As a result of digestive experiments with some of these malted products,1 although the converting action of the malt had changed a fair percentage of the starch to reducing sugar, yet the nutritive material contained is about as digestible as that of rolled wheat, although the process has at the same time rendered the protein less digestible. A far larger proportion of the starch in these malted products remains unchanged, than that which is converted by the action of the malt. The analyses show that the statement, that the starch is eliminated in the process of preparation and therefore the breakfast food is especially valuable for the use of dyspeptics, is untrue. After all is said a product made from wheat or corn or oats will not be very superior to its source in nutritive value. It is urged in defense of the use of prepared breakfast foods sold in packages that they are less liable to accumulate dust and dirt, than those sold in bulk. This is in general true, and this method of sale is an advantage especially when "individual” packages are served on the table; but there is an opportunity for the grocer to store unsold packages, for a long time and these are sometimes found to be infested with worms and insects, and to be absolutely unfit for use. While these foods contain considerable crude fiber which diminishes their nutritive value, this may on the other hand render them more wholesome to the average person. There is also a question whether a partially digested food, is really desirable for the person with normal digestion. On account of the almost universal use in the United States, among all classes of these "easy to prepare" foods, the question of economy should not be overlooked. The price of bread stuffs is at present abnormal, but some years ago it was found that the retail price per pound of these breakfast foods was as follows: Quaker oats, 7.3 cents; Nichol's pearl hominy, 5.3 cents; cream of wheat, 8.8; grape nuts, 17.1; shredded whole wheat, 20; force, 16.5; flaked rice, 18.2; granula, 27.2; Quaker corn flakes, 13.3; Kellogg's corn flakes, 20; maple corn flakes, 14.5; Post 1 Maine Agri. Exp. Sta. Bull. No. 118. toasties, 18.4; grape sugar flakes, 17.8; malta vita, 18.4; sugar corn flakes, 20; Holland rusk, 22.8; puffed wheat, 27. At these rates a bushel of wheat, costing originally $1.00, would when made into breakfast cereals cost from $5.00 to $12.00. These prices indicate that the consumer was paying luxury prices, for ordinary nutritive foods. With the increased price of wheat and other cereals there is still a similar comparison between the cost of the raw material and the retail price of the product. PANCAKE FLOUR (Self-raising flour) In order to still further decrease the labors of the household, a large variety of self-raising flours have been placed on the market. These are, of course, only flour mixed with salt and baking powder. The analysis of a few typical brands is sufficient for comparison.1 There is here an opportunity for adulteration by the substitution of some cheaper flour for buckwheat flour. There would be no objection to the substitution of corn flour for a part of the wheat flour, but it should be remembered that this cheapens the product. There is no advantage in the use of a "self-raising" flour, except that it gives less work to the cook. PROPRIETARY FOODS The proprietary foods and those designed for infants and invalids are used because of certain constituents which they contain 1 Pa. Dept. Agri. Dairy and Food Div. Bull. No. 162. › Phosphate baking powder used. that are needed to nourish the system under abnormal conditions. These foods are either farinaceous, prepared from cereals, either cooked or malted, or from mixtures of cereals with milk products. The common fault of these foods is that they contain too much sugar and starch and not enough fat. The starchy baby-foods should never be given to a child under eight or nine months of age, as the secretions in the earlier months are entirely unfitted to digest such foods.1 Some of these are made up of baked dry wheat flour, sometimes mixed with the flour of barley or oats. The more soluble starch foods2 are made by mixing ground wheat and barley malt with water to form a paste to which a little potassium bicarbonate is added. This mixture is heated at 65° C. for a sufficient time to convert the starch by the action of the malt diastase; the mixture is extracted with warm water, and this solution evaporated to dryness. This contains such sugars as maltose and dextrin. In the preparation of the milk foods, whole or skimmed milk is evaporated to dryness and mixed with sugar or baked cereal flours. Desiccated milk mixed with a dried extract of malted cereals is also used. Tibbles3 has collected a very complete list of analyses of foods of this class. He says: Horlich's malted milk consists of desiccated milk 50; wheat flour 26; malt 23; soda bicarbonates 0.75 parts. Carnick's soluble food consists of dried milk 37.5; malted wheat 37.5; milk sugar 25 parts. Nestle's food consists of equal parts of dried milk, baked flour, and cane sugar, therefore much starch remains unchanged. Mellin's food is made of wheat flour, malt and carbonate of potash; it is digested by Liebig's process until all the starch is converted into dextrose and dextrin; it is then strained to remove cellulose, husks, bran, etc., and evaporated to dryness in a vacuum pan at 140° F. Ridge's, Neave's and Frame foods are baked flour in which some of the starch is dextrinized by heat. 1 Practical Dietetics, Thompson, p. 147, 759. 2 Food Inspection and Analysis, Leach. Loc. cit. These foods are often compared in composition to human milk, and it will be seen that they usually show too much starch and sugar. The patent foods in which the starch is unconverted, possess no advantages as additions to the diet of older children over such simple articles as oatmeal, rusks, and rice, and the latter are much cheaper.1 Non-scientific Diet Systems A report of the U. S. Department of Agriculture in regard to statements about many systems of diet recommended for commercial profit, seems pertinent, in this connection. "Some of the advocates of freak diets are sincere, but are themselves deluded, while others are fakers who seek to make monetary gain, by advising peculiar systems of diet." One of these fads is the use of raw food. While there is no objection to the use of raw food by a person if he likes it, and can prove that it agrees with him, yet as a general proposition man will stand a better chance to thrive if he uses both cooked and uncooked foods, in the ways that they have proved to be satisfactory after thousands of years of experience by the human race. Although raw food may be thoroughly washed, yet much of it is not as fit for food as when cooked, because in the latter process it is thoroughly sterilized. Another argument used for raw foods is the necessity for enzymes in food, but with the ordinary mixed diet containing fruit and raw milk, no such special diet is required. Although whole wheat bread is to be recommended in many cases, yet as that is not the only food used, some of the constituents of wheat can be supplied from other sources. The main thing is to eat in moderation, clean and wellcooked food, or if the food is raw be sure that it is clean. Foods that are found to disagree with a person should be left out of the diet, for it should never be forgotten that the adage "What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others," is thoroughly scientific. 1 Food and Dietetics, Hutchinson, p. 453. U. S. Dept. Agri. Office of Information, Sept. 21, 1913. CHAPTER IV SUGAR AND OTHER SACCHARINE SUBSTANCES The desire for sweet substances seems to be universal in man and is not uncommon in the lower animals. The name sugar was at one time given to substances having a sweet taste, as sugar of lead, etc., but was later restricted to certain oxy-aldehydes and oxy-ketones, having the general formula C1(H2O)m which occur in the vegetable and animal kingdoms. The chief substances of this class from a chemical standpoint (see pp. 15–18) are: Cane sugar (C12H22O11). Glucose (C6H12O6). Mannite (C&H)(OH)。. The important sources of sugar in nature are the sugar cane, sugar beets, sorghum or Chinese cane, sap of sugar maple trees, date palm trees, sap of ash trees of southern Europe, the bamboo, honey, raisins and milk of mammals. History The ancients were familiar with honey as the chief representative of this class of foods, although they also used sweet fruits. The first true sugar was prepared either from the juice of the bamboo or that of the sugar cane, and was probably first known in India. It was very early introduced into China; the sugar cane was also cultivated in the valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. 1 The Story of Sugar-Surface, p. 15. |