San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-03-09
Canned Pumpkin Has
Greater Value Than
Raw Pumpkin.
HELPS BALANCE DIET
Shares Honors With Hum
be Potato as Basa-form-
ing Element in Eating.

A social worker tells an amusing
story of small boy who as a men,
Der of the malnutrition class in school
was a source of much anxiety to his
mother. One day the mother was
advised by the school dietitian TO see
that the little boy had plenty of spin
ach; whereupon she fixed the dieti-
tian wies a desperate eye and walled /:
Mis- Blank. amt there nothin' that
child can eat 'cept spinach? Every
doctor and nurse and teacher hollers
spinach and now you're doing it.
teo.'
Whatever reply the dietitian may
have made 10 the diStraught mother,
we are reasonably certain that she
furnished her with a list of subSti-
tutes or alternates. and If that list
was complete pumpkin had a place
on it. Dietetics is a wonderfully ex-
act science and at the same time
entirely flexible. Probably that par
ticular little boy did need spinach and
needed it badly. but the point is that
there are other vegetable foods that
help to keep the diet well balanced.
Lime in Spinach.
One of the chief reasons why. the
little boy needed spinach was be-
cause of the lime content. and pump
kin is one of the lime foods. In fact,
it compares favorably with spinach.
both as regards lime and phophorous.
the two minerals which are response
bic for sound teeth.
Nor is the only service rendered
by pumpkin to the cause of good nu
triton.
Foods that enter into a well bal
anced diet may be likened to part
ners in a business. each one of whom
has special office to perform. some
thing that he individually can do bet
tcr than any of the other partners.
So it is with foods: true, they work
a'c in groups, several being special
.s:S il we may continue the figure,
IN this connection there are groups
foods that form acids in the blood,
j certain other groups that form
. C,lUJsitc of acids. or. as the chem
cal. them. 'b3 SeS." Both acids
La.c-forming foods are necessary.
~ rroup may do harm if eaten
a. rx:e.S.
- here we come to the part played
:. pumpkin III this business of help
m: thc other foods to keep the blood
iu-t right. nice balance between
;c,d and base.
Is Base-forming Vegetable.
Pumpkin. then, has a base-fOrming
power that is appreciable. In this it
shares honors with the potato. Meats
form acids, potato, pumpkin and some
other foods the opposite. which is one
OF the reasons why meat and pO-
tato" go well together, and why pump
kin pie is a good dessert to follow
roast turkey.
A decade or more ago the food
specialists were apt to be satisfied
with a diet that yielded the three
''urincipal food elements. protein,
fat and carbohydrate. Today We
know that there ere other considera-
tons that must be taken into ac-
count before We can pronounce any
diet swell balanced" One of these
is the amount of mineral salts repre-
scented. We have already spoken
somewhat at length in regard to one
of these mineral salts. that is lime.
There are others, however, almost
equally important. and pumpkin holds
it own with the best of them when
il comes to furnishing magnesium.
sodium, potassium and several other
salts.
Canned Pumpkin Is Best.
1t will be of interest to compare
canned pumpkin with the raw prod
uct, by way of estimating the higher
concentration.
Canned pumpkin is s per cent pro-
TEN or body building material, as
against ) per cent in the raw yese-
table; it is - per cent fat as com
pared with L per cent; carbohydrate
or energy giving elements are pres
ent in canned pumpkin to the extent
of 81 per cent. while raw furnishes
only &c per cent. The important
minerals which we have already dis
cussed show Z per cent in canned
pumpkin and only 3 per cent in raw.
Finally, in pound of canned pump