Evening star., 1925-09-13
OYSTERS AS A FOOD
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN


One pound of oysters will furnish
per cent OF the energy a man requires
daily, 28 per cent of the protein. az
per cent of the calcium. So per cent
OF the phosphorus and 13s per cent OF
the iron. As food the oyster lis not
only one or the greatest delicacies OBJ
tanned from the sea, but It's compost.
ton Is OF such a character as to make
II more nearly than most foods self
suncfent as a diet. In this respect II
resembles milk, and needs but the or.
dinary ingredients used In cooking
| starches and fats-to give 1t balance,
mat highly essential thing which
dietetic experts say a food has when
Ii has everything.
IN the raw state the succulent bi.
valve. which Is now attracting atten-
ton again because of the arrival of
| months that have an ''r" in them.
contains an abunda nee of vitamin c.
| an essential element in our food for
preventing seurvy. The experts stress
the fact that. in general, civilized
| man, especially when living in cities,
by reason of his food. which, espe.
cially in Winter, is composed almost
| entirely of that which la cooked ia
bordering upon the phenomenon of
denciency. 1t behooves him, there
fore, TO seize every occasion that Of
| fers itself to consume raw food that
| Is rich in vitamins. Mollusks, and
oysters in particular. are from this
| point of view a most valuable re-
source.
And Just to show that the people
| OF the United States appreciate what
good thing the oyster is, both as a
delicacy and for Its food value, 1t may
be stated that they consumed annu-
| ally about 20,000,0 600 bushels of this
sea food. Allowing 800 oysters to the
bushel, this means 5000 900 900 oys-
| ters, or a billion orders of "a half
raw"
No statistical iend has computed
| how far that number of oysters would
| reach II laid end to end, how long it
would take one man to open all of
| them, how many square miles they
| would cover as a carpet, or what
quantity of catsup and horseradish Is
| consumed along with them, but with
! out such data it is apparent that eys-
| ter fishing constitutes an exceedingly
important industry.
OF First Value to Fishermen.
Indeed, the United States Bureau Of
| Fisheries la authority for the state
ment that the oyster fishery of the
| country is first in value to the Ash
| erman and second In importance in
! yield of food. being exceeded only
| by the salmon. This business Ii con-
Quoted in every seacoast State from
Cape Cod to the Rio Grande and
from Puget Sound to San Francisco.
| 1t Yields each year approximately 49,
600 tons of food as prepared for con-
| sumption, which Ia the equivalent of
| 254,00o dressed steers.
1t affords employment to some ST.
| 600 persons, and its annual product
Frnr tor tc nlttAA
| at over $4,000, 900. What that prod
| uct costs the ultimate consumer, es-
| pecially when he gets 1t at high
| priced hotels and cafes. Is another
| question, and one that the Bureau of
| Fisheries does not undertake to an
swer.
| But the bureau, speaking through
| Deputy Commissioner Lewis Radcliffe,
| does give a lot of interesting facts
| about the oyster in a bulletin that
| has Just been released.
MFR. Radcliffe tells US that oysters of
| today are more highly priced and
more widely consumed for food than
at any time in history, and that oyster
| farming and oyster eating have grown
| steadily through the centuries, begin
ming when early man secured the
oyster beds for pearls to bedeek his
Shells of the oyster in
| large quantities are found in the ruins
| of prehistoric settlements, and the
| Chinese have had an oyster farming
| industry for 2,0e0 years.
High Iodine Percentage.
| Reverting to the food value of the
| bivalve, we are told that recent in-
vestigations by the Bureau of Fish
cries show that oysters, clans and
| Holsters contain more iodine than any
other marine food, with the exception
of marine algae-seaweed-wh un-
fortunately do not enter into the diet
ary of many Americans. AS 8. mat
| ter of comparison 1t is stated that
| oysters, clans and Holsters contain
about 200 times as much iodine as
| milk, eggs or beefsteak.
BY using such products In the diet
several times each week the amount
of iodine ingested can be increased
considerably, a matter of special in
terest to persons planning the diet of
young people living in districts where
| disorders. of the thyroid gland are
| common.
Oysters are also remarkable among
| ordinary food substances, 1t is point
ed out, in their proportion of glyeogen,
a substance resembling starch, but
more readily and more easily assimi-
lated, and, unlike starch, wholly
| digestible even when unceeked,
| 1t is reassuring to have 1t pointed
l cut that the Federal Government and
| many States and municipalities have