The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1942-05-12

word "vitamin" was born, but no
real application Of the scientific
knowledge of vitamins was made
until about 1920. Since then We
have, Of course, become very vita
min conscious.
With wartime conditions we are
forced by necessity to make ad-
Justments in our food habits. Only
one feature of this has really hit
US yet, which is sugar rationing.
1t has often been suggested by Off
cial sources within the past few
weeks that substitutes for sugar
can be used. such as corn syrup,
molasses, honey, etc. This is a per-
fectly sensible suggestion SO far
as science is concerned.
Corn syrup has for many years
been advocated by children's spe-
cialists to be added to formulate for
bottle feeding because infants can
digest it better than table sugar
and it fits all nutritional require
ments.
The practical objection to these
substitutes is that the supply is
even more limited than that of or
binary table sugar. | am told by
wholesale grocers that the eco
nomic structure Of the country has
not been geared to the manufac-
ture Of molasses, corn syrup or
honey in any quantity.
Incidentally, our ancestors new
er knew what our table sugar
tasted like. Their sweetening was
in the form of honey. To show this,
the words diabetes mellitus" were
attached to the disease in the day
when there was no such thing as
sugar. "Mellitus" means, literally,
honey.
H-ocessed Foods in Wartime
are also being advised that
We eat too much sugar, that we
have been eating too much sugar
and that the rationing will have a
healthy effect. We are told this by
the same people who told US a few
months ago that 95 million Ameri-
cans were in state of semi-star-
walton.
Nevertheless, we are in for a
number of changes in our eating
habits. Ip an interview with one
Of the recognized authorities on
nutrition in the United States, he
told me that undoubtedly the
American people are going to have
to get used to processed foods, and
when the word processed is used it
really means that. We can not af-
ford, with our limited rolling stock
and shipping, to transport water
around the world, so we will have
to use dried foods to which water
will be added before they are put
on the table.
The average person, left to his
instincts, selects a diet with con-
siderable scientific accuracy. AS a
matter Of fact, science learned
what the dietary requirements of
the average man were by watch
ing the average man eat. You were
not told by science what you should
eat, but on the contrary, you told
science. You probably eat about
5000 calories a day. The foods
you eat are two-thirds carbo-
hydrates, one-sixth proteins and
one-sixth fat by weight. You Sc
lect instinctively foods which con-
tain the requisite mineral salts and
vitamins as well as the requisite
caloric content.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
]. W. H.:-Besides being pain
full, is pleurisy serious? Is there
any remedy for relieving it other
than heat?
Answer: Pleurisies, in a certain
number Of cases, turn into tuber-
culosis and TO that extent they are
dangerous. Besides the treatment
by heat, it is helpful to healing and
comfort to have the side strapped
up with adhesive tape so that the
amount Of motion is diminished.