These food accessories comprise milk, coffee, tea, cocoa and chocolate, alcoholic drinks, lemonade and other acid drinks, aerated and carbonated drinks. Milk is a food rather than a beverage, becoming a solid instead of a liquid food in the stomach. It is the only product in nature provided solely for food. It contains not only protein, fat, and carbohydrates in good proportions, but also a rich supply of mineral salts in an available form. Growing children should have at least a quart of milk every day. Cocoa and chocolate are also valuable for their content of protein, fat, and carbohydrate, and drinks from fruit juices contain mineral salts, organic acids (which help to maintain the alkalinity of the blood), and some carbohydrate. In other cases, the value of beverages does not lie in their nutritive content.

Stimulation

Coffee, tea, chocolate and cocoa contain a stimulating alkaloid which produces mild exhilaration without reaction. Alcoholic drinks while they tend to produce narcotic effects when taken in excess, act as stimulants and appetizers in small quantities.

Thirst Quenching

Substances like lemonade, ginger ale, and aerated drinks in general use are used for this purpose.

Sapidity

Coffee and its congeners are used largely for their delicate flavor, and this may be said to a certain degree of all beverages. Drinks especially designed for the invalid and the sick will be considered under other heads.