The purposes of food are to promote growth, to supply force and heat, and to furnish material to repair the waste which is consistently taking location in the body. Each and every breath, every single thought, every single motion, wears out some portion of the delicate and fantastic house in which we live. Several important processes remove these worn and useless particles; and to keep the body in health, their loss ought to be made great by continually renewed supplies of material properly adapted to replenish the worn and impaired tissues. This renovating material ought to be supplied by way of the medium of food and drink, along with the greatest food is that by which the desired end may possibly be most readily and perfectly attained. The excellent diversity in character of the a number of tissues of the body, makes it essential that food need to contain a variety of elements, in order that each and every part may possibly be properly nourished and replenished.
The Food Elements.
The numerous elements found in food are the following: Starch, sugar, fats, albumen, mineral substances, indigestible substances.
The digestible food elements are often grouped, according to their chemical composition, into 3 classes; vis., carbonaceous, nitrogenous, and inorganic. The carbonaceous class includes starch, sugar, and fats; the nitrogenous, all albuminous elements; and also the inorganic comprises the mineral elements.
Starch is only found in vegetable foods; all grains, most vegetables, and some fruits, contain starch in abundance. A number of kinds of sugar are produced in nature's laboratory; cane, grape, fruit, and milk sugar. The very first is obtained from the sugar-cane, the sap of maple trees, and from the beet root. Grape and fruit sugars are discovered in most fruits and in honey. Milk sugar is among the constituents of milk. Glucose, an artificial sugar resembling grape sugar, is now largely manufactured by subjecting the starch of corn or potatoes to a chemical method; but it lacks the sweetness of natural sugars, and is by no indicates a correct substitute for them. Albumen is discovered in its purest, uncombined state within the white of an egg, which is practically wholly composed of albumen. It exists, combined with other food elements, in numerous other foods, both animal and vegetable. It can be found abundant in oatmeal, and to some extent inside the other grains, and inside the juices of vegetables. All natural foods contain elements which in several respects resemble albumen, and are so closely allied to it that for convenience they are usually classified under the general name of ""albumen."" The chief of these is gluten, which is found in wheat, rye, and barley. Casein, found in peas, beans, and milk, and also the fibrin of flesh, are elements of this class.
Fats are discovered in both animal and vegetable foods. Of animal fats, butter and suet are common examples. In vegetable form, fat is abundant in nuts, peas, beans, in numerous of the grains, and in several fruits, as the olive. As furnished by nature in nuts, legumes, grains, fruits, and milk, this element is often discovered in a state of fine subdivision, which condition is the one very best adapted to its digestion. As most generally employed, inside the form of totally free fats, as butter, lard, etc., it isn't only tough of digestion itself, but often interferes with the digestion of the other food elements which are mixed with it. It was doubtless in no way intended that fats really should be so modified from their natural condition and separated from other food elements as to be utilised as a separate write-up of food. The same might be said of the other carbonaceous elements, sugar and starch, neither of which, when used alone, is capable of sustaining life, even though when combined in a appropriate and natural manner with other food elements, they perform a most crucial part within the nutrition of the body. Most foods contain a percentage of the mineral elements. Grains and milk furnish these elements in abundance. The cellulose, or woody tissue, of vegetables, and the bran of wheat, are examples of indigestible elements, which though they can't be converted into blood in tissue, serve an important purpose by giving bulk to the food.
With the exception of gluten, none of the food elements, when utilised alone, are capable of supporting life. A true food substance contains some of all of the food elements, the quantity of each and every varying in various foods.
Uses of The Food Elements.
Concerning the purpose which these various elements serve, it has been demonstrated by the experiments of eminent physiologists that the carbonaceous elements, which in general comprise the greater bulk of the food, serve 3 purposes inside the body;
1. They furnish material for the production of heat;
two. They're a source of force when taken in connection with other food elements;
three. They replenish the fatty tissues of the body. Of the carbonaceous elements, starch, sugar, and fats, fats produce the greatest quantity of heat in proportion to quantity; that's, more heat is developed from a pound of fat than from an equal weight of sugar or starch; but this apparent benefit is far more than counterbalanced by the fact that fats are significantly much more hard of digestion than are the other carbonaceous elements, and if relied upon to furnish adequate material for bodily heat, could be productive of much mischief in overtaxing and producing disease of the digestive organs. The reality that nature has produced a much much more ample provision of starch and sugars than of fats in man's natural diet, would seem to indicate that they were intended to be the chief source of carbonaceous food; nevertheless, fats, when taken in such proportion as nature supplies them, are essential and crucial food elements.
The nitrogenous food elements specifically nourish the brain, nerves, muscles, and all the a lot more extremely vitalized and active tissues of the body, and also serve as a stimulus to tissue change. Hence it may be said that a food deficient in these elements can be a particularly poor food.
The inorganic elements, chief of which are the phosphates, inside the carbonates of potash, soda, and lime, aid in furnishing the requisite constructing material for bones and nerves.
Proper Combinations of Foods.
Whilst it can be essential that our food really should include some of all of the various food elements, experiments upon both animals and human beings show it's needed that these elements, especially the nitrogenous and carbonaceous, be employed in certain definite proportions, as the system is only able to proper a particular amount of every; and all excess, specifically of nitrogenous elements, just isn't only useless, but even injurious, since to rid the program of the surplus imposes an additional task upon the digestive and excretory organs. The relative proportion of these elements needed to constitute a food which perfectly meets the requirements of the system, is six of carbonaceous to one of nitrogenous. Scientists have devoted significantly careful study and experimentation to the determination of the quantities of each and every of the food elements required for the daily nourishment of individuals under the varying conditions of life, and it has come to be commonly accepted that of the nitrogenous material which ought to constitute 1 sixth of the nutrients taken, about 3 ounces is all that will be made use of in twenty-four hours, by a healthy adult of average weight, performing a moderate quantity of work. Many articles of food are, nonetheless, deficient in 1 or the other of these elements, and must be supplemented by other articles containing the deficient element in superabundance, because to employ a dietary in which any 1 of the nutritive elements is lacking, though in bulk it may be all the digestive organs can manage, is genuinely starvation, and will in time occasion severe results.
It really is therefore apparent that significantly care need to be exercised in the selection and mixture of food materials. Such knowledge is of first significance in the education of cooks and housekeepers, considering that to them falls the selection of the food for the daily needs of the household; and they should not only recognize what foods are greatest suited to supply these requirements, but how to combine them in accordance with physiological laws.
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