Feeding Experiments On Doctors, Soldiers And Students

Professor Chittenden next conducted an experiment upon himself and four of his colleagues - three of whom were doctors - and then upon eleven soldiers lent by the United States Government, who were fed for five months upon food which also contained a very small quantity of meat. Two hours were devoted to daily gymnastic exercises, and the result was that the tests which were made showed an increase of 83 per cent. of physical power. Although these soldiers were young, they were fed during the whole period upon rations which were much below those given to their colleagues in the army.

Lastly, Professor Chittenden fed eight selected athletic students of his university, averaging twenty-four years of age, for a period of five months in a similar way. Although the men were in high condition they gained 31 per cent. of physical power, and this upon food containing much less than one-half the muscle-forming food usually consumed by men of their age, weight (150 lb.) and occupation as athletes.

It may be said in support of the vegetarians' argument that animal food is unnecessary, that their champion cyclist was (1912) the finest rider in the kingdom; that in the great twelve hours' race promoted by the Anerley Club against selected champions of England the only vegetarians represented finished first, second and third - two of these breaking the record for southern roads. It is recorded by Mr. Henry Light, captain of the V.C.C., that whether in cycling, running, walking, tennis, boxing, wrestling, or weight-lifting, vegetarians have made records or won champion prizes. This writer remarks in his essay on Diet and Endurance, that, "if vegetarian diet is inadequate we as a club should now be standing at the bottom of the scale instead of at the top."

The Food Of Animals

If we except the carnivorous species, animals are vegetable-feeders, and consequently unable to obtain more muscle-making food than exists in the vegetable world. Nevertheless they are able to construct a perfect muscular system, and to maintain great physical power and endurance. The oat, despised by so many, suffices to impart great strength to the cart-horse and speed to the racer. The elephant obtains food still less concentrated, while the camel, also a vegetable-feeder, combines endurance with strength. It has been pointed out, on the basis of scientific calculations, that when 4 per cent. of muscle-forming food is deducted for the maintenance of the system, the balance remaining for the expenditure of energy-reaches 15 per cent. in the food of rich people, 12.7 per cent, in that of the multitude of workers, and 4.3 per cent. in the food of the poorest. Thus some men consume three to four times as much of this food as they require for their working activity. Briefly, then, all the muscle-forming food required for our nutrition can be obtained from vegetable sources. Milk, however, an occasional egg, or a small allowance of cheese, which is rich in this substance, are desirable for all healthy persons. The work or energy value of food, too, is greater when the diet is restricted to bread, cereals, pulse, and other vegetables and fruit. Meat, like alcohol, although in a minor degree, stimulates the system more powerfully than vegetable foods, with the result that it is sooner exhausted. Thus, with an increase in the consumption of meat, there is a corresponding diminution in both endurance and energy.

The Objection To The Water In Vegetables And Fruit

It has been frequently pointed out, as an objection to vegetable foods, that they are so loaded with water that a large quantity must be eaten in order to obtain the requisite nourishment. I have already remarked that, on a vegetable diet - and this includes fruit - thirst is almost a phenomenon. Although I am not a vegetarian, but a rare eater of meat, I have never experienced pronounced thirst since vegetable foods have formed the foundation of my diet. On the other hand a liberal quantity of fluid is essential to the meat-eater, and the more meat he consumes the more drink he requires. Water is essential for the purpose of dissolving and secreting the products of the decomposition of meat. The quantity of water consumed, however, is just as uniform as that present in a given weight of fruit, but in reality the consumption of water in a fruit diet is less than on a diet of meat.

The Importance Of The Minerals Of Food

The value of the mineral constituents of food is usually overlooked, not only by the public in general, but by many professional men. Although they are indispensable to life, the proportion is so small that it is regarded as a negligible quantity. Let us see how far this is true. An infant is nourished solely on milk. This food, as derived from the mother's breast, contains only .30 per cent. of mineral matter - i, e. less than one-third of an ounce, in 100 oz. (6 1/4 lb.). Of this very small quantity phosphate of lime forms slightly more than one half. If, therefore, a child takes 6 1/4 lb., or five pints of milk, daily, it consumes about one-sixth of an ounce of this substance, which is essential in the formation of bone. Supposing, however, before drinking the milk it were possible to extract this material, the child could manufacture no bones. Phosphate of lime, iron and other mineral substances are essential to health and to life, although large numbers of people obtain them in much smaller quantities than nature demands, because they reject those portions of food in which they are present - and they suffer accordingly.

Value Of The Skins And Fibres Of Fruit And Vegetable Foods

I may refer - to take one example - to the mineral value of the whortleberry. This wild fruit, about the size of the black currant, has a somewhat thick skin, which contains the chief mineral constituents just as the mineral matter of wheat is chiefly found in the husk. Thus, while the whole wheat grain contains 1.7 per cent. (about 1 3/4 oz. in 100 oz.) of mineral substances, and white flour 3/4 oz., the germ contains 4 1/2 oz. and the coarse bran 5 1/2 oz. Oatmeal, again, contains 6 3/4 oz. per 100 oz. of minerals, and rye flour 4 oz. These figures are of necessity approximate, for no two samples are identical, but they demonstrate the fact that the skin, or husk - the portion which we discard in our twentieth-century civilisation, with our bad teeth and worse stomachs, because of the bad treatment they receive - contains food of vital importance.

The animal living entirely on vegetable foods makes no discrimination as to what part of the grain or the root it rejects, although it selects particular species, but it is able in consequence to obtain all the minerals that its system requires. Man, on the other hand, sacrifices utility to pleasure - rejecting what disagrees with his palate.

The skins and fibres of vegetable foods, however, play another important part in the maintenance of health. Most intelligent people are aware that health largely depends upon the regular and perfect action of the intestines. This, however, is greatly affected by diet, and as people grow older many resort to aperients, with results which are often disastrous. Drugs are practically unknown to those who systematically consume wholemeal bread, fruit and vegetables with the skins. The skins of fruits, as of vegetables, are natural laxatives, for they not only contain mineral salts, like magnesia, but they incite mechanical action of the intestines as they pass through them. Where foods, like those produced from fine flour and other materials made into an almost liquid condition, form almost the whole of the diet, as they do with thousands of invalid people, who regard them as a panacea for dyspepsia, this action is more or less paralysed, drug-taking becomes a regular habit, and the last state becomes worse than the first. If health so largely depends upon the regularity to which I have referred, it also depends upon a clean, healthy track through the body. This form of cleanliness is practically ensured by the regular consumption of the skins and husks of food which, acting like a broom, sweep all before it in passing through the system.