Such a dietary taken by the 100,000,000 inhabitants of the country would cost per annum $11,500,000,000 if the German minimum of 3000 calories daily per adult be allowed. This cost is twice what the poor man in New York City pays for his food.

These growing, athletic boys, however, were not satisfied with 3000 calories daily. They not only took 4350 calories daily at the table, but they bought 650 additional calories in food at a neighboring store, the principal item being chocolate.

Data concerning the subjects of the investigation are epitomized in the two following tables:

Table Showing The Nutrition Conditions At A School Containing 355 Boys

The basal requirement of boys is, as DuBois (see p. 129) has shown, 25 per cent, above that of the adult. The total fuel intake was three times that of this basal level which is the heat production when a boy is resting or asleep. The 5000 calories contained in the ingesta is half as much again as a farmer at work would require. The quantity of the calculated intake would certainly not be lowered by excluding the adults who unavoidably entered into this computation. These data explain the ravenous appetite of boys. Lack of appreciation of this factor or lack of provision for it are the probable causes of much of the undernutrition seen in children of school age.

The distribution of the fuel values among the various more common articles taken as food at the school is shown in the following table:

Percentage Distribution Of The Calories Ingested At A Boys' Boarding School

It is interesting that twelve dietary items yield 75 per cent, of the fuel value and that 181 other varieties yield the remaining 25 per cent. Bread, butter, milk, and sugar together yield 50 per cent, of the food fuel.

According to the German minimum allowance an average family of 5 - father, mother, and three children - would require 11,400 calories in food daily. If the family's dietary were based proportionately upon that of the boys' school it would cost as follows, provided its food supplies were purchased on Second Avenue, New York City:

Forty cents will buy more than half the family's food requirements at an average cost of 6f cents per 1000 calories instead of 14 cents, the average cost at the school. If $25 is spent each month for food, 80 cents a day is available, or 7 cents for 1000 calories. The margin is narrow.

It would be well if the family knew that more than half its food supply could be had for 40 cents a day, and that this bread, butter, milk, and sugar was of equal nutritive value to the best the country affords. The remaining 5400 calories could then be bought at a cost of 8 cents per 1000. This sum will purchase most of the usual food-stuffs, with the exception of meat.

As a matter of statistics the annual consumption of cane-sugar in the United States in 1912-13 reached 85.4 lbs. per capita, which is the equivalent of 2000 calories daily for a family of 5, or 20 per cent, of the energy requirement. This quantity of sugar costs the nation $1,500,000 daily, and the rich harvest to be reaped by substitution of only a small part of this by saccharin, which has no fuel value whatever, is obvious.

It has appeared to those at work in the laboratory that it would be of great importance to associate the caloric value of food with cost in dollars and cents.

For the understanding of this the following table has been prepared showing the cost of 2500 calories, which is the energy requirement of an average adult of sedentary occupation.

Weights And Costs Of Various Foods Necessary To Furnish 2500 Calories

(Prices at Second Avenue and 90th Street, New York City, Early in 1916)

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True food reform demands the sale of food by calories and not by pounds. Professor Murlin has advocated that the government compel manufacturers to place upon each can or package of food sold the caloric content of the package.

Besides fuel value it must be remembered that the body must have protein. The machinery of the living parts of the body such as muscle is in a constant state of wearing away. The wear and tear is slight, but protein must be taken in the food to replace that destroyed in the body, or the machinery of the cells will wear out and death from lack of protein will ensue.

Different proteins have different values for this purpose. Those of meat, fish, eggs, and milk will replace body protein part for part. Such proteins may be classified as proteins of Grade A. Gelatin has practically no power to replace body protein and should be classified as protein of Grade D. Wheat contains a mixture of proteins of Grades A and D in which those of Grade A predominate, so wheat may be classified as having a protein value of Grade B, whereas corn, from analogous reasoning, may be said to have a protein value of Grade C.

An ordinary dietary with a liberal allowance of protein contains 15 per cent, of its calories in that form. A can or package of food containing 15 per cent, of its calories in protein should have a star placed with the letter determination of the grade of protein. For example, the label on a can of corn should read "This can contains x calories, of which y per cent, are in protein of Grade C".

A further desirable statement would be whether or not the food-stuff sold contained the natural mineral constituents from the organic source from which it was derived.

The determination of the heat of combustion of a dried sample of food takes fifteen minutes. Probably three hours would suffice to make a complete analysis by a government expert. The manufacturer should send his sample to the Bureau of Chemistry at Washington, declaring that to be his standard, and requesting information regarding his label. He should pay for this analysis as a patentee pays for his patent. If the government at any time should find the manufacturer selling a material on the market of character different from the standard deposited with the government, the manufacturer should be heavily fined.