[Sidenote: Milk the best animal food]
Milk and the various products made therefrom constitute one of the most
important groups of food in the modern bill of fare. Milk and eggs are
interdicted by some vegetarians, but aside from the sentimental feeling
against the taking of any food of animal origin, there are no scientific
reasons for such exclusion. Dairy products are free from many of the
objections assessed against the use of flesh, and they supply a number
of readily soluble, digestible, and assimilable nutrients that, in many
respects (curative and remedial feeding), excel anything that can be
secured from the vegetable kingdom.
[Sidenote: Results of special feeding]
The composition of cow's milk varies widely. Dairy cows, by long
domestication, breeding and feeding, have been brought to a high state
of specialization. Some breeds have been so trained, fed, and bred as
to produce large quantities of milk. Some Holsteins have been known to
produce one hundred pounds of milk per day each, which of course is many
times the quantity required for the nourishment of their young. Some
Jersey stock have been so bred, raised, and fed as to produce large
quantities of butter; in some cases the butter-fat of especially fed
Jerseys has been known to run as high as 8 or 10 per cent, whereas the
normal fat content of milk is not more than 3.5 or 4 per cent.
The average composition of mixed milk from many cows runs about as
follows: Water, 87 per cent; lactose or milk-sugar, 4.5 per cent;
butter-fat, 3.5 per cent; ash, .7 per cent; proteids, 3.3 per cent, of
which about 2.5 per cent are casein, and .8 per cent albumin.
[Sidenote: Value of milk depends upon its nitrogenous content]
The commercial value of milk is measured almost entirely by its content
of butter-fat. This is because the public knows practically nothing
about the food value, or the chemistry of milk, therefore its value is
estimated upon that which can be seen, and upon that which tastes best.
The chief value of milk as a food lies in the nitrogenous element it
contains. Fat can be secured from many other sources.
The nutritive elements of milk from various animals vary according to
the natural requirements of the young of various species.
Cow's milk contains too large a proportion of casein, and not enough
milk-sugar to meet the natural requirements of the human infant. This
subject, however, will be discussed at length in Lesson XVI on "Infant
Feeding," Vol. V, p. 1154.
[Sidenote: Coagulation of casein in milk]
The casein in cow's milk is coagulated by the hydrochloric acid of the
stomach, which forms into lumps or curds, rather difficult to digest.
This can be overcome or counteracted in several ways. First, if milk is
allowed to sour or clabber, the casein is coagulated by nature, which is
really the first process of digestion. In this form it neither burdens
the digestion nor causes the supersecretion of hydrochloric acid, which
is likely to occur when sweet milk is too liberally used. Second, the
sipping and thorough insalivation of milk, by taking it into the mouth
with something that requires thorough mastication, insures better
digestion and assimilation, and less liability to produce intestinal gas.
Milk will harmonize chemically with all non-acid fruits, cereals and
nuts. Milk is in chemical harmony with meat and eggs, but all of these
articles being highly nitrogenous, when taken at the same meal, the
portions should be limited to the minimum.
Milk should not be combined with acid fruits, especially those of
a highly acidulous character, such as lemons, limes, grapefruit,
pineapples, etc. (See Lesson VIII, Vol. II, p. 314.) Neither should
it be taken at the same meals with succulent plants, such as lettuce,
watercress, romaine, parsley, etc.
[Sidenote: Milk for sour or acid stomach]
When the stomach has long been over-burdened with food, and made the
receptacle in which acid fermentation has taken place until the mucous
membrane has become irritated or probably ulcerated, there is no food
so acceptable as milk. For the common disorder of hyperchlorhydria,
which is a term used to describe a condition of chronic sour stomach
or supersecretion of hydrochloric acid, milk is one of Nature's best
counteractive food nutrients. (See "Superacidity," Vol. II, p. 418.)
In cases of severe constipation or alimentary congestion, milk should be
given as follows:
[Sidenote: Milk diet for constipation]
Omit breakfast. Begin about 9:30 taking an ordinary glassful of fresh,
cool milk every twenty or thirty minutes, until about one and one-half
quarts have been consumed. After two or three hours, repeat the same
process until about two quarts more have been taken. With each quart
of milk, from three to four heaping dessert-spoonfuls of clean, wheat
bran should be taken, in thin cream or rich milk. At noon and at evening
a few tablespoonfuls of coarse cereal (wheat or rye flakes), might be
eaten. They should be masticated thoroughly, and eaten with nuts and
a limited quantity of cream. Under this regimen I have known the most
severe cases of constipation to yield readily, and the patient to make
a gain in weight of half a pound daily for a period of from twenty
to thirty days. If the appetite should rebel against taking milk in
this quantity, the amount should be reduced, and a cupful of soaked
evaporated apricots taken at night just before retiring, and in the
morning, just after rising.
When milk is taken for the purpose of counteracting a congested
condition of the bowels, or an irritated condition of the mucous
membrane of the stomach, it should be combined with the fewest possible
things--one coarse cereal only will give the best results. A large
quantity of milk, three and one-half to four quarts taken daily, as
above directed, will act as a laxative, while a small quantity will have
a tendency toward constipation.