The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-03-24
A MIXED DIET
 IS THE SAFEST
Good Mixed Diet of Staples Is Better Than Fad
 Diets
TOO MANY DIET BOOKS

Diet fads are about as scientific as snake-oil remedies and this is particularly true of get-thin-quick diets, declares Dr E. V. McCollum, of Johns Hopkins, pioneer in the discovery of vitamins. The idea that it is dangerous to eat bread and meat at the same time Is wrong, he writes in McCalls for April, and a mixed diet is exactly what we need:
 ''The public is being tempted to- day by numerous diet books which make the same sort of extravagant promises that once brought fame to the snakeoi1 orators. Too often their recommendation are based on nasty conclusions rather than on scientific research, and many of them are so extreme that they are menace to health. This is apt to be particularly true of get-thin- quick diets. many of which are so poorly balanced that they reduce the body's resistance more quick ly than it's excess weight.
 "A good mixed diet made up of staples (such as meat. eggs. ce- reals, and potatoes) and liberal quantities of the protective foods is both palatable and safe. It is wise to be suspicious of health diets which are faddish. Some of them claim that fasting will cure all our ills; others shout the praises of some familiar food which is guaranteed to work magic if it Is eaten to the exclusion of all other foods; third group declares that most of our troubles would come to an end if we never, never mixed our carbohydrates with proteins or with acid fruits.
 This latter theory is based on the fact that carbohydrates are di- gested by alkaline juices in the month and intestines, while pro- teins are acted upon by the acid juice of the stomach. Since this Is true, why-the diet books ask eat bread Ca carbohydrate) and meat Ca protein) at the same meal, thus exposing the bread to the acid juice which is stimulated in the stomach by the meat? The an- swer is that the opening from the stomach into the intestine is guard ed by a gate (the pylorus), which remains closed for some time after food Is eaten, and does not let the food leave until it is acid in re- action. It is fortunate therefore. that carbohydrates, as well as pro- tcins. make the stomach weep gas- tric juice. Although they are not digeSted by this acid, they must have a supply of 1t to go with them, to open the gate close it. and then act as magnet to the alkaline juices toward which they have been travelling. Without the assistance of theacid gastric juice, starchy foods are unable to bring about the conditions necessary for their digestion. Even if they should escape from the stomach, they could not stimulate the al- kaline juices necessary for their digestion.
 "Proteins remain in the stomach longer than carbohydrates because juice. This acid juice is put into they actually join with the gastric immediate use, and not until the proteins have taken up all they need is there enough free acid to open the gate When we eat bi cad and meat at the same meal. these combined foods must wait fin the stomach until the meat has 1nished joining with the acid. If we remember that carbohydrates, because of their chemical nature, are protected from the action or the gastric juice, 1t is easy to un- derstand why this short delay in their travels of of little import ance."