Detroit evening times., 1942-06-04
Wartime
Problems
Of Nutrition
Concentrated Rations
l Vital to Army
BY DIR. LOGAN CLENDENING

By DIR. LOGAN CLENDENING
COME months ago ! spoke Of
~ the concentrated rations
with which the army Is experi-
menting for soldiers in the field.
This Is the consummation of
an old dream.
One of the elements In slow
ing up q military attack is that
the fighting units have to wait
for the food wagon.
They have to pause in their
forward movement until the
supply kitchens come up in
order to give them enough en-
ergy to carry on.
As far back as the Civil War
the Quartermaster corps began
to experiment with concentrated
rations which could be put in a
small package and made light
enough for the soldier to carry
in his marching kit.
During World War I this was
not a very pressing problem
because the armies and trenches
were pretty well stabilized, but
the present war of movement
has made it highly desirable to
have some such ration.
TT HAS not been possible
L either. in previous years, to
construct such a ration scien-
tifically because il only has been
within the last 10 years that
we have realized the highly i'm
portant part that the vitamins
play in nutrition and a concen-
trated ration is naturally made
up of processed foods which
do not contain any vitamin un-
less they are added deliberately.
Now, however, with our knowl-
edge of synthetic chemistry we
can make crystalline vitamins
and add them to processed food
80 that II takes on the qualities
Of natural food.
/ am informed that these con-
centrated rations are now per-
fected and available for combat
troops.
The concentrated army ration
II made in two forms. one in a
small package about 2x3 inches
which Is known as United States
Army Field Ration d.
This contains a lump OF food
made up of chocolate, sugar,
-four, milk, vanilla and vitamin
Bi. concentrate.
II can be crumbled up and
dissolved in water and furnishes
about 1900 calories.
THE use of dried foods Is a
l. new development which has
been made possible by technical
advances and since il is prob
able that the United States will
have to feed the world for the
next so years and we cannot
afford to transport water, you
may get into the habit of buy
ing your soup by the yard.
There are two other forms Of
United States Army Field Ra-
tions-K and C-both of them
somewhat more elaborate and
having a higher caloric content
and acting more like food than
ration d.
Ration X Is divided into break
fast, dinner and supper units
and has pork, graham crackers,
coffee, sugar, matted milk, dex-
trose tablets for quick energy
and also chewing gum.
A GREAT deal of ingenuity has
"A gone into the making of
these rations such as, for in
stance, the production of butter
that will not melt at body
temperature.
So far as I can see, they are
entirely scientific and contain
q full ration of food.
The only fault that might be
found with them is that they
possibly are not as filling as
regular food, but for three
or-four-day stretch this is not
seriously inconvenient.
QUESTIONS, ANSWERS
B. P.-Is being left-handed
inherited or just a habit7
Answer-Very little is known
about the causes of left-handed-
ness. 1t is probably neither in
herited nor a habit.
The cells which control the
movements of the body on the
right side lie on the surface
of the left brain.
In many people this left brain
Is dominant. In left-handed
people, on the contrary, the
right side OF the brain is domi-
Na~t