There is no subject of greater physiological importance, or of greater
moment for the welfare of the human race, than the subject of nutrition.
How best to maintain the body in a condition of health and strength,
how to establish the highest degree of efficiency, both physical and
mental, with the least expenditure of energy, are questions in nutrition
that every enlightened person should know something of, and yet even
the expert physiologist to-day is in an uncertain frame of mind as to
what constitutes a proper dietary for different conditions of life and
different degrees of activity. We hear on all sides widely divergent
views regarding the needs of the body, as to the extent and character of
the food requirements, contradictory statements as to the relative merits
of animal and vegetable foods; indeed, there is great lack of agreement
regarding many of the fundamental questions that constantly arise in any
consideration of the nutrition of the human body. Especially is this
true regarding the so-called dietary standards, or the food requirements
of the healthy adult. Certain general standards have been more or less
widely adopted, but a careful scrutiny of the conditions under which
the data were collected leads to the conclusion that the standards in
question have a very uncertain value, especially as we see many instances
of people living, apparently in good physical condition, under a _régime_
not at all in harmony with the existing standards.
Especially do we need more definite knowledge of the true physiological
necessities of the body for proteid or albuminous foods, _i. e._, those
forms of foods that we are accustomed to speak of as the essential foods,
since they are absolutely requisite for life. If our ideas regarding
the daily quantities of these foods necessary for the maintenance of
health and strength are exaggerated, then a possible physiological
economy is open to us, with the added possibility that health and vigor
may be directly or indirectly increased. Further, if through years
and generations of habit we have become addicted to the use of undue
quantities of proteid foods, quantities way beyond the physiological
requirements of the body, then we have to consider the possibility that
this excess of daily food may be more or less responsible for many
diseased conditions, which might be obviated by more careful observance
of the true physiological needs of the body.
First, however, we must have more definite information as to what the
real necessities of the body for proteid food are, and this information
can be obtained only by careful scientific experimentation under varying
conditions. This has been the object of the present study, and the
results obtained are now placed before the public with the hope that
they will prove not only of scientific interest and value, but that
they will also serve to arouse an interest in the minds of thoughtful
people in a subject which is surely of primary importance for the
welfare of mankind. That the physical condition of the body exercises
an all-powerful influence upon the mental state, and that a man’s moral
nature even is influenced by his bodily condition are equally certain;
hence, the subject of nutrition, when once it is fully understood and its
precepts obeyed, bids fair to exert a beneficial influence not only upon
bodily conditions, but likewise upon the welfare of mankind in many other
directions.
In presenting the results of the experiments, herein described, the
writer has refrained from entering into lengthy discussions, preferring
to allow the results mainly to speak for themselves. They are certainly
sufficiently convincing and need no superabundance of words to give them
value; indeed, such merit as the book possesses is to be found in the
large number of consecutive results, which admit of no contradiction
and need no argument to enhance their value. The results presented are
scientific facts, and the conclusions they justify are self-evident.