The lover and the soldier represent the col lege days and the strenuous life of early man hood. The training-tables for athletes in school and college are an admission of the need of a selected diet for special work. The defini tion of an army, given by a famous general an animal that crawls on its stomach — indicates the importance of proper food for the soldier. No less necessary is it for captains of industry, pioneers and explorers of all kinds. Personal idiosyncrasy and differentiation of occupation demand attention to the individual dietary.
The judge is the type of the prosperous man of sedentary habit who is often overfed, and who should begin modifying his diet after passing the half-century mark, but habits are formed and changes must be made gradually. Luigi Cornaro, an Italian who lived in the 15th and 16th centuries, began at 40 to modify his diet and succeeded in passing the century limit. After he had reached 80 years he wrote several treatises describing his manner of living. That his writings are still the basis for much that is written on diet for the later years of life, is a sad commentary on the self-indulgent habits of the human race, which shorten many valuable lives.
I have come to the conclusion that more than half the disease which embitters the middle and latter part of life is due to avoidable errors in diet, . . . and that more mischief in the form of actual disease, of impaired vigor and of shortened life, accrues to civilized man . . . from erroneous habits of eating than from the habitual use of alcoholic drink, considerable as I know that to be.
SIR linear THOMPSON.
Last of all comes old age, and for this period the food should be sinular to that of the young child, and taken often in small quantities. In proportion as activity diminishes, the intake of food should decrease. The sense of taste is dulled and higher seasonings may be desirable. Here if anywhere in a normal diet the stimulus of alcoholic beverages may be allowed.
During the last of the 19th century much data has been collected showing how people actually live, the cost of living and the propor tions of protein, fat and carbohydrates. The studies on food and dietaries conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture have furnished much valuable data which is being used as the basis of further work on dietetics by authorities on both sides of the Atlantic. From such studies may be deduced approximate dietaries for different conditions. The ration enabling a man to do good work must neces sarily be larger than one calculated merely to sustain life.
An estimated life ration for one day, meas ured in grams: Protein. Fat. Carbohydrates. Calories.
75. 40. 325. 2,000. When poor families are found living on rations lower than this their diet must be enriched be fore they can be expected to display much energy. Prisoners often have different rations according to the time of sentence in some re formatories, and a man refusing to work is fed with stimulating food until he desires to expend some of his accumulated energy. A work ration would provide in grams: Protein. Fat. Carbohydrates. Calories.
125. 125 450. 3,500. For severe labor this would be increased. (The calory is approximately the amount of heat which would raise one pound of water F. and is a convenient standard of measure of the fuel value of food. The fuel value of protein is 4 calories per gram, or 1,820 calories per pound; fuel value of fats, 8.9 calories per gram, or 4,040 calories per pound; fuel value of carbohydrates, 4 calories per gram, or 1,820 calories per pound.) The estimate of the value of food in con struction of new tissues is less simple than its fuel value. It is impossible to measure the amount of good that might be done in schools, hospitals, and public institutions by improving the conditions of diet. Many hospitals now em ploy trained directors to make dietaries and superintend their preparation. The United States Department of Agriculture issues many valuable dietary bulletins.
Diet for the sick may be considered under three general heads: the typical ration for inva lids, in fluid form, suitable for the crisis of acute disease; food for the convalescent or for building up a body wasted through lack of nutrition; and last, such diet as may aid in the reduction of an overloaded body but yet sus tain the vital forces. For the first few days
of an acute illness the human body may sustain itself on the surplus stored in its tissues. An invalid in bed is not using up energy so fast as the man at work, hence the diet should be less generous, not a work ration but a life ration increased in such directions as may best combat the waste of disease. Liquids are easily taken, quickly absorbed, and as a whole are less irritating than solids to the digestive organs. Concentrated foods are necessary in certain conditions, but these are few. A sick person for the time being is to be fed much like an infant—small quantities of food should be given often, usually warm rather than cold. Pre-digested foods should not be used until or dinary forms fail. Where there are wasted tissues to repair — as in convalescence or in diseases like anaemia, nervous prostration, or tuberculosis, the diet must be generous — milk and eggs are the main dependence, and the art of cookery has devised many simple ways of serving them. Fat, in easily digested forms olive oil, bacon, cream and butter—is valuable in such cases, because fat is two and a fourth times as valuable for fuel food as the carbo hydrates. For the capricious appetite attractive arrangement and service of the food, and the element of surprise are important. The cookery for the sick conforms to the usual formulas, though greater attention must be given to the selection of food and its preparation, and all doubtful articles must be avoided. Starches should be thoroughly cooked, woody fibre re duced by cooking and mashing, or removed by straining. Animal foods should be cooked at low temperature. High, composite seasonings are not desirable, but a moderate use of simple flavors is admissible. Gout, rheumatism, and obesity may not be due to over-eating in one sense, but indicate an excess of certain sub stances which are neither assimilated nor elim inated, but are stored up in the various tissues, causing discomfort. The many fasts of the early church perhaps were introduced less as a religious duty than as a wise dietetic measure. The
system for the reduction of fat consists mainly in decreasing the allowance of starch and fat and increasing the protein. Spe cial diets for other diseases should, like medi cine, be prescribed by the physician in charge, because of the complications to be considered. Water-cures, milk cures, and grape-cures have been successful in some cases. Increased knowl edge of bacteria has explained many heretofore mysterious cases of poisoning, and has changed the point of view regarding the wholesomeness of various food products. Greater attention to cleanliness in all preparation of foods would make the use of preservatives practically un necessary. With our rapid increase in pros perity Americans in future need to guard against over-indulgence of the sense of taste and to control the appetite to accord with the true needs of the Bibliography.— Some of the most useful books on this subject are these: Abel, Mary H., 'Practical Sanitary and Economic Cooking' ; Atwater, W. 0., 'Principles of Nutrition and Nutritive Value of Food' (United States De partment of Agriculture) ; Burnett, R. W., 'Foods and Dietaries); Chapin, H. D., 'Theory and Practice of Infant
Dukes, Clement, 'School Diet) ; 'Food as a Factor in Student Life' (University of Chicago) ; Fother gill, J. M., 'Manual of Dietetics' ; Hart, Alice M., 'Diet in Sickness and Health' ; Holt, L. E., 'Care and Feeding of Children' ; Hoy, A. H., 'Eating and Drinking); Hutchison, R., 'Food and Dietetics'; Knight, Jas.,