Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 63.djvu/128

124 those laws of nutrition which constitute the foundation of good living. It is a subject full of interest and promise for the sociologist and economist, as well as for the physiologist. We need a far more complete knowledge than we possess at present of the laws governing nutrition; we need fuller knowledge of the methods by which the most complete, satisfactory and economical utilization of the diet can be obtained; we need to know more concerning the minimum diet and the minimum amount of proteid or albuminous foods on which health, mental and physical vigor can be permanently maintained; we need to know more fully concerning the influence of various forms of food on growth and recuperative power; we need more complete knowledge regarding the rôle of various dietetic and digestive habits, fixed or acquired; the effects of thorough mastication, insalivation and the influence of two versus three meals a day upon the utilization of food and hence upon the bodily health. Further, we need more concise information as to the effect of the mental state upon digestion and nutrition. These and many other problems of a like nature confront us when we attempt to trace the influence of a proper nutrition upon the condition of the body. These problems, however, all admit of solution, and in their solution undoubtedly lies the remedy for many of the personal ills of mankind.

The foregoing thoughts have been suggested by observations recently made in the writer's laboratory on the amount and character of the food actually required by a healthy man in the maintenance of bodily equilibrium in periods of rest and physical work. Our ideas at present are based primarily upon observations as to what civilized peoples are accustomed to do, and not upon what they need to do in order to meet the demands made upon the body. Sir William Robert has well said that the palate is the dietetic conscience, but he adds that there are many misfit palates, and we may well query whether our dietetic consciences have not become generally perverted through a false mode of living. The well-nigh universal habit of catering to our appetite on all occasions, of bowing to the fancied dictates of our palates even to the extent of satiety, and without regard to the physiological needs of the body, may quite naturally have resulted in a false standard of living in which we have departed widely from the proper laws of nutrition. Statistical studies carried out on large groups of individuals by various physiologists have led to the general acceptance of dietary standards, such as those proposed by Voit of Munich, and Atwater in this country. Thus the Voit diet for a man doing moderate work is 118 grams of proteid or albuminous food, 56 grams of fat and 500 grams of carbohydrates, such as sugar and starch, with a total fuel value of 3,055 large calories or heat units per day. With hard work, Voit increases the daily requirement to 145 grams of proteid, 160 grams of fat and 450 grams of carbohydrates, with a total