now at the height OF a
yeast era. skinny folks are consuming
yeast cakes at meals TO get fat. Stout
people are following the same treatment
confident that it will make them thin.
Men are taking yeast in orange juice for
Indigestion, boils and hookworm. A cer-
tain cafeteria advertses yeast sand
wiches-healthfu and delicious; while
we have it officially from mutual friend
that young lady of our acquaintance
crumbles yeast cake in her daily choco-
late soda to make her eyelashes grow
No less remarkable than the wide range
of ailments being driven out of existence
by the little yeast cake, are the results
reported from its use Yeast cake addiets
are an enthusiastic class whose peans of
praise are as joyful as the testimonials OF
any patent medicine circular.
yEAsrY ENTHUSIASM.
We withstood for some time the yeasty
conversation of our friends, but when We
CHANGED upon a group of kindred spirits
gathered about bottle marked very
old, and found that they had forgotten
to open it in a heated discussion of yeast
well, the significance of the yeast situation
could no longer be ignored.
After consulting with three government
chemists, one economic expert, and gov
ernment doctor, we found that the sub
ject is something of a mystery Yeast has
cured people of certain diseases. some
temporarily, Others for good $50 far But
Just how the little cake works. nobody
knows.
The doctor interviewed explained that
several times before there has heen
craze for the use of yeast as a medicine,
but each time n reaction has set IN, prob
ably because IL was not the cure-lil
people who acclaimed il, and because no
scientific tests of it's efficacy We're made.
OF recent years, yeast has been ignored
except by foreigners and country people
who occasionally take il in the spring as a
tonic, like molasses and sulphur.
II is always safe question nowadays
for an interviewer 10 ask. Did the present
situation grow out Of the war;" The yeast
cakes present popularity may be directly
traced TO a war condition What Is more,
the use Of yeast as food and medicine was
this time discovered in Germany
Even before the war, the food supply
was growing dangerously inadequate III
Central Europe Experiments, then re-
garded as unimportant, were made to
test the food value of brewers yeast,
especially as fodder for cattle because SO
many tons of Yeast were thrown out by
the brewerles as waste.
The war made the scientists speed UP
these experiments, and II was announced
that brewers Yeast could he rld OF IT'S
bitter flavor, and used to a certain extent
rs food II was later stated that the Ger
man government had taken over the
patents for mineral yeast-that i yeast
produced hy fermentation in salt and
molasses and would build a number OF
large factories To produce this artificial
food as a part Of tho people ration. These
plans were never extensively carried out,
but reports Of the scientists tests were
spread abroad, and Yeast rapidly gained
reputation as a builder of tissue and
source of energy.
The Yeast cakes food value is due sup
posedly to proteins and vitamines. There
was a time when dieticians talked con-
fidently of protein as definite substance.
If YOU had enough of it in your daily
ration. you would probably thrive; If
you didn't YOU might get beri-beri or
pellagra, or some other disease OF NAL
nutrition.
In recent years, experiments have prov
ed that protein Is a more complex thing
than anybody thought. The government
medical authority who explained this TO
us. seemed strongly impressed by the
fact that we do not know what we are
talking about when we talk of proteins
and vitamlnes.
One article of food, he said cautious
ly. milk for example-will have some
elements which make a protein, say
a-b-c-d Meat will have a different COM
fination, possibly a-b-c-e. 80 that per-
son NAV be eating food containing
large amount of protein and yet, perhaps,
lack some element needed to nourish the
body
This has Eeen shown in tests made by
feeding pigeons diet of bread supposed
lv the staff of life and water. In u short
time, the birds were unable to walk
straight. and their heads fell To one side.
When some grain, or a vegetable, or some
other food was added to the bread, the
pigeons picked up Immediately, showing
that bread does not contain all the neces-
sary elements of food
Vitamines arc still more mysterious
than proteins. They are accessory sub
stances which are necessary to balanced
diet. They exist In milk, rice, beans,
wheat, and some other foods. While re-
serving the right to back out gracefully il
they are proved wrong, chemists say that
proteins and Vitamines are present IN
quantity in yeast. For this reason, 1t Is be-
lieved, yeast is potent health agent,
especially when it may help to balance an
otherwise one-sided ration
This theory IS borne out by the fact
that the diseases which yeast has benefited
are mainly those due, IN part at least, to
diet
The value of yeast seems TO be mainly
In treating diseases of the skin, CASTRO
intestinal troubles, constipation, bron-
chitis and intestinal lntoXication
DR. Philip Hawk, OF Jefferson Medical
College, Pennsylvania, has followed this
matter more closely than anyone else IN
this country, and has made some en-
tightening experiments with the yeast cake.
An elaborate set OF these tests was made
two years ago by DIR. Hawk and several
associates Nnety-onc persons suffering
from various diseases we're fed with from
one-half 10 three yeasts cakes day. Two
eases of acute bronchitis showed marked
improvement after a week 5 treatment of
one-half cake q day. OF seventeen cases
of boils, all but one were reported greatly
improved or definitely cured after one to
SIX weeks of reatmcnt. Twenty-Five eases
of acne, or pimples were treated, and all
showed varying degrees OF Improvement
or complete cures On the other hand, five
difficult cases of eczema were unaffected
by yeast though some We're treated four
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