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Sinister Yogis

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.
rejected as too poor for use. Such milk has probably been skimmed,
or comes from unhealthy or poorly fed cows.
The specific gravity of milk should be from 1.027 to 1.033. This
may be found with a Quevenne's lactometer. If it falls below 1.027,
one has a right to claim that the milk has been watered or that the
cows are in poor condition.[16]
The reaction of good milk varies from slightly alkaline to slightly
acid or neutral. That from the same cow will be different on different
days, even under the same apparent conditions of care, varying from
one to the other, probably because of some difference in the nature
of the food she has eaten. However, if the reaction is decidedly
alkaline, and red litmus-paper becomes a distinct blue, the milk is
not good, and possibly the animal is diseased. Should the reaction
be decidedly acid, it shows that the milk has been contaminated,
either from the air by long exposure, or from the vessels which held
it, with those micro-organisms which by their growth produce an
acid, a certain amount of which causes what is known as "souring."
Milk from perfectly healthy and perfectly kept cows is neutral,
leaving both red and blue litmus-paper unchanged; but as a general
thing milk is slightly acid, even when transported directly from the
producer to the consumer and handled by fairly clean workmen in
fairly clean vessels. Such milk two or three hours old when examined
microscopically is found to contain millions of organisms. Milk is one
of the best of foods for bacteria, many of the ordinary forms growing
in it with exceeding rapidity under favorable conditions of
temperature. Now it has been found that such milk, although it may
not contain the seeds of any certain disease, sometimes causes in
young children, and the sick, very serious digestive disturbances,
and may thus become indirectly the cause of fatal maladies.[17]
All milk, unless it is positively known to be given by healthy, well-
nourished animals, and kept in thoroughly cleaned vessels free from
contamination, should be sterilized before using. Often the
organisms found in milk are of disease-giving nature. In Europe and
America many cases of typhoid fever, scarlatina, and diphtheria have
been traced to the milk-supply. In fact milk and water are two of the
most fruitful food sources of disease. It therefore immediately
becomes apparent that, unless these two liquids are above
suspicion, they should be sterilized before using. Boiling water for
half an hour will render it sterile, but milk would be injured by
evaporation and other changes produced in its constituents by such
long exposure to so high a degree of heat. A better method, and one
which should be adopted by all who understand something of the
nature of bacteria, is to expose the milk for a longer time to a lower
temperature than that of boiling.
To Sterilize Milk for Immediate Use. (1) Pour the milk into a
granite-ware saucepan or a double boiler, raise the temperature to
190° Fahr., and keep it at that point for one hour. (2) As soon as
done put it immediately into a pitcher, or other vessel, which has
been thoroughly washed, and boiled in a bath of water, and cool
quickly by placing in a pan of cold or iced water. A chemist's
thermometer, for testing the temperature, may be bought at any
pharmacy for a small sum, but if there is not one at hand, heat the
milk until a scum forms over the top, and then keep it as nearly as
possible at that temperature for one hour. Do not let it boil.
To Sterilize Milk which is not for Immediate Use. Put the
milk into flasks or bottles with narrow mouths; plug them with a long
stopper of cotton-wool, place the flasks in a wire frame to support
them, in a kettle of cold water, heat gradually to 190° Fahr., and
keep it at that temperature for one hour. Repeat this the second day,
for although all organisms were probably destroyed during the first
process, spores which may have escaped will have developed into
bacteria. These will be killed by the second heating. Repeat again on
the third day to destroy any life that may have escaped the first two.
Spores or resting-cells are the germinal cells from which new
bacteria develop, and are capable of surviving a much higher
temperature than the bacteria themselves, as well as desiccation and
severe cold.[18] Some writers give a lower temperature than 190°
Fahr. as safe for sterilization with one hour's exposure, but 190 may
be relied upon. Milk treated by the last or "fractional" method of
sterilization, as it is called, should keep indefinitely, provided of
course the cotton is not disturbed. Cotton-wool or cotton batting in
thick masses acts as a strainer for bacteria, and although air will
enter, organisms will not.
All persons who buy milk, or in any way control milk-supplies,
should consider themselves in duty bound to (1) ascertain by
personal investigation the condition in which the cows are kept. If
there is any suspicion that they are diseased, a veterinary surgeon
should be consulted to decide the case. If they are healthy and well
fed, they cannot fail to give good milk, and nothing more is to be
done except to see that it is transported in perfectly cleansed and
scalded vessels. (2) If it is impossible to obtain milk directly from the
producer, and one is obliged to buy that from unknown sources, it
should be sterilized the moment it enters the house. There is no
other means of being sure that it will not be a bearer of disease. Not
all such milk contains disease-producing organisms, but it all may
contain them, and there is no safety in its use until all bacteria have
been deprived of life.

DIGESTION
Definition. Digestion is the breaking up, changing, and liquefying
of the food in the various chambers of the alimentary canal designed
for that purpose. The mechanical breaking up is done principally by
the teeth in the mouth, the chemical changes and liquefying by the
various digestive fluids.[19]
Digestive Fluids. The digestive fluids are true secretions. Each is
formed from the blood by a special gland for the purpose which
never does anything else; they do not exist in the blood as such.
Their flow is intermittent, taking place only when they are needed.
The liver, however, is an exception to all the others. It is both
secretory and excretory, and bile is formed all the time, but is most
abundant during digestion.[20]
Saliva. The fluid which is mixed with the food in the mouth is
secreted by a considerable number and variety of glands, the
principal of which are the parotid, submaxillary, and sublingual.
Smaller glands in the roof and sides of the mouth, in the tongue,
and in the mucous membrane of the pharynx contribute to the
production of saliva, the digestive fluid of the mouth. The flow from
the parotid gland is greatest. The flow from all the glands is greatly
increased when food is taken, especially if it be of good flavor.
Sometimes the amount is increased by smell alone, as when a nice
steak is cooking, or a savory soup, and sometimes the saliva is made
copious by thought, as when we remember the taste of dishes eaten
in the past, and we say, "It makes the mouth water just to think of
them."
Amount of Saliva. According to Dalton the amount of saliva
secreted every twenty-four hours is 42½ oz. Its reaction is almost
constantly alkaline. It is composed of water, organic matter, and
various mineral salts. Ptyalin is its active principle, and is called by
some authors animal diastase, or starch converter.
Gastric Juice. Gastric juice is the digestive fluid of the stomach.
It is acid. Its flow is intermittent, occurring only at times of
digestion. Its active principle is pepsin.
It is worthy of notice here that the character of the digestive fluids
when food is taken is different from what it is when the organs are
at rest. For instance, the gastric juice which flows in abundance
under the stimulus of food, is not like the fluid secreted when the
stomach is collapsed and empty.
Pancreatic Juice. Pancreatic juice is the digestive juice of the
pancreas, and is poured into the small intestine a short distance
below the pyloric opening. Its reaction is alkaline. Its flow is entirely
suspended during the intervals of digestion.
 Bile. Bile, the fourth in order of the digestive liquids, is the
secretion of the largest gland of the body—the liver. It is poured into
the small intestine by a duct which empties side by side with the
duct from the pancreas. The flow of bile is constant, but is greatest
during digestion.
Intestinal Juice. Intestinal juice has been to physiologists a
difficult subject of study. It is mingled with the salivary and gastric
juices at the times of digestion, when it is most desirable to notice
its action. Nearly all authorities agree that it is alkaline, and that its
function is to complete the digestion of substances which may reach
it in an undigested condition.
Mucus of Large Intestine. The mucus secreted by the large
intestine is for lubricating only.
Digestion in Different Parts of the Alimentary Tract.
Different substances in food are digested in different portions of the
alimentary canal, and by different means. Let us begin in the mouth.
Taking the classes of foods, starch, one of the carbohydrates, is the
one most affected by the ptyalin, or animal diastase, of the saliva.
So energetic is the action of ptyalin on starch that 1 part is sufficient
to change 1000 parts. Starch is not acted upon by the gastric juice
of the stomach at all; however, the continued action of the saliva is
not probably interrupted in the stomach. The digestion of starch is
completed by the action of the pancreatic and intestinal juices, and
consists in its being changed into soluble glucose, which is absorbed
in solution.
Sugar. Cane-sugar, or common sugar (also called sucrose),
passes through the mouth, unchanged, to the stomach, where it is
converted into glucose by the slow action of the acid (hydrochloric)
of the gastric juice. Dilute hydrochloric acid has the same action on
sugar outside of the stomach.
The action of pancreatic juice on sugar is very marked; it
immediately changes cane-sugar into glucose. The effect of
intestinal fluid is not well understood, but there is the general
agreement that it does not change cane-sugar, neither is cane-sugar,
as such, absorbed in the intestine. Bile does not affect it, therefore
cane-sugar is digested or converted into glucose either by the
stomach or pancreas, or both. It will now be seen that ultimately the
same substance, glucose, is obtained from both starch and sugar.
Protein. We now come to the consideration of the digestion of
the protein compounds, of which albumen may be taken as a type.
Possibly no action except breaking up and moistening takes place in
the mouth.[21] Its digestion begins in the stomach, where its
structure is broken up and a separation and dissolution of the little
sacs which hold it take place. The same thing is partially
accomplished outside of the stomach when white of egg is slightly
beaten and strained through a cloth. Gastric juice further acts on the
albumen itself, forming it into what is called albumen peptone. The
digestion of raw and carefully cooked albumen has been found to be
carried on very rapidly in the stomach, and the change is essentially
the same in both cases, but in favor of the slightly coagulated. When
the albumen is rendered hard, fine, and close in consistency by over-
cooking, then it is less easy of digestion than when raw.
Absorption. It is probable that the greater portion of the process
of digestion and absorption of albumen takes place in the stomach.
Fibrin. Fibrin is also digested in the stomach, and made into fibrin
peptone.
Casein. Liquid casein is immediately coagulated by gastric juice,
both by the action of free acid and organic matter.
Gelatin. Gelatin is quickly dissolved by gastric juice, and
afterward no longer has the property of forming jelly on cooling.
Gelatin is more rapidly disposed of than the tissue from which it is
produced.
Vegetable Protein. The digestion of the vegetable protein
compounds, such as the gluten of wheat and the protein of the
various grains, such as corn, oatmeal, etc., is undoubtedly carried on
in the stomach, but they must be well softened and prepared by the
action of heat and water, or they will not be digested anywhere; and
often corn, beans, and grains of oatmeal are rejected entirely
unchanged. Partially or imperfectly digested proteins are affected by
intestinal juice. It is probable that the function of this fluid is to
complete digestive changes in food which have already begun in the
stomach.
To summarize: The digestion and absorption of nitrogenous
compounds take place in both the stomach and the intestines.

NUTRITION
One of the important points to bring to the notice of pupils in the
study of cookery is the phenomenon of nutrition. It is astonishing
how vague are the ideas that many people have of why they eat
food, and vaguer still are their notions of the necessity of air, pure
and plenty. Once instruct the mind that it is the air we breathe and
the food we eat which nourish the body, giving material for its
various processes, for nervous and muscular energy, and for
maintaining the constant temperature which the body must always
possess in order to be in a state of health, and there is much more
likelihood that the dignity and importance of proper cooking and
proper food will not be overlooked.
A knowledge that the health and strength of a person depend
largely upon what passes through his mouth, that even the turn of
his thinking is modified by what he eats, should lead all intelligent
women to make food a conscientious subject of study.
In general, by the term "nutrition" is meant the building up and
maintaining of the physical framework of the body with all its various
functions, and ultimately the mental and moral faculties which are
dependent upon it, by means of nutriment or food.
The word is derived from the Latin nutrire, to nourish. The word
"nurse" is from the same root, and in its original sense means one
who nourishes, a person who supplies food, tends, or brings up.
 Anything which aids in sustaining the body is food; therefore, air
and water, the two most immediate necessities of life, may be, and
often are, so classed.
Nutriment exclusive of air is received into the body by means of
the alimentary canal. The great receiver of air is the lungs, but it
also penetrates the body through the pores of the skin, and at these
points carbonic acid is given off as in the lungs. The body is often
compared to a steam-engine, which takes in raw material in the
form of fuel and converts it into force or power. Food, drink, and air
are the fuel of the body,—the things consumed; heat, muscular and
intellectual energy, and other forms of power are the products.
Food, during the various digestive processes, becomes reduced to
a liquid, and is then absorbed and conveyed, by different channels
constructed for the purpose, into the blood, which contains, after
being acted upon by the oxygen of the air in the lungs, all those
substances which are required to maintain the various tissues,
secretions, and, in fact, the life of the system.
Some of the ways in which the different kinds of food nourish the
body have been found out by chemists and physiologists from actual
experiments on living animals, such as rabbits, dogs, pigs, sheep,
goats, and horses, and also on man. Often a scientist becomes so
enthusiastic in his search for knowledge about a certain food that he
gives his own body for trial. Much valuable work has been done in
this direction during the last decade by Voit, Pettenkofer, Moleschott,
Ranke, Payen, and in this country by Atwater.
No one can explain all the different intricate changes which a
particle of food undergoes from the moment it enters the mouth
until its final transformation into tissue or some form of energy; but
by comparing the income with the outgo, ideas may be gained of
what goes on in the economy of the body, and of the proportion of
nutrients used, and some of the intricate and complex chemical
changes which the different food principles undergo in the various
processes of digestion, assimilation, and use.[22] Probably hundreds
of changes take place in the body, in its various nutritive functions,
of which nothing is known, or they are entirely unsuspected, so that
if we do our utmost with the present lights which we possess for
guidance to health, we shall still fall far short of completeness. The
subject of food and nutrition, viewed in the light of bacteriology and
chemistry, is one of the most inviting subjects of study of the day,
and is worthy of the wisest thought of the nation.
The body creates nothing of itself, either of material or of energy;
all must come to it from without. Every atom of carbon, hydrogen,
phosphorus, or other elements, every molecule of protein,
carbohydrate, or other compounds of these elements, is brought to
the body with the food and drink it consumes, and the air it
breathes. Like the steam-engine, it uses the material supplied to it.
Its chemical compounds and energy are the compounds and energy
of the food transformed (Atwater). A proof of this is seen in the fact
that when the supply from without is cut off, the body dies. The raw
material which the body uses is the air and food which it consumes,
the greater portion of which is digested and distributed, through the
medium of the blood, to all parts of the body, to renew and nourish
the various tissues and to supply the material for the different
activities of life.
Ways in which Food Supplies the Wants of the Body. Food
supplies the wants of the body in several ways—(1) it is used to
form the tissues of the body—bones, flesh, tendons, skin, and
nerves; (2) it is used to repair the waste of the tissues; (3) it is
stored in the body for future use; (4) it is consumed as fuel to
maintain the constant temperature which the body must always
possess to be in a state of health; (5) it produces muscular and
nervous energy.[23] The amount of energy of the body depends
upon two things—the amount in the food eaten, and the ability of
the body to use it, or free it for use.
With every motion, and every thought and feeling, material is
consumed, hence the more rapid wearing out of persons who do
severe work, and of the nervous—those who are keenly susceptible
to every change in their surroundings, to change of weather, even to
the thoughts and feelings of those about them.
We easily realize that muscular force or energy cannot be
maintained without nutriment in proper quality and amount. An
underfed or starving man has not the strength of a well-fed person.
He cannot lift the same weight, cannot walk as far, cannot work as
hard. We do not as easily comprehend the nervous organism, and
generally have less sympathy with worn-out or ill-nourished nerves
than muscles, but the sensibilities and the intellectual faculties, of
which the nerves and brain are but the instruments, depend upon
the right nutrition of the whole system for their proper and healthful
exercise.
So many factors enter into the make-up of a thought that it
cannot be said that any particular kind of food will ultimately
produce a poem; but of this we may be sure, that the best work, the
noblest thoughts, the most original ideas, will not come from a
dyspeptic, underfed, or in any way ill-nourished individual.
The classification of foods has been usually based upon the
deductions of Prout that milk contains all the necessary nutrients in
the best form and proportions, viz., the nitrogenous matters, fat,
sugar, water, and salts; the latter being combinations of magnesium,
calcium, potassium, sodium, and iron, with chlorin, phosphoric acid,
and, in smaller quantities, sulphuric acid.
These different classes seem to serve different purposes in the
body, and are all necessary for perfect nutrition. Some of them
closely resemble each other in composition, but are quite different in
their physiological properties, and in the ends which they serve. For
instance, starch (C6H10O5) has almost the same chemical formula as
sugar (C12H22O11), and yet the one cannot replace the other to its
entire exclusion.
The Protein Compounds. In general it may be said that the
carbohydrates are changed into fats, and are used for the production
of force, and that the fats are stored in the body as fat and used as
fuel. The protein compounds do all that can be done by the fats and
carbohydrates, and in addition something more; that is, they form
the basis of blood, muscle, sinew, skin, and bone. They are,
therefore, the most important of all the food compounds. The terms
"power-givers" and "energy-formers" are sometimes applied to
them, because wherever power and energy are developed they are
present, though not by any means the only substances involved in
the evolution of energy. Probably the fats and carbohydrates give
most of the material for heat and the various other forces of the
body. In case of emergency, where these are deficient, the proteins
are used; but protein alone forms the basis of muscle, tendons, skin,
and other tissues. This the fats and carbohydrates cannot do
(Atwater). The different tissues are known from analysis to contain
this complex nitrogenous compound, protein. Now, since the body
cannot construct this substance out of the simpler chemical
compounds which come to it, it becomes perfectly evident that the
diet must have a due proportion of protein in order to maintain the
strength of the body. We get most of our proteins from the flesh of
animals, and they in turn get it from plants, which construct it from
the crude materials of earth and air.
The Extractives, usually classed with the protein compounds,
such as meat extract, beef tea, etc., are not generally regarded as
direct nutrients, but, like tea and coffee, are valuable as accessory
foods, lending savor to other foods and aiding their digestion by
pleasantly exciting the flow of the digestive fluids. They also act as
brain and nerve stimulants, and perhaps also in some slight degree
as nutrients.
The principal proteins or nitrogenous substances are albumen in
various forms, casein both animal and vegetable, blood fibrin,
muscle fibrin, and gelatin. All except the last are very much alike,
and probably can replace one another in nutrition.
Modern chemists agree that nitrogen is a necessary element in the
various chemical and physiological actions which take place in the
body to produce heat, muscular energy, and the other powers. Every
structure in the body in which any form of energy is manifested is
nitrogenous. The nerves, muscles, glands, and the floating cells[24]
in the various liquids are nitrogenous. That nitrogen is necessary to
the different processes of the system, is shown by the fact that if it
be cut off, these processes languish. This may not occur
immediately, for the body always has a store of nitrogen laid by for
emergencies which will be consumed first, but it will occur as soon
as these have been consumed. The energy of the body is measured
by its consumption of oxygen. Motion and heat may be owing to the
oxidation of fat, or of starch, or of nitrogenous substances; but
whatever the source, the direction is given by the nitrogenous
structure—in other words, nitrogen is necessary to all energy
generated in the body.
Protein matter nourishes the organic framework, takes part in the
generation of energy, and may be converted into non-nitrogenous
substances.[25] The necessity of the protein compounds is
emphasized when we realize that about one half of the body is
composed of muscle, one fifth of which is protein, and the nitrogen
in this protein can be furnished only by protein, since neither fats
nor carbohydrates contain it. It is therefore evident that the protein-
containing foods, such as beef, mutton, fish, eggs, milk, and others,
are our most valued nutrients. Our daily diet must contain a due
proportion.
The proteins are all complex chemical compounds, which in
nutrition become reduced to simple forms, and are then built up
again into flesh. The animal foods are in the main the best of the
protein compounds, for they are rich in nitrogenous matter, are
easily digested, and from their composition and adaptability are
most valuable in maintaining the life of the body.
A diet of lean meat alone serves to build up tissue. If nothing else
be taken, the stored-up fat of the body will be consumed, and the
person will become thin.[26] Athletes while in training take
advantage of this fact, and are allowed to eat only such food as shall
furnish the greatest amount of strength and muscular energy with a
minimum of fat. The lean of beef and mutton, with a certain amount
of bread, constitute the foundation of the diet.
Fats. Most of the fatty substances of food are liquefied at the
temperature of the body. When eaten in the form of adipose tissue,
as the fat of beef and mutton, the vesicles or cells in which the fat is
held are dissociated or dissolved, the fat is set free, and mingles
with the digesting mass. This is done in the stomach, and is a
preparation for its further change in the intestines.
Fats are not dissolved—that is, in the sense in which meats and
other foods are dissolved—in the process of digestion; the only
change which they undergo is a minute subdivision caused
principally by the action of the pancreatic juice. In this condition of
fine emulsion they are taken up by the lacteals; they may also be
absorbed by the blood-vessels.
It has been found that fat emulsions pass more easily through
membranes which have been moistened with bile, and it is probable
that the function of bile is partly to facilitate the absorption of fat.
That the pancreatic juice is the chief agent in forming fats into
emulsion was discovered in 1848. Bile is, however, essential to their
perfect digestion, and we may therefore say that they are digested
by the united action of the pancreatic juice and the bile.[27]
Fat forms in the body fatty tissues, and serves for muscular force
and heat; it is also necessary to nourish nerves and other tissues,—
in fact, without it healthy tissues cannot be formed. A proper
amount of fat is also a sort of albumen sparer.
It is probable that the fat which is used in the body either to be
stored away or for energy, is derived from other sources than
directly from the fat eaten. From experiments made by Lawes and
Gilbert on pigs, it is evident that the excess of fat stored in their
bodies must be derived from some other source than the fat
contained in their food, and must be produced partly from
nitrogenous matter and partly from carbohydrates, or, at least, that
the latter play a part in its formation. It would appear from this that
life might be maintained on starch, water, salts, and meat free from
fat; but although the theory seems a good one, practically it is found
in actual experiment[28] that nutrition is impaired by a lack of fat in
the diet. The ill effects were soon seen, and immediate relief was
given when fat was added to the food. Besides, in the food of all
nations starch is constantly associated with some form of fat; bread
with butter; potatoes with butter, cream, or gravy; macaroni and
polenta with oil, and so forth. A man may live for a time and be
healthy with a diet of albuminoids, fats, salts, and water, but it has
not yet been proved that a similar result will be produced by a diet
of albuminoids, carbohydrates, salts, and water without fat. Fat is
necessary to perfect nutrition. Health cannot be maintained on
albuminoids, salts, and water alone; but, on the other hand, cannot
be maintained without them.
Probably the value of fats, as such, is dependent upon the ease
with which they are digested. The fats eaten are not stored in the
body directly, but the body constructs its fats from those eaten, and
from other substances in food,—according to some authorities from
the carbohydrates and proteids, and according to others from
proteids alone.
Fats are stored away as fat, furnish heat, and are used for energy;
at least, it is probable that at times they are put to the latter use.
The fats laid by in the body for future use last in cases of starvation
quite a long time, depending, of course, upon the amount. At such
times a fat animal will live longer than a lean one.
Doubtless in the fat of food the body finds material for its fats in
the most easily convertible form. Of the various fatty substances
taken, some are more easily assimilated than others. Dr. Fothergill,
in "The Town Dweller," says that the reason that cod-liver oil is given
to delicate children and invalids is, that it is more easily digested
than ordinary fats, but it is an inferior form of fat; the next most
easily digested is the fat of bacon. When a child can take bread
crumbled in a little of this fat, it will not be necessary to give him
cod-liver oil. Bacon fat is the much better fat for building tissues.
Then comes cream, a natural emulsion, and butter. He further says
there is one form of fat not commonly looked at in its proper dietetic
value, and that is "toffee." It is made of butter, sugar, and
sometimes a portion of molasses. A quantity of this, added to the
ordinary meals, will enable a child in winter to keep up the bodily
heat. The way in which butter in the form of toffee goes into the
stomach is particularly agreeable.
Carbohydrates. The principal carbohydrates are starch, dextrine,
cane-sugar or common table sugar, grape-sugar, the principal sugar
in fruits, and milk-sugar, the natural sugar in milk. They are
substances made up, as before stated, of carbon, hydrogen, and
oxygen, but no nitrogen. They are important food substances, but
are of themselves incapable of sustaining life.
The carbohydrates, both starch and sugar, in the process of
digestion are converted into glucose. This is stored in the liver in the
form of glycogen, which the liver has the power of manufacturing; it
then passes into the circulation, and is distributed to the different
parts of the body as it is needed. (The liver also has the power of
forming glycogen out of other substances than sugar, and it is pretty
conclusively proved that it is from proteids, and not from fats.
Carnivorous animals, living upon flesh alone, are found to have
glycogen in their bodies.)
It is impossible to assign any especial office to the different food
principles; that is, it cannot be said that the carbohydrates perform a
certain kind of work in the body and nothing else, or that the
proteids or fats do. The human body is a highly complex and
intricate organism, and its maintenance is carried on by complex and
mysterious processes that cannot be followed, except imperfectly;
consequently, we must regard the uses of foods in the body as more
or less involved in obscurity. It is, however, generally understood
that the proteids, fats, and carbohydrates each do an individual work
of their own better than either of the others can do it. They are all
necessary in due amount to the nutrition of the body, and doubtless
work together as well as in their separate functions. They are,
however, sometimes interchangeable, as, for instance, in the
absence of the carbohydrates, proteids will do their work. The
carbohydrates are eminently heat and energy formers, and they also
act as albumen sparers.
The body always has a store of material laid by for future use. If it
were not for this a person deprived of food would die immediately,
as is the case when he is deprived of oxygen. (Air being ever about
us, and obtainable without effort or price, there is no need for the
body to lay by an amount of oxygen; consequently only a very little
is stored, and that in the blood.)
The great reserve forces of the body are in the form of fatty
tissues, and glycogen, or the stored-away carbohydrates of the liver;
the latter is given out to the body as it is needed during the intervals
of eating to supply material for the heat and energy of daily
consumption, and in case of starvation. That they are true reserves
is shown by the fact that they disappear during deprivation of food.
The glycogen, or liver-supply, disappears first; then the fat (Martin).
The heat of the body can be maintained on these substances, and a
certain amount of work done, although no food except water be
taken.
The principal function of the liver is to form glycogen to be stored
away. It constantly manufactures it, and as constantly loses it to the
circulation. Glycogen is chemically allied to starch, having the same
formula (C6H10O5), but differing in other ways. Its quantity is
greatest about two hours after a full meal; then it gradually falls, but
increases again when food is again taken. Its amount also varies
with the kind of food eaten: fats and proteids by themselves give
little, but starch and sugars give much, for it is found in greatest
quantity when these form a part of the diet.
Inorganic Matter and Vegetable Acids. Water and other
inorganic matter, as the salts of different kinds, and vegetable acids,
as vinegar and lemon-juice, can scarcely be said to be digested.
Water is absorbed, and salts are generally in solution in liquids and
are absorbed with them.
 Water is found in all parts of the body, even in the very solid
portions, as the bones and the enamel of the teeth; it also
constitutes a large proportion of its semisolids and fluids, some of
which are nearly all water, as the perspiration and the tears.
Water usually is found combined with some of the salts, which
seem to act as regulators of the amount which shall be incorporated
into a tissue. Water is a necessary constituent of all tissues, giving
them a proper consistency and elasticity. The power of resistance of
the bones could not be maintained without it. It is also valuable as a
food solvent, assisting in the liquefying of different substances,
which are taken up by the various absorbent tubes, conveyed into
the blood, and so circulated through the body. Most of the water of
the body is taken into it from without, but it is also formed in the
body by the union of hydrogen and oxygen.[29]
Sodium chlorid, or common salt, is found in the blood and other
fluids, and in the solids of the body, except the enamel of the teeth;
it occurs in greatest proportion in the fluids. The part that this salt
plays in nutrition is not altogether understood. "Common salt is
intermediate in certain general processes, and does not participate
by its elements in the formation of organs" (Liebig). Salt is intimately
associated with water, which plays an intermediate part also in
nutrition, being a bearer or carrier of nutritious matters through the
body.
Salt seems to regulate the absorption and use of nutrients. It is
found in the greatest quantity in the blood and chyle. It doubtless
facilitates digestion by rendering foods more savory, and thus
causing the digestive juices to flow more freely. Sodium chlorid is
contained in most if not all kinds of food, but not in sufficient
quantity to supply the wants of the body; it therefore becomes a
necessary part of a diet.
Potassium chlorid has similar uses to sodium chlorid, although not
so generally distributed through the body. It is found in muscle, liver,
milk, chyle, blood, mucus, saliva, bile, gastric juice, and one or two
other fluids.
 Calcium phosphate is found in all the fluids and solids of the body,
held in solution in them by the presence of CO2; both it and calcium
carbonate enter largely into the structure of the bones.
Sodium carbonate, magnesium phosphate, and other salts play
important parts in nutrition.
The various salts influence chemical change as well as act in
rendering food soluble. For example, serum albumen, the chief
proteid of the blood, is insoluble in pure water, but dissolves easily in
water which has a little neutral salts in it.[30] Salts also help to give
firmness to the teeth and bones.
To recapitulate, food is eaten, digested, assimilated, and
consumed or transformed in the body by a series of highly intricate
and complex processes. It is for the most part used for the different
powers and activities of the system; there is, however, always a
small portion which is rejected as waste. The first change is in the
mouth, where the food is broken up and moistened and the
digestion of starch begins; these changes continue in the stomach
until the whole is reduced to a more or less liquid mass. As the
contents of the stomach pass little by little into the duodenum, the
mass becomes more fluid by the admixture of bile, pancreatic juice,
and intestinal juice, and, as it passes along, absorption takes place;
the mass grows darker in color and less fluid, until all good material
is taken up and only waste left, which is rejected from the body.
That portion of the food which is not affected by the single or
united action of the digestive fluids is chiefly of vegetable origin.
Hard seeds, such as corn, and the outer coverings of grains, such as
the husk of oatmeal and those parts which are composed largely of
cellulose, pass through the intestinal canal without change.
It may be remarked here that since the digestive mechanism is so
perfect a structure, and will try to dissolve anything given it, and
select only that which is good, why should there be the necessity of
giving any special attention to preparing food before it is eaten? The
answer is that the absorptive vessels cannot take up what is not
there, neither can the digestive organs supply what the food lacks;
therefore, the food must contain in suitable proportions all
substances needed by the body. Also, food which contains a large
proportion of waste, or is difficult of digestion from over or under
cooking, or is unattractive by insipidity or unsavoriness, overworks
these long-suffering organs (the extra power or force needed being
drawn from the blood), and causes the whole system to suffer. Mal-
nutrition, with the long line of evils which it entails, is the cause,
direct or indirect, of most of the sickness in the world, for it reduces
the powers of the system, and thus enfeebles its resistance to
disease.
Ideal Diet. "The ideal diet is that combination of food which,
while imposing the least burden upon the body, supplies it with
exactly sufficient material to meet its wants" (Schuster).
In general the digestibility of foods may be summarized as
follows:
 1. The protein of ordinary animal foods is very readily and completely
digestible.
2. The protein of vegetable foods is much less easily digested than that of
animal foods.
3. The fat of animal foods may at times fail of digestion.
4. Sugar and starch are easy of digestion.
5. Animal foods have the advantage of vegetable foods in that they contain
more protein, and that their protein is more easily digested. (Atwater.)

A diet largely of animal food leaves very little undigested matter.

The albuminoids in all cases are completely transformed into
nutriment. Fat enters the blood as a fine emulsion.
Absorption. The general rule of absorption is that food is taken
into the circulation through the porous walls of the alimentary tract
as rapidly as it is completely digested. A large portion of liquid is
immediately absorbed by the blood-vessels of the stomach.
Adaptation of Foods to Particular Needs and Conditions.
The demands of different individuals for nutrients in the daily food
vary with age, occupation, and other conditions of life, including
especially the peculiar characteristics of people. No two persons are
exactly alike in their expenditure of muscular and nervous energy, so
no two will need the same amount or kind of nutriment to repair the
waste.
A man who digs in a field day after day expends a certain amount
of muscular energy. A lawyer, statesman, or author who works with
his brain instead of his hands uses nervous force, but very little
muscular. Brain and muscle are not nourished exactly by the same
materials; therefore, the demand in the way of nutriment of these
two classes will not be the same.
The lawyer might find a feast in a box of sardines and some
biscuit, while the field laborer would look with contempt upon such
food, and turn from it to fat pork and cabbage. This is no mere
difference in refinement of taste, but a real and instinctive difference
in the demands of the two constitutions. Sardines supply to the