Table Compiled By Mrs. E. H. Richards And Miss Marion Talbot

One day's food, at the University of Chicago, calculated to determine the amounts and proportions of the various constituents and their comparison with the general average.

Average Daily Dietary For An Adult Man (Dujardin-Beaumetz)

Albuminates........................................ 124 grammes.

Carbohydrates...................................... 430 "

Fat................................................ 55

This would correspond with a bread-and-meat ration of -

White bread............................ 819 grammes (about 28 oz.).

Meat.................................. 259 " (about 9 oz.).

As a fair average for computation it may be said that 300 grains of nitrogen and 4,800 grains of carbon are daily required.

In order to obtain the nitrogen necessary for the system from a diet composed exclusively of starchy food - as, for example, potatoes - it would be necessary to eat ten pounds. If bread alone is eaten, four pounds would be required, and this contains more than twice the amount of carbon needed. About fifteen pounds of cabbage would have to be eaten for the same purpose. On the other hand, to obtain sufficient carbon from an exclusive meat diet at least six pounds of beef must be consumed. If eggs were used exclusively, about twenty-three pounds would have to be eaten. An ordinary lump of sugar is the food equivalent of an ounce of potato. A quart of milk, three fourths of a pound of beef, and five ounces of bread are all approximately equal in nutrient value.

Approximate quantity, in grammes, of different classes of foods consumed in twenty-four hours, computed according to age. (Mrs. E. H. Richards).

The following table from Landois and Stirling is arranged to show the total quantity of each single food which it would be necessary to eat in order to obtain the requisite protein on the one hand (column A) and the requisite carbohydrates on the other (column B). For the purpose of comparison these authors estimate the necessary daily amount of carbohydrates at 448 grammes and the necessary proteids at 130 grammes:

If a man doing hard labour were to attempt to live upon milk alone he would require fully ten pints a day to obtain the carbon necessary. Either of these quantities of food greatly overtaxes the digestive system. In fact, it would be wholly impossible for most people to eat meals of this character. The food would be too heavy; it would take too long a time to consume it, and it would be too monotonous. It becomes absolutely essential, therefore, for man to so regulate the composition of his diet as to properly balance its necessary chemical elements. This balance is best secured by a diet in which nitrogen bears the relation to carbon of I to 3.5 or 4. In bread the proportion of carbon to nitrogen is 3.0 to 1, and in meat it is reversed, and stands 1 to 3.5. Munk and Ufflemann state that the ratio between animal and plant albumin in the diet should be 3 to 7.

It is also more economical for the workingman to have fats and sugar in his diet and not to live exclusively on meat. The contractor soon learns that ill-fed men do poor and insufficient work. The force must be developed out of the latent energy of matter whether bricks are to be carried to the top of a building by a man or a hoisting machine. The carbon of coal is oxidised to develop force for lifting through the engine. The carbon in all the forms of fats, starches, and sugars is utilised in the body of man to enable him to do the same work. The labourer does right therefore when he eats bacon with his cabbage and treacle with his oatmeal. There is one fallacy in the above comparison that must not be overlooked, which is that the more fuel the machine consumes, the more work it does; this applies to man only within narrow limits, and too large a quantity of food promptly brings him into trouble with his digestive organs. (See Overeating).

The amount of nutrient material required per diem by a healthy adult male doing moderate manual labour is summed up as follows:

This proportion is represented by Billings as follows:

Lean meat.............................................. 20 ounces.

Bread.................................................. 22 "

Potatoes................................................ 10 "

Three or four cups of coffee.