Steam-cooked cereals can be eaten without much time being given to their preparation and in consequence their consumption is enormous. Many children are permitted, morning after morning, to make a full breakfast of cereal. While a child with strong digestive powers may appear for a time to thrive upon such diet, it becomes a fruitful source of dyspepsia. Many a dish of oatmeal, sugared and deluged with milk, causes acidity of the stomach or heartburn, which is wrongfully ascribed to other causes. The trouble lies not so much with the cereals themselves - though some are more prone to produce digestive disturbance than others - as it does with the manner of cooking and masticating. Cereals are largely composed of starch and tough woody fibre, hence long and thorough cooking and thorough mastication are prime requisites, to insure the digestive action of the saliva. In cooking cereals, then, use enough water to swell the grains to their full extent but avoid having the mush too soft, else it is liable to be swallowed without mastication. As starch during the process of digestion is changed into sugar, sugar as an accompaniment to cereals would be contraindicated. Indeed, cooked until quite stiff, they are most acceptably served with butter or cream as a vegetable with meat and in the place of potatoes. More time is required for the conversion of the starch in oatmeal into sugar than for the starch in barley, and thus barley would be considered the cereal for sedentary people. The large proportion of fat in oats and corn fits them more particularly for midwinter consumption.