The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-05-04

"green grass" school of pseudo
scientific dietetics that they should
push carrots and spinach. Let US
calm down and examine scientific
ally the claims of meat as an ar
ticle of diet. Il examined pota.
toes before,)
The nutritional value Of a food
is determined by whether, first, it
furnishes growth and repairs
substances to build tissues and re-
place body waste; second, wheth-
er it furnishes energy - calories
which are like coal to your furnace
or gasoline to your engine; and,
third, whether it furnishes cata-
lysts, the vitamins which control
and regulate absorption and uti-
liZation Of foods.
Meat is the richest substance for
protein Of any natural food. It
contains weight for weight nearly
four times as much protein as
milk, twice as much as eggs or
bread, and eight times as much as
most vegetables. Not only that.
but all the vital" proteins are
present in meat. The vital pro-
teins are those that are made up
of the amino acids that are neces-
sary to growth and maintenance
of weight and strength.
Amino Acids
There are ten Of these; lysine,
tryptophane, phenylaniline, leu
cine, isoleucine, threonine, methi-
onine, and valine, are necessary
for maintenance and arginine is
necessary for growth. The tenth,
histidine, is necessary for health,
but its exact function is still in
doubt. We know these are facts
because the amino-acids can be
separated and fed to animals one
at a time. Young animals will
maintain weight on nine of them,
but will not grow to maximum
until arginine has been added to
the diet.
Hazards Of protein malnutri-
ton besides loss of weight and
growth are lowered resistance and
failure OF wounds to heal.
have no doubt that some day
pills of amino acids will be ex-
plotted just as the vitamins are
now.
Meat, eggs and milk are the
only common food substances in
which all these vital proteins &C.
cur and in a condition to be alb
sorbed easily by the human body.
You can get them in vegetables,
so the pure vegetarian is safe, al
though it takes a combination Of
beans, peas, corn, wheat, nuts and
good deal Of trouble to get them
all in a vegetable diet. If you add
milk, cheese and eggs, (the So
called VEIN" diet-vegetables,
eggs and milk-advocated by the
lacto vegetarian sect) you. Of
course, are more likely to get the
vital proteins than by sticking to
strict vegetarianism. But meat,
milk and eggs are the only COM
mon articles of diet from which
you can get all of them in con.
centrated and digestible form.
Minerals in Meat
As to minerals, meat leads all
foods in the amount of iron and
phosphorus. Many foods have
more calcium than meat - milk,
cheese, caulifower, carrots, beans,
celery, fruit, molasses. Oysters
have the highest, fish the next
highest content of calcium Of all
the meats.
The caloric value Of meat, ounce
for ounce, is higher than nearly
any Of the other common foods
for instance, four ounces of pork
contain 400 calories, of beef 500
calories, of liver 1T calories, Of
beans 400 calories, of milk rs CAL
cries, Of fresh vegetables 80 calo-
cries, Of bread 300 calories. Con-
centrated food, like sugar, is high
500 Galleries for four ounces. The
fat content raises the caloric value
Of any meat.
The vitamin content Of meat is
very hight contains A, B, C and
'ome D.
The digestibility of meat is one
of its main advantages. Whereas
the proteins Of vegetables and nuts
are to a considerable extent lost
thrnnnh lack If ahsnrntinr r,nnnA /.