We must not be unmindful of the fact previously mentioned, however, that there are differences in digestibility among these various foodstuffs which tend to lower somewhat the availability of the vegetable products, also of the cheese, thereby necessitating a slight increase in the amount of these foods required to equal the value to the body of lean meat. "Secondly, passing to the other extreme in our list, we find indicated types of foods exceedingly poor in proteid, such as the fruits; notably, bananas, grapes, prunes, apples, etc., also lettuce, and in less degree potatoes. These are the kinds of food that may legitimately attract by their palata-bility, but do not add materially to our intake of proteid even when consumed in relatively large amounts. Thirdly, we see clearly indicated a radical difference between the animal foods and those of vegetable origin, in that with the former the fuel value of the quantity necessary to furnish the sixty grams of proteid is very small, as compared with a like amount of the average vegetable product. One-half pound of lean meat, for example, with its 60 grams of proteid, has a fuel value of only 308 calories, while two-thirds of a pound of almonds has a fuel value of 2020 calories, and one-half pound of dried peas 827 calories.

Naturally, this is mainly a question of the proportion of fat or oil present. With fat meat, as in bacon, the calorific value rises in proportion to increase in the amount of fat, the proteid decreasing in greater or less measure.

24"Nutrition of Man,"

"The main point to be emphasized in this connection, however, is that a high proteid animal food, like lean meat, eggs, fish, etc., obviously cannot alone serve as an advantageous food for man. We see at once the philosophy of a mixed diet. Let us assume that our average man of 70 kilograms body-weight needs daily 2800 calories. On this assumption, if he were to depend entirely upon lean beef for his sustenance, he would require daily four and a half pounds of such meat, which amount would furnish nine times the quantity of proteid needed by his system. The same would be more or less true of other kindred animal products. On the other hand, certain vegetable foods on our list, such as flaked rice, crackers, and shredded wheat, contain proteid, with carbohydrate and fat, in such proportion that the energy requirement would be met essentially by the same quantity as served to furnish the necessary proteid. Passing to the other extreme among the vegetable products, as in potatoes and bananas, for example, we find fuel value predominating largely over proteid content. The ideal diet, however, is found in a judicious admixture of foodstuffs of both animal and vegetable origin.

Wheat bread, reinforced by a little butter or fat bacon to add to its calorific value, shredded wheat with rich cream, crackers with cheese, bread and milk, eggs with bacon, meat with potatoes, etc.: the common, every-day household admixtures provide combinations which can easily be made to accord with true physiological requirements. The same may be equally true of the more complicated dishes evolved by the high art of modern cookery." 25

The following table, made out by Professor Fisher, will indicate the amount of carbohydrates necessary to bring the fuel value of the food up to the amount required:26

24 Chittenden: " Nutrition of Man," pp. 274-277. 25 Irving Fisher, Ph. D.: "A Graphic Method in Practical Dietetics."

The attitude of the originators of the new dietetics towards the articles of diet which are not foods in the proper sense of the term, but which are used for their stimulating effects or for their flavoring qualities, is indicated by the claim that the practice of the system tends to lead to their rejection by taste and appetite. The habitual use of an artificial whip keeps the body running at a higher speed that it can afford and wears out the organs and tissues before their time. However, no serious and lasting evils of a positive character can be attributed to a moderate use of tea, coffee, and chocolate, except in the case of a few persons upon whom they act as a poison.

Theine or caffeine, the active principle in tea and coffee, is a powerful stimulant to the heart, kidneys, and nervous system.27 Fifteen grains will banish not only the desire for but the possibility of sleep for a whole night or more, and enable the user to do the best mental work of which his brain is capable for hours at a stretch. However, besides this stimulant - which may be invaluable at times - tea and coffee contain a certain amount of xanthin, a substance closely allied to uric acid; and a great deal of tannin, a substance which has a tendency to interfere wth digestion by "tanning" the proteids of the food exactly as tannic acid tans leather. Most of the trouble arising from the excessive use of tea and coffee spring, not from the stimulating qualities they contain, but from their xanthin and tannic acid. If they were always made by the "drip" method and never permitted to boil or to stand on their grounds, most of these troubles would disappear.

Although chocolate is not generally recognized as a stimulant, it contains a drug called theo-bromine, similar in its effects to caffeine and theine, but of a somewhat milder character.

27 C. W. Salccby, M. D., "Worry," p. 103.

Authorities differed widely in the past as to the position that alcohol should occupy in the food scale. To-day there is hardly a physiologist or physician who has a single good word to say for its use. Many authorities flatly class it as a poison.

But even if alcohol should have some small food value, it is certain that alcoholic liquors of every kind have none whatever aside from the alcohol which they contain. Even the highly advertised malt beers are to be gauged for their food value by their alcoholic percentages alone. Aside from this, the qualities that differentiate one alcoholic beverage from another are mere mat-ters of flavoring.