250 gr. filet of beef, roasted.
250 gr. beef steak, roasted.
250 gr. tongue, smoked.
200 gr. hare, roasted.
240 gr. partridges, roasted.
250 gr. goose, roasted.
250 gr. duck, roasted.
200 gr. herring, salad.
150 gr. lentils, mashed.
200 gr. peas, mashed.
150 gr. green beans, boiled.
The digestibility of these various kinds of food is calculated for the
normal stomach. By following the above table we can make the best choice
of easily digestible food. Especially for aged persons we should choose
such, and at the same time we should mince them, or give them in the
form of porridge, which is still better. We must do this because aged
persons do not possess, as a rule, good teeth, if any, and thus cannot
fulfill the demands of mastication, which we will treat of later on in a
separate chapter.
The food should not be too hot nor too cold, as, if it is, the stomach,
and even intestines may be damaged; on the other hand, as a rule, warm
food disappears sooner from the stomach; but there are many exceptions
to this rule.
The keynote in the hygiene of food is moderation. We should never eat
more than necessary to satisfy hunger. Most people know when they have
had enough; and as a rule animals never eat more than enough to satisfy
them, and then they will refuse more food. But with the intelligent
human being it is different, and there are not a few who eat more than
they require, and thus dig their graves with their teeth. Moderation is
all important; it is, indeed, the cause of longevity of those persons
who live about 100 years.
We know the story of Cornaro, who became ill at 40 through immoderate
living. He recovered his health by reducing his food to the necessary
amount only, and then lived, happy and healthy, to 100 years. Mr. Horace
Fletcher,[262] and many other persons, have recovered their health
through moderation in food, after having come to the brink of death
through immoderation. Such examples we may often see, and they are
eloquent advocates of moderation in diet.
Footnote 262:
Loc. cit.
We will show later that we can only digest food that we eat with relish;
therefore never let us be persuaded to partake of food, or compel
ourselves to eat, when we are not hungry. Therefore, at least six hours
should pass between dinner and supper, and five hours between breakfast
and dinner. It is more healthy, and especially conducive to healthy
sleep, to have dinner at 12 or 1, and supper at 6 or 7. Meat should only
be taken once a day, at dinner, and in the evening much less should be
eaten than at noon. Meat should never be taken for breakfast. We would
recommend the following diet:—
BREAKFAST.
Grape fruit or oranges, 2 eggs (soft boiled), cereals, stewed fruit,
white or brown bread, fresh butter, a teaspoonful of marmalade or other
kind of jam, fresh cherries, or fresh strawberries, or other fruit in
season, especially grapes, half to one pint of milk.
DINNER.
Soup, fish or meat, vegetables, stewed fruit, fresh fruit, white or
brown bread.
SUPPER.
Like breakfast: one pint of milk, or half a pint of sour milk, kefir, or
koumiss. Also, if liked, sour milk during the day.
In the above diet list we have a variety of foods, which variety is of
great importance.
It is very advantageous, according to our observation, to append to this
diet some milk, carbohydrates, fat, green vegetables, and fruit, with
the exclusion of meat. This we may do, especially if the weather is warm
in spring, summer, or early autumn; but in winter the above diet with
meat should be taken. It would be an excellent thing to take these two
diets in alternating periods. Much will depend upon the tastes of each
person, and the special indications which we give later on in their
respective chapters.
When no meat is eaten, then at least 1½ to 2 liters of rich milk should
be taken, and some cream cheese.
After these general remarks on food we will treat of the merits and
drawbacks of the various kinds of food.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXXV.
ON PROTEID FOOD, ANIMAL FOOD, MEAT, FISH, EGGS, MILK, ETC.
MEAT is the commonest animal food, is the most nutritious, and most
closely resembles in its composition our own bodily tissues. Because the
albumin of meat is much better absorbed than any other kind of albumin,
such food can replace wasted body elements in a shorter time than can
any other kind of nutriment.
Even the albumin of milk leaves more residue than that of meat. From
this latter, therefore, is derived the most benefit during the period of
bodily growth, or in the other conditions above mentioned; but it will
not be so efficacious in those whose growth is already finished, or
whose body tissues are wasted by disease or by other demands on them.
Meat contains very valuable nutritive elements, such as large quantities
of proteids and fat, but very little carbohydrates; also various
important salts, such as chlorides, phosphates, and carbonate of
potassium. Meat also contains iron, the largest amount being found in
the blood of pigs. We can estimate the nutritive value of different
kinds of meat from the following table; according to Professor
Rubner,[263] each 100 parts contain:—
────────────┬──────────┬──────┬──────────
Food. │ Albumin. │ Fat. │Calories.
────────────┼──────────┼──────┼──────────
Lean beef │ 20.6 │ 1.5 │ 98
Fat beef │ 16.9 │ 27.2 │ 327
Fat pork │ 14.5 │ 37.3 │ 406
Lean pork │ 19.9 │ 6.8 │ 145
Lean veal │ 19.8 │ 0.8 │ 89
Fat veal │ 18.9 │ 7.4 │ 146
Fat chicken │ 18.5 │ 9.3 │ 162
Hare │ 23.3 │ 1.1 │ 106
Herring │ 10.1 │ 7.1 │ 107
Bacon │ │ 95.3 │ 886
────────────┴──────────┴──────┴──────────
Footnote 263:
Rubner: “Physiologie der Nahrung und der Ernährungtherapie,” Leipzig,
1897.
In addition to the above nutritive elements there are also a series of
extractive substances to which is due the pleasant taste of the meat.
When such food is boiled these substances and salts pass into the water,
and such meat loses in flavor, though not in its nutritive qualities,
for the water i.e., the soup is not nutrimental at all. Meat, if
prepared for the table directly after the animal is killed, would not be
palatable; and it is, therefore, necessary for it be kept for a given
time before it is eaten. Dr. Wiley, of Washington, considers that meat
improves if kept not exceeding fourteen days in cold storage, after
which time it begins to lose its best qualities.
When meat is chilled it does not lose its pleasant taste; but when it is
frozen the case is very different, for then it loses its beneficial
juices, which escape into the surrounding ice. In such meats, therefore,
the extractives which give the pleasant flavor are wanting. Refrigerated
meat generally arrives in Europe in excellent condition from America.
Before animals are slaughtered to be used for food a rigorous
examination by veterinarians must be made, in order to avoid poisoning
from meat in a condition of putrefaction, or from diseased animals. Some
animals, such as pigs, very often suffer from acute inflammatory
diseases caused by catching cold while on long journeys prior to being
slaughtered. Fortunately, in the early stages of such illness there is
little danger, for it can be avoided by thorough bleeding. The Jewish
method of bleeding an animal is thus particularly to be recommended, for
by this means poisonous products can leave the animals’ bodies in large
quantities. Meat retaining all the natural blood decomposes very
rapidly, especially in hot climates, and we must not forget that such
poisonous substances, as ptomaines, in meat, are not destroyed by the
process of cooking.
The greatest danger from poisoning lies in oysters, which are otherwise
a most digestible food. This is owing to the frequent presence of sewage
contamination in the waters where they are bred, thereby causing
veritable epidemics of typhoid fever. Just as in fish foods, oysters and
mussels, sausages in the meat foods are the most frequent cause of
poisoning when they are not quite fresh and thoroughly sound, and from
such a cause epidemics from poisoning are frequent in Germany. Sausages
are a very nutritious food, as they contain a large amount of fat; their
greater value when made from the blood of pigs, on account of its
richness in iron, will be specially dealt with in another chapter.
Fish contain somewhat less albumin and much more water than meat, but
some of them are rich in fat, such as the eel. We show in the following
table the nutritive values in each 100 parts of some of the most
frequently eaten fish:—
────────────┬──────────┬──────┬──────────
│ Albumin. │ Fat. │Calories.
────────────┼──────────┼──────┼──────────
Herring │ 10.1 │ 7.1 │ 107
(Rubner) │ │ │
Haddock │ 17.1 │ 0.3 │ 73
(Rubner) │ │ │
Salmon │ 16.10 │ 5.50 │ 110
(Pavy) │ │ │
Eel (Rubner)│ 17.8 │ 28.4 │ 317
White fish │ 18.10 │ 2.90 │ 102
(Pavy) │ │ │
────────────┴──────────┴──────┴──────────
Fish contain as a rule very little extractive substances compared with
meat, and are therefore less tasteful; but still the fatter fish have an
agreeable flavor, and are pleasant to the taste. As a general rule, they
are more digestible than meat, and also have less of other disadvantages
than meat food, on which we will dwell more fully in another chapter.
On the other hand, it is more important than with meat that fish should
be absolutely fresh, which would be best attained by keeping them alive
in water until just before being required for the table. Boiled fish is
the most digestible, fried less so, and pickled or smoked the least.
The most perfect animal food is milk, as it contains all the three
principal elements of nourishment, and in normal digestive organs is
easily resorbed. As in the case of meat diet, we will deal more fully
with this most important and wholesome food in a special chapter. We
will content ourselves with mentioning here that milk not only contains
the three principal elements of food, but also most of the equally
important organic and inorganic minerals, without which life would be
impossible. It contains very important organic phosphorized combinations
in the shape of lecithin and nuclein; and of the inorganic salts, lime
exists in milk in a much greater degree than in any other food. Besides
the albumin, carbohydrates, and fat which it contains, milk comes under
the category of foods which are richest in mineral salts, especially
lime, of which cows’ milk contains 1510 milligrammes in every 100
grammes of desiccated substance, according to Bunge. In iron only is
cows’ milk very poor, and therefore when milk forms the main part of our
daily nourishment it will be necessary to partake of iron at the same
time, which we can best do by eating sausage and puddings made from
pigs’ blood (see Chapter XXXVIII).
According to Professor Rubner milk and the various products of milk
contain the three main elements of food, in each 100 parts, as follows:—
────────────┬──────────┬──────┬──────────┬──────────
│ Albumin. │ Fat. │ Carbo- │Calories.
│ │ │hydrates. │
────────────┼──────────┼──────┼──────────┼──────────
Cows’ milk │ 3.4 │ 3.6 │ 4.8 │ 67
Cream │ 3.7 │ 25.7 │ 3.5 │ 268
Buttermilk │ 3.8 │ 1.2 │ 4.6 │ 41
Whey │ 0.8 │ 0.2 │ 3.4 │ 24
Butter │ 0.9 │ 83.1 │ 0.5 │ 404
Cream cheese│ 27.2 │ 30.4 │ 2.5 │ 779
────────────┴──────────┴──────┴──────────┴──────────
According to Bunge the following is the composition of cows’ milk, human
milk, and the milk of some animals which rank nearest to human milk;
each 100 parts contain:—
────────────┬──────────┬────────┬──────────┬────────
│ Casein. │Albumin.│ Fat. │ Sugar.
────────────┼──────────┼──────┬─┴────────┬─┴────────
│ │ │ { 3.1 } │ { 5.9 }
Woman │ 1.2 │ 0.5 │ { 3.3 } │ { to }
│ │ │ { 3.8 } │ { 6.5 }
Cow │ 3.0 │ 0.5 │ 3.7 │ 4.9
Horse │ 1.2 │ 0.8 │ 1.2 │ 5.7
Ass │ 0.7 │ 1.6 │ 1.6 │ 6.0
Goat │ 2.4 │ 0.8 │ 4.3 │ 3.6
────────────┴──────────┴──────┴──────────┴──────────
The milks nearest to human milk in composition are those of the horse,
ass, and goat. It is a very interesting fact that goats’ milk contains
ten times as much iron and nearly seven times as much lime as human
milk, and also ten times as much iron and eight times as much lime as
cows’ milk. On account of its nearer similitude to human milk than the
cows’ milk, and also because of its being richer in valuable minerals,
we will later on, in the chapter on the advantages of milk food,
advocate its use in preference to cows’ milk. We will also show at the
same time that milk must not be boiled, for by so doing very valuable
ferments contained in the milk will be destroyed. Woman’s milk is richer
in these ferments. According to Beauchamp, Bouchut, and Moro, there is a
diastatic ferment in breast milk, but not in cows’ milk. Manfur and
Gillet found a saponifying ferment in mothers’ milk which is less active
in that of cows. Luzatti and Bianchini found a starch-separating ferment
in woman’s milk which is absent in cows’ and goats’ milk. According to
Spolverini, cows’ milk has the same ferments as has human milk, except
the amylolytic ferment, and also a salol splitting element that has been
discovered by Nobecourt and Merklen in the milk of woman.
Butter is a milk product in daily use, and is one of the foods most used
in our diet; and as it is consumed in connection with carbohydrates, we
will refer to it later, when discussing the question of carbohydrates
generally; but we may mention here that butter must be taken only in a
fresh condition, and it should not contain a greater proportion of salt
than 2.5 grains per ounce, for reasons we have so often insisted upon in
our general remarks on food when referring to common salt, and also in
the chapter on the hygiene of the kidneys. When butter is in a rancid
condition it produces acid fermentation in the stomach, and also
disorders of the intestinal functions.
Cheese is a milk product very rich in fat, consisting of the coagulated
casein of the milk fats and salts. American, Canadian, and English
cheese are manufactured from pure milk, while the majority of cheeses of
other manufacture are made from skimmed milk. A very nutritive cheese is
made in Norway from the pure milk of goats; this has a very pleasant
taste and is very easy to digest. By moderately pressing fresh curds
cream cheese is made; and we are of the opinion that in this form it is
more hygienic than old cheese, and we therefore give the preference to
cream cheese, or to cheese made from pure milk that is not old or sour.
Cheese is a very valuable article of nourishment on account of the large
amount of albumin and fat that it contains. Gervais and other sorts of
cream cheese have a very high percentage of fat.
Dr. Haig[264] recommends cheese as a valuable article of food in the
dietetic treatment of uric acid diathesis. It has also the great
advantage of being able to check intestinal putrefaction, owing to its
milk and fatty acid contents.
Footnote 264:
Haig: Loc. cit.
On the other hand, sometimes very old cheese may cause intestinal
putrefaction, with symptoms of intoxication, and serious catarrh of the
intestines. Professor Vaughan, of Ann Arbor, found toxic ptomaine bodies
in cheese and old and stale milk.
Many people are unable to digest cheese well; others develop skin
eruptions or acne after eating it; but, for those who can take it, it is
very valuable as an article of diet when a lacto-vegetarian regimen is
followed, as suggested in our general remarks on diet.
In addition to milk and meat, the next most important animal food is
eggs, which are very rich in a most soluble animal albumin, and also in
a substance which plays an important part in the structure of the
nervous system—lecithin. According to König[265] chicken’s eggs have, in
their natural watery condition, 13 per cent. of albumin and 0.3 per
cent. of fat; and 89 per cent. of albumin and 2 per cent. of fat in the
dried substance of the white part; whereas the yolk, in the natural
watery state, contains 16 per cent. of albumin and 32 per cent. of fat,
while, if dried, 33 per cent. of albumin and 65 per cent. of fat. Eggs
also contain much lime.
Footnote 265:
T. König: “Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs und Genussmittel,” second
edition, Berlin, 1882.
Eggs with milk, carbohydrates, and fat together constitute a food which,
in our opinion, is the most perfect, and one which will enable us to
live a longer life in perfect health, even with a complete exclusion of
meat; though if we take in addition a little of this latter at dinner we
may increase considerably in weight, notwithstanding bodily exercise, as
the author found from personal experience and from observations on a
series of patients. Therefore, we again repeat that the above appears to
be the most beneficial diet to follow if we wish to obey the dictates of
health and enjoy a prosperous long life.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXXVI.
ON CARBOHYDRATES AND FATS, AND THE GREAT ADVANTAGES OF VEGETABLES AND
FRUIT.
SPEAKING generally, by the title “carbohydrates” is principally meant
vegetable food, in the same way that by “albuminous” animal food is
mainly designated. Still there are vegetables which contain more albumin
in their natural watery condition than meat; thus peas contain 23 per
cent. of albumin, whereas lean beef has barely 21 per cent., and fat
beef only 17 per cent. But one thing must especially be considered, and
that is the fact that a considerable portion of peas (about 28 per
cent.) is not absorbed, as Rubner has shown, whereas nearly the whole
albumin contents of lean beef is.
Most albumin is found in leguminous vegetables, such as peas, beans, and
lentils; and these are also rich in carbohydrates, as will be seen from
the following table of percentages by Rubner, in which reference is also
made to the nutritive value of our most important fresh vegetable
foods:—
─────────────────┬─────────┬──────┬──────────┬─────────┬─────────
Food. │Albumin. │ Fat. │ Carbo- │ Cellu- │Calories.
│ │ │hydrates. │ lose. │
─────────────────┼─────────┼──────┼──────────┼─────────┼─────────
Flour of peas │ 25.7 │ 1.8 │ 57.2 │ 1.3 │ 362
Flour of beans │ 23.2 │ 2.1 │ 58.9 │ 1.8 │ 363
Flour of lentils │ 25.7 │ 1.9 │ 56.8 │ 2.1 │ 364
Flour of rice │ 6.9 │ 0.5 │ 77.6 │ 0.1 │ 351
Flour of Indian │ 14.0 │ 3.8 │ 67.6 │ 3.1 │ 382
corn │ │ │ │ │
Flour of wheat │ 10.2 │ 0.9 │ 74.7 │ 0.3 │ 357
Flour of rye │ 10.9 │ 4.8 │ 70.5 │ 1.2 │ 383
Wheat bread │ 6.8 │ 0.8 │ 57.4 │ 0.4 │ 252
Rye bread │ 6.0 │ 0.5 │ 47.8 │ 0.3 │ 226
Potatoes │ 2.1 │ 0.1 │ 21.0 │ 0.7 │ 98
Carrots │ 1.0 │ 0.2 │ 4.4 │ 1.4 │ 50
─────────────────┴─────────┴──────┴──────────┴─────────┴─────────
From the above we see that peas, beans, and lentils have the most
nutritive properties, for they contain not only much albumin but also
much carbohydrates, and also more fat (except in the case of ground
Indian corn and rye), than the other above-mentioned vegetables.
Thus we shall not be surprised to learn that we can thrive very well for
a long time by using such exclusively for food, as has been proved by
the experiments of Rubner and Woroschiloff. The drawback to this kind of
food is that it requires the stomach and intestinal juices to perform
much more work, for reasons already mentioned; and, in consequence, less
of it is utilized; and, after a certain time, the development of stomach
and intestinal troubles is facilitated.
Another drawback attending vegetables is that they contain purin bodies
and form uric acid, indeed in considerable quantities, especially peas
and beans, as Walker Hall[266] discovered from experiments conducted in
the Caroline Institution at Stockholm. Of the various kinds of cereal
foods rice forms the least uric acid, and also, as already mentioned,
contains the least salt, for both of which reasons it is the best food
for the kidneys. It is, at the same time, a very valuable nutritive
food, as it contains a very large quantity of carbohydrates, viz.: 77.6
per cent., and almost the least cellulose of all foodstuffs, as shown in
the table above; but it is very poor in fat, and has also but a small
amount of albumin. As it contains so little proteid and fat its adoption
by people with vegetarian proclivities necessitates the simultaneous use
of leguminous vegetables and of fats. It has the advantage over
leguminous vegetables in that its starch components are extremely
digestible. Thus it is the most valuable vegetable food, in spite of its
being poor in mineral matters.
Footnote 266:
Walker Hall: Berliner klin. Wochenschrift, p. 868, 1903.
Granted the enormous value of rice as a foodstuff, we must express our
surprise that it enters in so small a degree into our daily diet. In
Europe, and in other parts of the world where persons of European
descent reside, as also in America, the potato takes the same place as
rice does in Asiatic countries, though the former is much less rich in
nutritive qualities, as we will show later on.
Rice must be a most excellent food, for the natives of Asiatic
countries, who live almost exclusively on this, offer us examples of
great tenacity, and of resistance against bodily fatigue. Take the
Japanese for example. Their coolies, as shown already, are able to do
enormous muscular work on rice and fish food, and in athletics, such as
jiujitsiu, they present a great example of muscular strength, though it
cannot be denied that it is more their dexterity and knack than their
superiority in mere strength that leads them to victory. That by means
of rice diet, as by carbohydrates, great muscular energy can be
obtained, is a well-known physiological fact.
The starchy portion is converted, through the digestive ferments in the
saliva, pancreatic, and intestinal juices, into dextrin and grape sugar;
absorbed through the intestines, it is deposited in the form of glycogen
in the liver, the muscles also absorbing a large part of this glycogen.
Through work this glycogen is exhausted. Thus work is performed mainly
at the expense of the carbohydrates, which are the prime generators of
muscular energy. We have also seen that the above-mentioned Japanese
coolies perform their incredible muscular efforts largely on such food
only. Still, a part of the muscular energy of the body can also be
provided by the proteids and fats.
Carbohydrate foods, and especially those that are poor in fatty
contents, such as rice, and especially potatoes, which are the most
deficient of all (having but 0.1 per cent. of fat), necessitate the
simultaneous use also of fat; for this kind of exclusively carbohydrate
diet would invariably lead to starvation unless there was a plentiful
supply of fat with it; and the best and most agreeable form to introduce
fat into the body is by means of butter.
Butter is very nutritious, as it contains, according to Rubner, 83.1 per
cent. of fat, 0.9 per cent. of albumin, and 0.5 per cent. of
carbohydrates. One hundred grammes of butter contain, according to
Rubner, 779 calories. In addition to the above, butter also contains
salts, and from 8 to 12 per cent. of water. A diet rich in carbohydrates
could not be well assimilated without butter; but, at the same time, the
abundant use of the latter also necessitates the use of carbohydrates,
which are the best vehicle for butter; therefore, when in diabetes we
prescribe much butter or other fats, we make it a rule, also, to give
some kind of food that contains some amount of carbohydrates, such as
brown bread or green vegetables, or sometimes, in mild cases, also
boiled potatoes.
Potatoes, when new and watery, contain 16 per cent. of carbohydrates;
when they are old, 22 per cent. In many European countries they form a
most important article of diet. Though, as shown in the foregoing table,
they contain only 2 per cent. of proteids, they contain also important
salts, such as a certain amount of citric acid and citrates of
potassium, sodium, and lime. Thus potatoes, by means of these salts, are
also an alkaline food, and if consumed in very large quantities, the
acidity of the urine can become much diminished. These salts are burned
in the body, and the potassium is then transformed into a carbonate
salt. Mossé recommends potatoes in large quantities as a preventive of
diabetes.
Thus, after food which is rich in such vegetables as potatoes, or after
fruit with much fruit acids, the urine can become less acid; but after
food that abounds in proteids the urine becomes acid. This happens after
eating much meat, or leguminous vegetables rich in proteids. Such a very
acid urine is often passed by diabetics; therefore in their diet a
certain amount of fruits, rich in salts but poor in sugar, may give good
results.
The most rational diet is that which combines all the principal items of
nourishment—in the greatest proportion proteids, as from such the body
is built up and waste tissues replaced; next in proportion
carbohydrates, from which, as already shown, we obtain muscular energy;
and to a smaller extent than the two preceding must be taken fat, which
serves to produce heat in the body. Besides these three important
constituents there is a further class of valuable substances
indispensable for our well-being, and these are the mineral matters.
From experiments made by Lunin[267] in Bunge’s laboratory, and by
Förster,[268] it has been shown that animals cannot live if fed on food
that is devoid of mineral matters; and the latter savant has further
shown that animals can live longer without any food at all than with
food that has no salt whatever. We need these salts for different
purposes, such as building up the skeleton; and the condition of the
teeth depends also on the richness of our bodies in lime, and in order
to obtain this it is indispensable to introduce food that contains a
maximum of it. This is of special importance in the nutrition of
children.
Footnote 267:
Lunin: Diss Dorpat, 1880. Zeitschrift für Physiolog. Chemie, vol. v.
March 1, 1881; quoted after Bunge.
Footnote 268:
Förster: Zeitschrift für Biologie, vol. ix, p. 247, 1873; quoted after
Bunge.
We give below a table by Bunge showing the amount of lime contained in
many of our common articles of diet; 100 grammes of dried substance
yields milligrammes of lime:—
Cows’ milk 1510
Human milk 243
Strawberries 483
Figs 400
Yolk of eggs 380
Prunes 160
Peas 137
Dates 108
White of egg 130
Potatoes 100
Pears 95
Malaga 60
grapes
Graham bread 77
But beef, 24
only
Probably no cell growth can take place without lime, and even if grown
animals are fed on a diet containing no lime they soon become weak and
will certainly die at some time from it; therefore not only children,
but adults also, must obtain a sufficient quantity of this, and milk or
water that contains lime is certainly the best means by which to get it.
Very interesting are the observations of Roese,[269] showing that in
parts of Germany where water poor in lime is drunk less people are fit
for military service and the teeth of the population generally are in
bad condition. Lime is indispensable for our body, for it has a
favorable influence upon the work of the heart, the secretion of stomach
juice, and the movements of the intestines; it increases the quantity of
the urine; and, as Lehmann, Posner, and v. Noorden have shown, the
carbonate of lime dissolves uric acid.
Footnote 269:
Roese, “Erdsalzarmuth und Entartung,” Berlin, 1908.
Another most important mineral salt is iron, this being an essential
element of the hæmoglobin of the blood. This latter is the red coloring
matter of the blood, and consists of the combination of an albuminous
body-globulin with a ferruginous body, the hæmatin. According to
Bunge,[270] a man weighing 70 kilos has in his blood 3.2 grains of iron,
and according to Schmidt from 2.4 to 2.7 grains.
Footnote 270:
Bunge: Loc. cit.
Bunge maintains that organic iron is more readily absorbed than
inorganic iron, and that the best way to obtain sufficient iron in the
body will be to choose a food that is rich in iron
We present below a table by Bunge, showing the various articles of food
that contain the greatest percentage of iron; 100 grammes dried
substance contain milligrammes of iron:—
Pig’s blood 226
Spinach 33 to 39
Asparagus 20
Yolk of eggs 10 to 24
Beef 17
Cabbage, green 17
leaves
Apples 13
Red cherries 10
Almonds 9.5
Lentils 9.5
Strawberries 8.6 to
9.3
Carrots 8.6
White beans 6.2 to
6.6
Black cherries 7.2
Peas 6.2 to
6.6
Potatoes 6.4
Huckleberries 5.7
Grapes 5.6
Wheat 5.5
Rye 4.9
Barley 4.5
Raspberries 3.9
Figs 3.7
Human milk 2.3 to
3.1
Cows’ milk 2.3
Dates 2.1
Pears 2.0
But rice, only 1.0 to
2.0
We thus see that certain kinds of fruits and vegetables are noticeably
very rich, not only in lime, but also in iron; such are strawberries,
Malaga or California grapes, peas, potatoes, etc.
If not rich in lime, yet, on the other hand, rich in iron, are certain
vegetables and fruits, such as spinach, asparagus, the outer leaves of
cabbages, lentils, almonds, apples, cherries, etc.
As it is very probable that organic iron is more easily assimilated than
inorganic, it would be advisable in those cases which require a better
nutrition of the blood and an increase of its contents in iron, to give
plentifully the above-named vegetables and fruits.
The fruits mentioned as being rich in iron, such as apples and cherries,
or in iron and lime, such as strawberries and grapes, can not only
increase the amount of iron in the blood, but increase its alkalinity;
and at any rate if they cannot increase it they can at least preserve
it; and not in the blood only, but also in the other fluids of the body,
this being effected through the acids contained in such vegetables, such
as citric, tartaric, malic, acetic, and oxalic acids, which are either
in a free state or in combination with alkalies, as alkaline salts.
After the combustion of the acids in the body they appear as carbonates,
thus increasing the alkalinity of the blood and other fluids.
Of the above acids, grape-fruit contains mostly citric acid, as also do
oranges, lemons, gooseberries, etc.; apples and peas contain malic acid,
and grape juice, tartaric acid.
There can be no doubt that the above-named fruits and vegetables—and let
us not omit the important potato—are able to do us good service in the
prevention and treatment of the condition of acid intoxication that we
find in severe forms of diabetes or in serious disorders of the liver;
but also in uric acid diathesis they can render valuable assistance.
For a long time past through various kinds of fruit, especially berries,
various cases of gout have been successfully treated. Strawberries,
cherries, and apples especially have been recommended in such
conditions, and the value of such a prescription has been confirmed by
the experiments of J. Weiss,[271] made in Bunge’s laboratory. We also
used grapes in large quantities, besides the above-named fruits.
Footnote 271:
J. Weiss: Zeitschrift für Physiolog. Chemie, vol. xxv, p. 303, 1898;
vol. xxvii, p. 216.
In case of gravel, also, where the concrements consist of uric acid, the
administering of such fruit can give beneficial results.
Besides mineral salts and vegetable acids, fruits and vegetables contain
a third important substance, which is cellulose, the framework of their
cell tissues. Although this is very difficult to digest, still there can
be no doubt, from the experiments made on animals and also on man by
Weiske,[272] that cellulose is also a nourishing food, for he proved on
himself and another person that from 46 per cent. to 65 per cent. of the
cellulose can be digested.
Footnote 272:
Weiske: Zeitschrift für Biologie, vol. vi, p. 456.
The chief advantage, however, of cellulose does not lie in its
nourishing properties, which are not great, but in the fact that it acts
as the best natural stimulus to the peristaltic movements of the
intestines. Thus food that contains such a residue (which is contained
most largely in vegetables and fruit) is also the best to use if we
desire to keep the intestines open and to observe the most important
precept of their hygiene. This hygienic condition can also be much
advanced by vegetables of the cereal kind, which, as shown in the
chapter on hygiene of the intestines, may act as a disinfectant of the
same through the milk acid that is formed therefrom in the intestines.
Vegetables and fruit have thus very great advantages, and even in winter
our daily diet should consist plentifully of them, as grape-fruit,
oranges, etc., can be obtained at that time of the year. But when
vegetables and fruit are exclusively used as a diet they present certain
dangers, as we point out in the next chapter on the advantages and
disadvantages of a vegetarian diet.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXXVII.
ON THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF A VEGETARIAN DIET.
OWING to certain peculiarities in our anatomical construction we are not
intended by Nature to be vegetarians. This is amply demonstrated when we
consider the formation of our teeth. These are neither the teeth of
carnivorous nor of herbivorous animals. We have, in fact, teeth similar
to those found among omnivorous animals, such as the dog and pig, while
our whole metabolism, the transformation and assimilation of food in our
bodies, presents great similarity to that of the dog.
The construction of our intestines is further evidence that Nature did
not intend us to be numbered among the herbivorous animals, which are
required to have an enormously long intestine to store up and assimilate
the very large quantity of herbs or vegetables which are necessary to
satisfy their wants. We should have to possess an intestine many times
longer than we are provided with in order to be able to exist on
vegetables alone; and even with such an intestine it would be very
difficult for us to live comfortably for a long period on a purely
vegetarian diet. It is, however, certainly possible to exist on such a
diet for a certain time; and it may be of direct advantage for those
persons who have overtaxed their digestive organs by large quantities of
meat food, as it will afford the said organs a well merited rest. In
order to live for a long period without risk on a vegetarian diet, it is
necessary to add certain products of animal sources, such as milk and
eggs. We know from personal experience that with a vegetarian diet
supplemented by cereals, especially rice, milk, butter, and eggs, it is
possible to exist very comfortably for a long time, and to thrive on it,
for we have frequently witnessed a considerable increase in the weight
of the body. This experience we have also gained and confirmed by
personal test.
A vegetarian diet, when supplemented by milk and butter, can be indulged
in for a considerable time, and advantage may be gained therefrom. In
many cases of nervous diseases it is of excellent value, especially in
neurasthenia and hysteria, Graves’s disease, myxœdema, etc., when meat
food is deleterious, for reasons we have often given. With such a diet
we can also avoid all the dangers which threaten us from the formation
of uric acid. We must, however, avoid taking in large quantities of such
vegetables as beans, peas, etc., which, according to Walker Hall,
contain purin bodies, the mother substances of uric acid.
Rice is the vegetable which will form the least uric acid, and it is at
the same time one of the most nourishing of vegetarian foods, as it
contains 77 per cent. of carbohydrates.
Thus with vegetarian diet we can avoid, in great probability, those
diseases which arise from an excessive formation of uric acid. As
Professor Dettweiler,[273] of Freiburg, demonstrated at the German
Congress of Medicine in 1907, the viscosity of blood is greatly
diminished by a vegetarian diet. As gout is a disease which is due, in
all probability, to a retention of uric acid (after preliminary changes
in the thyroid and kidneys, as we have pointed out in a communication to
the Paris Biological Society, February 25, 1907), a long extended
vegetarian diet can unquestionably be of a great benefit for the
prevention and treatment of this disease. It is, however, necessary that
such a diet should be prescribed for a very long time (for several
months at least) if we desire to reap the full benefit from it.
Footnote 273:
Dettweiler: German Congress of Internal Medicine, 1905.
To prevent the development of diabetes, also, especially in cases of
children of diabetic parents, a vegetarian diet can be of great use. In
the chapter on the deleterious action of excessive meat food, we refer
in detail to the fact that diabetes is most often found in persons
addicted to much meat food, especially if carbohydrates are taken in
large quantities at the same time. Obesity is seldom found in persons
who live on a vegetarian diet. Carbohydrates can be taken in large
quantities without producing obesity, if only meat is not taken at the
same time in more than a limited amount.
Arteriosclerosis is very seldom found in persons who have been addicted
for many years to vegetarianism. Not only is this due to the fact that a
vegetarian diet is the least deleterious to the circulatory system, but
as we have mentioned above, the viscosity of the blood is also
diminished; but with a vegetarian diet, coupled with milk, there is much
less intestinal putrefaction, if any, than with a meat diet. It is well
known that the production of arterial sclerosis can be facilitated by
the products of intestinal putrefaction.
As Brissaud and Siccard have shown, the injection of adrenalin and uric
acid at the same time into animals produces atheromatosis in each case.
We also know, from clinical observation generally, that arteriosclerosis
is of greater frequency among gouty people, and the frequency of
diabetes among such can be attributed to arteriosclerotic changes in the
pancreas (endarteritis obliterans, Flexner).
Marcel Labbé has shown at the French Congress of Internal Medicine in
Paris, 1907, that a diet of cereals, milk, butter, and sugar diminishes
the quantity of uric acid, while the addition of nucleo-albumins
augments it.
Vegetarian diet is of great service to the intestines, their torpidity
being thereby greatly overcome; and if milk be taken at the same time
intestinal putrefaction is checked and the tendency to catarrh improved.
Such a diet is also of great value to other important organs: the
thyroid, liver, and kidneys; as in cases where such are in a diseased
condition, the chances of recovery or for a more prolonged life are much
enhanced, because such a diet is least harmful to these organs.
But the greatest advantages of a vegetarian diet are seen in the
prevention of the ravages of old age by this means. By the use of such a
diet we can, to a certain extent, check the degeneration of those organs
which play the most important pathological roll in the development of
old age, and which have already been mentioned several times, viz.: the
thyroid, liver, and kidneys (see the hygiene of these organs). The
degeneration of these may produce the retention of toxic products and a
condition of auto-intoxication; but by a vegetarian diet, coupled with
milk, these troubles may be more easily avoided.
A vegetarian diet, with milk and a few eggs daily, is the best
nourishment for old people; the greater the age the more of the latter
should be taken. In fact, persons advanced in age will do well to eat
very little meat, for reasons which are fully given in the chapter on
the dangers of a too abundant meat diet.
We have thus seen that a vegetarian diet can give the best results, not
only in the prevention and cure of many diseases, but also in the
preservation of health in old age. It is a fact that we often see
persons who follow such a diet looking much fresher and more youthful
than those who partake of much meat, especially when they have passed
the seventies.
But if milk and vegetarian diet, with a few eggs daily, can be taken for
many years and yield good results, it is quite a different case with
those people who are in the habit of living only on vegetables to the
exclusion of any article of animal food; such are vegetarian fanatics,
and if they keep up this deleterious habit for a lengthened period, they
must inevitably suffer for it.
Even if we do not admit the pretensions of certain authors, who declare
that the albumin of the vegetable is less nourishing than the albumin of
animals, still it is impossible for us to introduce into our bodies the
quantity of vegetables which would contain the number of calories
necessary in order that we should not suffer from a deficiency of them,
and at the same time would allow for waste. To satisfy the requirements
of our bodies we would have to eat enormous quantities of vegetables and
thus overload the stomach and intestines, with the result that even the
strongest stomach would undoubtedly give way after a certain time, and
dyspepsia, especially sour stomach, and eventually atony, and in many
cases even dilatation, of the stomach would follow; and abnormal
fermentation would readily take place in the intestines after a certain
time. Consider, also, what large amounts of enzymes, how much saliva,
hydrochloric acid, bile, etc., must be produced in order to insure a
good digestion and assimilation of the food, though it is of course true
that the ferments, at least, can readily act in a very small degree upon
large quantities of food. Vegetarian diet has also the drawback that,
for reasons already mentioned, more salt must be taken when we partake
of it.
There are many people who develop hyperchlorhydria after a vegetarian
diet, and we frequently had to have our patients abandon such a diet
when they got acid stomachs; and they only recovered from these ill
effects after animal food had been given in certain quantities. It is
certain that the present capacity of the stomach and intestines, and
their present anatomical and histological structure, also, is not
sufficient or adequate for the continued use of a vegetarian diet, the
greatest danger of which lies, however, in the threatening
_under_-nutrition, and in consequence the imminent danger of bacterial
infection.
It is a positive pathological fact that under-nutrition (or defective
nutrition) through lack of the necessary amount of proteids in the diet
exposes one more to infection by bacilli. This is plainly to be seen
every day, especially in regard to tuberculosis; and as the best
preventive to this we strongly recommend plenty of nutrition, especially
rare meat and milk. We have personal knowledge of several cases of
tuberculosis arising from a purely vegetarian diet (see, also, Chapter
III). The findings of Grawitz[274] indicate that an insufficient proteid
diet predisposes also to anæmia. The importance of this fact is
emphasized by Sajous who has shown (1903) that defective nutrition
weakens the activity of the pituitary, thyroid and adrenals, the
products or secretions of which take an active part in the destruction
of bacteria and their toxins.
Footnote 274:
Grawitz: “Klinische Pathologie des Blutes.” third edition, 1906.
In our chapter on the destruction of toxic products by the liver, we
referred to evidence gained from actual experiments, that
under-nutrition predisposes to infection. We have referred to Roger and
Garnier, who have proved that the liver loses its antitoxic properties
in cases of under-nutrition, and it is probable that the other antitoxic
organs exhibit a similar condition.
There are two primary conditions on which infection depends: 1. The
invasion of the microbes. The greater their number and virulence the
more easily will infection take place. 2. The diminution of our normal
resistance against infection, which, as we have seen in the third
chapter, can be caused by different factors, among which is
under-nutrition.
In any case we are surrounded by countless millions of microbes every
day, which are only too anxiously awaiting a favorable moment to attack
us; and should we be so foolish as to encourage their attacks by
adopting fads in our nourishment?
The greatest danger of a strictly vegetarian diet is for those persons
whose parents suffered from chronic cachectic diseases, such as
tuberculosis, chronic alcoholism, etc., in whose cases the perils of
infection are much more menacing. Should such expose themselves still
more by insufficient nourishment, such a course can be called by no
other name than culpable negligence, leading to suicide. It is the
object of this book to demonstrate the best way to reach a ripe old age
and to avoid disease; it is, therefore, my duty to emphasize the dangers
of a sole vegetarian diet, especially for weak people.
As the processes of oxidation are, as a rule, diminished in old age,
especially in its advanced stage, such persons can exist on less food
and need not introduce so many calories into their system; and as they
also take less exercise, so they require less nourishment. Consequently,
they can live better on a vegetarian diet than can the young and robust.
Even then, however, it may be prejudicial to their health to live solely
on vegetables, and it will be necessary to supplement this with milk and
a few eggs daily. For young people such a diet, continued for a
prolonged period, will present evils, and it would therefore be
advisable not to continue such nourishment longer than four or six
weeks, and then add meat once a day to the former diet of vegetables.
This is mixed vegetarian diet, and should be interposed in the ordinary
diet routine at intervals and at times of necessity. Thus when symptoms
of over-nutrition may present themselves a purely vegetarian regimen may
be followed, but not for longer than three or four weeks; but for those
having a weak constitution and great tendency to infection, a purely
vegetarian diet is not indicated, even for so short a time as a week.
Judging from my own personal experience, I do not think it possible for
persons who confine themselves solely to a vegetable diet to prosper and
look well, especially if they exist on such insufficient food for
several months, and still less so if they continue such a course for a
longer time. We know that all the people of our acquaintance who existed
for a long time on such a diet, presented a pale, haggard and miserable
appearance, so that we could not but pity them. We, personally, tried to
follow their example, but after a short experience hunger forced us to
abandon the idea. Even long and careful mastication did not satisfy our
craving for food, so that we had to add milk, cheese, and eggs. We
admit, however, that for those of an unhealthy constitution, requiring
less food, and especially for those who are in the habit of
overeating,[275] there may be found some satisfaction in such a system
of under-nutrition; but even they have no right to call it a healthy
method of nourishment. We have found, that as a whole, women can stand
more easily, and also for a longer time, a vegetarian diet.
Footnote 275:
As an illustration we may mention the amusing story of the rich
Dutchman, who, while en route to an Austrian watering place for the
treatment of his obesity, was arrested in Germany for some imprudent
utterances termed “lèse majesté,” and after having been kept in prison
for four months on a largely vegetarian diet came home as a slender
man cured of his corpulency.
Those who point out by historical facts that man was destined to
vegetarian diet may not be right, for it is certain that many thousands
of years ago man was a fruit eater, when he also lived in trees. When he
began to reside on terra firma, compelled to so do by the scarcity of
fruit in consequence of the increase of humanity, he turned hunter and
meat eater. When we visit ethnographical museums, we find that from 10
to 5000 years before Christ man fashioned spear heads and knives from
flint, with which he killed animals, upon the meat of which he
subsisted; and at such times he lived chiefly on meat and fish, only
later becoming agriculturist and omnivorous in diet.
Many believers in a sole vegetarian diet like to point to animals as an
example, for these, they maintain, prosper on, and are contented with
herbs. Let us follow up this statement and see what we find to be the
case in the animal world.
We maintain that the truth of the matter is that there are few animals
of the nobler kind to be found among those existing on herbs. We find
the monarchs of the animals among the carnivorous class, and if we take
them as our example, the courage and valor of the lion will appeal to us
far more forcibly than the cowardice and helplessness of the sheep.
Energy gained by the addition of a certain amount of animal food does
not exclude the nobler qualities peculiar to the human brain, freed from
fads and fanaticism, and it is a valuable factor in combating the
numerous vicissitudes of life.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
ON THE DANGERS OF A TOO ABUNDANT MEAT DIET—A FEW HINTS ON THE DIETETICS
OF MEAT.
MOST of us have experienced a feeling of heaviness after a dinner
consisting of rich meat, and not infrequently there is also a sensation
of drowsiness after it, which is not easy to overcome. The first may be
due to the difficulty of digestion; but we may not experience this after
taking even twice as much carbohydrate and green vegetable food. We
know, from the observations on food already referred to, that meat is
far more digestible, unless it contains much connective tissue and
sinewy matter, than the majority of cereals and green vegetables, and
especially fruit; and yet after a dinner of the latter we will not feel
so heavy as after a meal in which we have taken a smaller amount of
food, but of which the greater part was meat.
This feeling of heaviness can, therefore, not be attributed to
difficulty of digestion, and as there is, at the same time, a greater
disinclination to work and a feeling of sleepiness after a meal with
much meat than after one of vegetables alone, or of milk and vegetables,
meat must, undoubtedly, have a more deleterious effect upon the central
nervous system than have other kinds of food.
That this mere clinical observation is not fallacious is also shown by
the fact that after eating much meat nervous disorders are far more
frequent; and we find many more instances of neurasthenia and hysteria
among eaters of much meat than among vegetarians; and in the treatment
of many nervous disorders far better results are obtained after
excluding meat from the diet.
It is noticeable in a marked degree in Graves’s disease, and also in
myxœdema, that patients suffering from them will not improve with meat,
and after partaking of it their symptoms are aggravated. This is only
natural, as these diseases are caused by changes in the thyroid gland,
to which we have referred in Chapter II, where we have also shown that
this gland undergoes changes through an overabundance of meat. We have
there mentioned the very interesting experiments of Leo Breisacher, of
Detroit, and of Blum, of Frankfort, and others. But we would wish to
remark here that it has been demonstrated by the experiments of Chalmers
Watson, of Edinburgh, that when certain animals, such as fowls, eat much
meat to the exclusion of all other kinds of food, they present great
enlargement of the follicles of the thyroid gland, and that rats, kept
on the same diet, exhibit even a degeneration of the gland, which can
even go to the extent of presenting the clinical picture of Graves’s
disease. Not only the thyroid, but the other ductless glands also, have
been found altered after an exclusive meat diet. Forsyth[276] found also
an enlargement of the follicles of the pituitary body in birds of prey,
and Houssaye[277] found that chickens lost their fertility after such a
diet, which affected their ovaries.
Footnote 276:
Forsyth: Lancet, 1907.
Footnote 277:
Houssaye: C. R. Académie des Sciences, p. 934, 1903.
There are numerous clinical and anatomo-pathological evidences to show
that the other ductless glands also—that is, the glands with internal
secretion, such as the liver, kidneys, and even also the pancreas—are
altered by an abundance of meat food if long continued.
We have already dwelt on the fact that the liver has the function of
destroying the harmful products that are formed by the decomposition of
meat food. Thus the more meat we eat the more work is thrown on the
liver, which may first become hyperæmic, but, through the continuation
of the harmful agency more deleterious conditions may develop. Every
physician can observe daily, as we have, that when patients suffering
from disorders of the liver take meat, they gradually get worse, but
when they give up meat they soon get better. If, therefore, we desire to
retain our vitality for a long time, it is best for us not to take too
much meat.
In the same way the kidneys can also be kept in good condition if too
much meat be not taken. These eliminate the end-products of meat food,
and the more of such products that pass through the kidneys, the more of
them are taken from the blood and excreted by means of the fine
epithelia of the kidney tubules, and thus the more is the work done by
these organs; and we have mentioned that any overwork of an organ may be
followed by its exhaustion. As a consequence of eating meat sometimes
very harmful products pass through the kidneys, especially in the case
of preserved, strongly seasoned, or spiced meat, for such preserved food
may contain disease germs, ptomaine bodies, mineral poisons, etc. But
even the passage of normal end-products of meaty food—for example, if
urea be continually passed for years in large quantities—can produce
serious alterations. Many authorities, such as Dr. James Tyson, of
Philadelphia, who is well known by his works on the kidneys, attribute
to the very frequent taking of such food many cases of interstitial
nephritis; and nearly all such authorities, including Senator, of
Berlin, prohibit the use of meat in most of the disorders of the
kidneys. But we have already referred to the danger of such a diet to
the liver and kidneys, and it is only because of the importance of the
subject that we have again referred to the matter.
There is some clinical evidence in favor of the opinion that the
pancreas may also be altered by an abundant meat diet. We know that when
this organ is diseased we may discover a quantity of unabsorbed meat
fibers in the fæces, indicating that the pancreas has failed to fulfill
its task of assisting in the digestion of meat by the production of its
ferment—the trypsin. Meat, when taken in large quantities, can thus
cause the pancreas considerable overwork, which, in the long run, as is
well-known, may cause trouble, as is shown by the fact learned from
observation, that diabetes develops generally in meat eaters. Even in
dogs an abundant meat diet can produce spontaneous diabetes, a fact we
have already published. Diabetes may not only be due to the changes in
the pancreas, but also as we have shown[278] to those in the thyroid
gland, consequent upon such nourishment.
Footnote 278:
Lorand: “Die rationelle Behandlung der Zuckerkrankheit,” second
edition, Berlin, 1909.
It is a very important fact that much meat can become most injurious to
diabetic patients, and, as v. Noorden[279] observed, even slight cases
of diabetes can be transformed into severe ones in consequence of such a
diet; thus, in our opinion, in all severe cases of this disease meat
should be prohibited.
Footnote 279:
v. Noorden: Deutscher Naturforscher Congress, 1902.
Not only can diabetes, especially if of an hereditary nature, be
increased by abundant meat food, but gout also, as is well known, may be
caused thereby, and, existing, may be made worse. Such diet not only
provokes the elimination of sugar, but of uric acid as well, which
latter is a cause of gout.
Many authorities, especially Walker Hall and Haig, have demonstrated
that even small quantities of meat can produce uric acid, especially
when such meat contains a large quantity of nuclein bodies from which
uric acid can be formed, such as the glandular organs, especially
kidneys, liver, sweetbreads, shortbread, etc.
Meat food in abundance is also deleterious to other organs, as, for
instance, to the intestines, which, receiving a food so easily digested
and absorbed, lack the natural stimulus for good peristaltic movements,
which can best be produced by a cellulose food like vegetables and
fruit.
The greatest danger to the circulatory apparatus lies in meat, for, as
already mentioned, the viscosity of the blood is thereby increased, as
discovered by Determann,[280] and thus its circulation through the
blood-vessels impaired. It is a well-established fact that
arteriosclerosis can very often be observed in persons who have been
largely addicted to a meat diet for a long time. Apoplexy also is more
frequent among such.
Footnote 280:
Congress für Innere Medicin, 1904.
These conditions can, however, be improved if the meat be suppressed and
replaced by a vegetarian diet.
It would lead us beyond the limits of this book if we attempted to point
out in an exhaustive manner various other dangerous consequences of a
too abundant meat diet. All we desire is to discuss the question
whether, in view of the various dangers to which a meat diet may lead,
to which we have referred, we should or should not give up meat.
We think we should be guilty of fanatical prejudice if, because of the
above accounts of the dangerous consequences ensuing on an unlimited
_abuse_ of meat, we should discard meat entirely, even in small
quantities. Such a course is, indeed, strongly advocated by Haig,[281]
but we cannot follow him so far.
Footnote 281:
Haig: “Uric Acid in the Causation of Disease,” sixth edition, London,
1904.
It is quite true that even a moderate amount of meat may create uric
acid, but there is not one hour out of the twenty-four that we do not
produce a small amount of uric acid in our system, even if we exclude
food of every description, such being the uric acid produced
endogenously through the decomposition of the nuclein-containing
albuminous bodies in the system, and which it is hardly possible to
avoid; and if our kidneys be in good condition they will easily
eliminate this small amount.
Should we therefore prohibit a person of 50 or 60, who has been in the
habit of eating meat every day of his life since childhood, and who is
in quite a normal state of health, from taking a moderate amount of meat
once a day, and thus knock him out of all his old habits? We do not
think this would be a wise proceeding on the part of any physician of
wide clinical experience and of unprejudiced mind, as everyone must have
observed that such a radical change in the habits of a lifetime may lead
to consequences unfavorable to the general health. No! We desire to be
temperate ourselves and to preach moderation. We must bear in mind that
it is the _im_moderate use of meat that is to be condemned, and not its
use in small quantities. We may, therefore, allow a moderate amount of
meat, once a day, well cooked to destroy, if possible, certain harmful
matters which can be rendered innocuous by sufficient cooking; and, by
preference, we recommend boiled meat, as such food has all the
nourishing properties of roast meat but less extractive substances,
which might, perhaps, irritate the kidneys. Fresh meat should be taken
in preference to canned food, as in the latter at times there is present
certain additional matter, such as preservative salts, boracic acid,
etc.
White meat is always preferable to red, although it is the pretension of
Offer and Rosenquist that in their action both kinds of meat are
similar; still, for clinical reasons, we agree with Professor
Senator[282] who, from his experience, considers white meat better for
the kidneys. The correctness of this opinion has been proved recently by
the researches of Max Adler.[283] We have seen the sugar disappear from
the urine of our diabetic patients when they were placed upon a diet
poor in extractive substances, such as fish (except salmon and carp),
veal, etc., and vegetables poor in carbohydrates; indeed, after such a
diet they were able to tolerate quantities of carbohydrates without
eliminating sugar. It is also of importance to remember that meats
containing many extractive substances, or broths made from such meats,
are capable of greatly increasing the blood-pressure; for this reason
red meats should be forbidden to the aged. The meat of animals that have
been hunted and subjected to great exhaustion before death should not be
used, or used only with very great moderation. Meat strongly seasoned
and spiced, or pickled, should also not be eaten. Sausages should also
be omitted from the diet. We must also remember that fish is also a meat
food, although on account of the greater amount of water it contains and
its more tender structure, and especially because of its smaller content
of extractive substances (except salmon, carp, etc.), it is preferable
to meat proper; yet if taken in large quantities, especially such fish
as salmon, it is quite as harmful as meat. At any rate fish, except the
red-fleshed kind, should always be preferred to ordinary meat.
Footnote 282:
Senator: “Die Erkrankungen der Nieren,” Nothnagel’s Handbuch.
Footnote 283:
Adler: Berliner klin. Wochenschrift, 1908.
It is best not to give meat to little children nor to persons in
advanced years—above 70, or earlier than this if they are decrepit. As
found by Baumann,[284] Charrin,[285] Lafayette Mendel,[286] and others,
the thyroid of infants contains no iodine; after the first year there is
some, but even then very little. Baumann and Jollin[287] also found that
the thyroid of old people contained only little iodine, which, as this
is the main element of the thyroid gland, gives to such persons less
chance of destroying toxic products; and by reason of this no meat
should be given either to little children or to persons of advanced age.
Footnote 284:
Baumann and Ross: Zeitschrift für Phys. Chemie, 21-319, 1895; 22-1,
1896.
Footnote 285:
Charrin et Bouriet: C. R. Soc. biologie, c-2-339.
Footnote 286:
L. Mendel: Journal of American Medical Assn., 3-2-’85.
Footnote 287:
Jollin: Nord. Med. Arch., 1897, Test number.
We must also remember, as already mentioned, that proteid food is needed
to build up the body, and this is not necessary in senility. All
authorities agree that aged people require very little proteid in their
food, and Prof. Magnus-Levy[288] accepts this opinion. There is,
consequently, no necessity to force them to take meat, neither is it
rational to permit its use, for they are more defenseless against the
harmful products formed by the decomposition of meat than are younger
people, for their thyroids and parathyroids, liver and kidneys, are
degenerated. Thus they would be able neither to destroy such products
nor to eliminate them from the body. Exception may be made in the case
of the aged who are in robust health and enjoying a green old age, for
in such we may expect to find more active ductless glands, and they will
therefore be better able to resist the dangers of meat food.
Footnote 288:
Magnus-Levy: v. Noorden, “Pathologie der Stoffwechsels,” i, 472.
There are certain precautionary measures that, perhaps, can mitigate
such dangers; thus, by the daily use of water in proportion to the
amount of meat the end-products of the meat can be washed away. We
should also with much meat eat also much fruit and vegetables. Abundant
meat diet produces acids in the system; but, as mentioned in Chapter X,
by means of green vegetables we can raise the alkalinity of the blood.
Whether much or little meat be taken, sour milk, kefir, yogurth, or even
ordinary milk and cheese should be taken also. We have not mentioned
here another danger from meat diet, which is the putrefaction that may
arise in the intestines, but on which we have enlarged in Chapter XIX.
By means of sour or ordinary milk, or cheese, the putrefaction can be
avoided, through the lactic acid formed.
With a meat diet, especially when taken in large quantities, it is
obvious that a good cleansing of the bowels will be all the more
necessary, and this is best obtained by the addition to such a diet of
fruit, vegetables, and sour milk.
By precautions such as these the harm from a too abundant meat diet may
be reduced or at least limited; but for those who are desirous of
attaining an advanced old age, the greatest moderation in the matter of
meat consumption is strongly recommended.
When we study the nature of the diet enjoyed by persons who have lived
to and over 100, we find, indeed, exceedingly few who are great meat
eaters; very many are persons who eat no meat at all; and in many cases,
also, the original meat diet was subsequently abandoned in advanced age.
According to the report of the Collective Investigation Committee of the
British Medical Association, the 55 centenarians whose cases they
examined were, for the most part, small meat eaters.[289]
Footnote 289:
Quoted after Humphrey.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXXIX.
ON THE GREAT ADVANTAGES OF MUCH MILK IN THE DIET FOR THE PREVENTION AND
TREATMENT OF OLD AGE.
WE have often observed that patients taking large quantities of milk
daily, together with eggs and vegetables, and little meat, soon begin to
look better, and sometimes even younger. We have also observed upon
ourselves the great advantage of such a diet in comparison with other
diets.
It is not surprising that persons using large quantities of milk daily
look fresher and younger if we consider that when we take much fresh raw
milk we are also taking extracts of various ductless glands, and
especially of the thyroid.
It has been shown by Bang,[290] Mossé,[291] and others, that the
internal secretion of the thyroid passes into the milk. There are,
indeed, several facts which prove that thyroid secretion is contained in
the milk. As we know, the iodine in our body comes mainly from the
thyroid, which, of all organs, is the richest in iodine. Now there can
be no doubt that iodine enters the milk, for when we give iodine to the
mother it can pass, by way of the milk, into the infant. As the thyroid
of the infant, or of puppies, contains very little or no colloid
substance, upon which, as shown by R. Hutchison and Oswald, the quantity
of iodine depends, they must receive the iodine from the maternal milk.
Mario Flamini (Revue mensuelle des maladies de l’enfance, 20, 97-120),
by injecting iodipin into a goat, obtained milk containing as much as
0.12 gramme iodine to the liter. Another very important fact is that
children suffering from congenital myxœdema never show any symptom of
this condition so long as they are taking their mothers’ milk; but as
soon as they are weaned symptoms of myxœdema appear, which we must
logically ascribe to want of thyroid secretion.
Footnote 290:
Bang: “Ueber die Aurscheidungs des Jodothyrius durch die Milch,” Berl.
klin. Wochenschrift, Dec. 27, 1897.
Footnote 291:
C. R. de l’Académie de Medicine, 1898.
Another fact, upon which we would like to insist, is that when we
extirpate the thyroid gland of goats or other animals, their milk
contains (as shown by Professor Lanz in the case of goats) a substance
which acts upon the thyroid gland, diminishing its activity. Logically,
we think, we may conclude that the milk of goats with intact thyroids
must contain a substance antagonistic to the substance contained in the
milk of thyroidless goats. Such a substance is the thyroid secretion.
Besides thyroid secretion the milk also contains important nutritive
substances, like albumin, milk-sugar, and fat; also lecithin, etc.,
certain ferments, and mineral matters, as lime, magnesia, iron, etc.
(see, also, chapter on animal food). The valuable ferments which
facilitate the digestion of the milk are, however, only contained in raw
milk, and to a less extent in milk which is heated above 75° C. Behring
has shown that even this temperature, if maintained as long as thirty
minutes, is apt to deteriorate the milk. Pasteurized milk that is never
heated above 70° C., and is cooled immediately afterward, contains a
considerable amount of these important ferments. But if milk is heated
to higher temperatures, as happens in boiling, the ferments are killed.
It is of the greatest significance that raw milk has also the property
to kill microbes to a certain extent. Thus Walter Hesse found in 1894
that the microbes of cholera died in raw milk. In experiments he has
made recently with Hemp,[292] it was shown that raw milk of certain
kinds of cattle had also the property to kill the bacilli of typhoid
fever. But it is of the utmost importance to remember that these
bactericidal properties of raw milk are destroyed if the milk is heated
to 60° C. (140° F.). These authors have found that refrigerated milk,
even if it is cooled down from 70° C., does not lose its bactericidal
properties.
Footnote 292:
Hemp: Verhandlungen des Congresses Deutscher Naturforscher und Aertze,
Dresden, vol. i, p. 112, 1907.
There is a wonderful difference in the effects of boiled and raw milk.
Animals, or children, never thrive so well on boiled as on raw milk.
Professor Behring, of Marburg,[293] has shown that animals fed on milk
heated to a high temperature never thrive well. Calves have been reared
in Marburg, or on Bohemian or Hungarian farms, on boiled milk, and
others on raw milk. Experiments with hundreds of such calves have shown
that boiled milk is not a suitable food for them.
Footnote 293:
Behring: Beiträge zür experimentellen Therapie, 8 fl, 1906.
In children, also, we can see the bad effects of using boiled milk. It
has been shown by many authors that Barlow’s disease and rickets may be
due to drinking overheated milk, especially when such milk is not fresh.
Behring has now shown by experiments that when calves are fed on boiled
milk they acquire rickety deformities of the bones and scorbutic
conditions. The majority of the calves died from exhausting diarrhœas,
just as do infants in large cities.
Thus it is evident that we should always use raw milk, and only when
there is doubt as to the origin of the milk should we heat it, and then
not above 60° to 70° C. (140 F.), so as not to destroy all its valuable
properties. Considering the enormous importance of this question for the
public welfare, it would be advisable to put all establishments for the
supply of milk under the control of physicians or veterinary surgeons.
As the welfare of many children depends upon the condition of the cow
that is giving them its milk, cows should be kept with great care and
regarded as a kind of wet nurse. Just as prisoners, or men who work all
day in close and badly ventilated rooms, are apt to develop
tuberculosis; so, also, are cows if they are kept in dark stables with
no fresh air. Therefore cows should be let out to pasture on the meadows
every day, and kept there at night if the weather permits. The milk is
also improved in quality if the cow gets some food rich in proteids in
addition to her grain and hay. Every cow should be tested by tuberculin
injections, and if this is positive the animal should be destroyed. The
milking of the cows should be done with scrupulous cleanliness. The
udders and surrounding parts should be washed, and the milkers
themselves should be dressed in clean white clothes, and their hands
should be clean, preferably by washing them with some antiseptic liquid.
Unless the cow is tubercular or otherwise sick, its milk never contains
any harmful substances. As soon as it is obtained the milk should be put
into an ice chest, as this is the best way to preserve it, and air
should be excluded. It has been shown that milk cooled off to -16° C.
does not lose its good qualities, and can be kept in fresh condition for
many days.
By undergoing acid fermentation milk does not lose its valuable
properties. Important substances like lecithin, iron, lime, native
albumin, and valuable ferments are contained in such milk. Whey and
buttermilk are also milk foods of the highest value.
Besides its contents of internal secretions, valuable ferments, and
mineral matters, milk must also be considered as an ideal form of
nourishment owing to the fact that it contains all the necessary
elements of human food. It is the most nourishing of all foods since it
contains albumin, fat, and carbohydrates, the three main elements of
human food, in large quantity. Good cows’ milk contains about 35 grammes
of albumin, 40 grains of milk-sugar, and 35 to 40 grammes of fat to the
liter. Thus if a person takes 2 liters of milk a day, or even less, 3 to
4 eggs, a little butter and several rolls, he can live comfortably
without meat. We have made an experiment on ourselves by taking 1½
liters of milk, 4 eggs, 2 rolls, and 20 grammes butter a day as our only
food, and after two weeks of such a diet, with a bodyweight of 68 kilos,
we felt very well, and even lost no weight at the end of the trial. We
have found in our own case, and in many patients, that with one plate of
meat at dinner, together with vegetables and the above diet, with
cheese, it is possible to live prosperously for months and to increase
considerably in weight. The rosy cheeks of persons living on such a diet
are the best proof of its efficiency.
Those who do not like milk in large quantity may add a little cocoa, or
a little weak coffee to it. For those whose stomachs cannot tolerate
pure milk, a milk obtained by fermentation—kefir—is indicated. This can
be prepared by fermenting cows’ milk with grains of kefir. It should not
be fermented, for most purposes, for longer than one-half a day. By
virtue of the carbonic acid which it contains it has a soothing action
upon the walls of the stomach, and also promotes a better flow of
gastric juice. Thus it is more easily digested than ordinary milk, whose
valuable properties, however, it retains.
Milk is also of value when taken in large quantity, since it checks the
formation of bacterial and toxic products in the intestine, which, as we
know, is enormously rich in such products, especially after having eaten
animal food, like meat. milk-sugar and lactic acid are very powerful
antiseptic substances probably the best natural intestinal antiseptics
of which we know. This fact is made use of by Metschnikoff in the
production of his lactobacilline, by which, through the formation of
milk acid, the multiplication of the intestinal bacilli can be checked,
and thus, according to Metschnikoff, old age prevented to some extent
(see, also, Chapters XIX and XX).
It is a very interesting fact that in countries where much of a certain
kind of acid milk is used (e.g., Bulgarian “yogurth,” prepared with the
aid of the Maya bacillus), there are many persons who live to be more
than 100 (see Chapters VI and XIX). Some of the long-lived patriarchs
whom we mention in this book, as Parr, who has lived to be over 152
years old, lived mainly on a milk diet.
In addition to the above-mentioned properties of milk, this food has
also the great advantage of throwing the minimum amount of work upon
those organs whose duties are concerned with the assimilation of food
and the elimination of its waste products. We have already mentioned
that animals whose thyroids have been extirpated can only survive if
they are put on a milk diet. (Breisacher,[294] Blum.[295]) This shows
that when the thyroid is extirpated or, what is the same thing, entirely
degenerated, only milk food can be tolerated, for the poisons of other
food, like meat, are normally destroyed to a great extent by the thyroid
gland.
Footnote 294:
Breisacher: Loc. cit.
Footnote 295:
Blum: Loc. cit.
In old age there is greater or less degeneration of the thyroid gland.
Just as is the case with infants, whose thyroids are not yet developed,
so also old people, as a general rule, are more helpless against poisons
formed by the decomposition of meat. For such persons evidently, just as
for infants, milk food is the best.
Here, again, we see the similarity that exists between infancy and
senility, and we realize the truth of the saying that in senility we
return to childhood. That milk is the best food to keep the thyroid in
good working order has been proved by the experimental researches of
Fordyce.[296]
Footnote 296:
Fordyce: British Med. Journal, vol. x, p. 619, 1902.
In our opinion one of the greatest advantages of milk as a food is that
it exacts for its assimilation so little work from some of our most
overworked and most important organs, like the stomach, liver, and
kidneys.
It is certainly a boon to an overworked stomach, which is otherwise
normal, when we prescribe a diet of raw milk, which, for many persons,
is more digestible than most other foods. It is a fundamental principle
in the treatment of old age to give a rest to those organs of the body
which are the most active. Such a rest will certainly do good to the
stomach, especially in the case of heavy eaters, and will improve its
vitality. The same maxim holds good for the liver and kidneys.
There is no food which, with the same nutritive content, contains so few
harmful toxic products as milk. Imagine the difference between the liver
or thyroid of a heavy meat eater, and those of one who has long taken
mainly milk. The experiments of Chalmers Watson[297] and of Forsyth[298]
speak volumes on this point.
Footnote 297:
Chalmers Watson: Loc. cit.
Footnote 298:
Forsyth: Loc. cit.
Since milk food contains scarcely any products harmful to the liver,
even when taken in large quantities, and considering at the same time,
the antiseptic action of milk food upon the bacilli in the intestines,
it is easy to understand that with such a diet little work is thrown
upon the liver, and its tissues are not damaged. We have been surprised
to see how well patients with liver or gall-stone trouble looked after a
diet of milk and vegetables for several weeks. The importance of such a
diet upon the condition of the bile passages is shown by the well-known
fact that inflammation of the bile-ducts and gall-bladder can be caused
by the immigration of bacilli from the intestine. It follows that with a
lessened amount of intestinal bacilli, the bile passages will not be so
liable to infection, and by a milk diet, especially one of sour milk,
kefir, koumiss, etc., we can limit, to a large extent, the number of
bacteria in our intestines. Therefore such a diet would be calculated to
prevent disorders of the gall-ducts and bladder and gall-stone disease,
which are so often found in elderly persons.
Milk is a food which contains scarcely any extractives. In consequence
it is an ideal food for the kidneys, through which it passes without
causing the least injury to these vital organs, which cannot be said of
meat with its numerous extractive substances. Milk contains very little
salt, which qualifies it as a most excellent food for the kidneys. Milk
diet has rightly been given since the early days of medicine in kidney
troubles. Since in old age there is an increase of connective tissue in
the kidneys, with impairment of their eliminative capacity, on this
account also milk diet is the most suitable for old persons.
In order to derive the greatest possible benefit from this most
excellent food, it would be necessary to take human milk, as thus we
introduce into our system the internal secretions of human ductless
glands and human ferments. Such good fortune can, however, only fall to
the lot of infants, and, we are sorry to say, not to all of them.
Therefore we are obliged to use the milk of those animals which is next
best to human milk—for example, asses’ milk. This, however, cannot be
obtained easily; two pints of it would cost, in some places, about a
dollar. The next best substitute is goats’ milk, which also contains ten
times as much iron as cows’ milk. It is a great puzzle to us why the
milk of this animal, which is richer in fat and albumin than cows’ milk,
is not more used. Perhaps the main objection is the occasionally
disagreeable smell, which, however, can be avoided by keeping the goat
very clean. The goat is rarely subject to tuberculosis, which also is a
strong argument for the use of its milk.
There can be no doubt that, for those who can stand it in large
quantities, milk is an excellent aid in the fight against old age and in
its treatment. As most constituents of the blood enter the milk, perhaps
it is not too daring to say that drinking milk is, in a measure,
drinking blood. Evidently blood contains all the internal secretions of
the ductless glands as well as most valuable ferments; hence the
rational prevention and treatment of old age would consist in drinking
blood. There is, however, no general tendency to such bloodthirsty
methods at the present time, but, maybe, it will be used in the future.
But if we cannot drink blood let us drink milk, the most valuable food
there is.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER XL.
ON BLOOD AS AN ARTICLE OF FOOD CONTAINING IRON AND ANIMAL
EXTRACTS—SAUSAGES AND BLOOD PUDDINGS.
IRON is a most important element of our blood, the lack of which, as in
chlorosis and various anæmic conditions, may produce very serious
symptoms. To replace this deficiency iron is introduced into our system,
and this can be done in two ways: either by the natural way, i.e., by
food which contains iron, or artificially, by means of drugs which
contain iron. It is the opinion of Bunge that iron, given in drugs,
especially as inorganic iron, is not so readily absorbed and assimilated
as organic iron, i.e., iron as it occurs in various articles of food,
and especially in the blood.
Therefore an effort has been made with more or less success by
manufacturing chemists to make preparations of iron obtained from the
blood, and Professor Bunge[299] has experimented on animals by using
iron containing nuclein, separated from the yolk of eggs; and in
Professor Kossel’s laboratory such a preparation has been made from the
eggs of the carp. It was found that these preparations were perfectly
absorbed and assimilated.
Footnote 299:
Bunge: Lehrbuch der Physiologie, Berlin, 1907.
Professor Bunge, and also his pupils Abderhalden and Haüsermann, found
that all animals which received food containing but little iron, became
anæmic, e.g., young rabbits fed only on milk, which, as above mentioned,
is very poor in iron. Later food was given that contained iron (as green
vegetables, cabbage, herbs, etc.; or meat, yolks of eggs, and fruit),
and soon afterward the iron contents of their blood was found to be
increased. Even if we are not anæmic or chlorotic, it is necessary to
take a certain amount of iron, preferably organic iron, into our
systems.
Anæmia of slight degree is very frequent in women, especially after
degeneration of the ovaries, as after the menopause. As we have already
mentioned, the ovaries influence in a remarkable way the condition of
the blood. In the adult the bone marrow is the chief seat of formation
for the red blood corpuscles; but the bone marrow, and indeed the whole
skeleton, as we have shown in the second chapter of this book, is under
the control of the ovaries and of the thyroid. As these organs are, as a
rule, degenerated in old age, anæmia must result, and indeed Prof.
Naunyn[300] says: “Old people are anæmic.” Geist has already emphasized
the diminution in the quantity of the blood in old age. That blood
formation is deficient in old age is demonstrated by Besançon and Labbé,
who found the activity of the bone marrow diminished in old age, and by
Grawitz,[301] who found that bone marrow underwent important changes in
old age, being transformed into a jelly-like substance. According to
Grawitz, iron—and he always prefers to prescribe an organic rather than
an inorganic iron preparation—is less efficacious in old age. We
attribute this to the degeneration of the blood-forming organs, through
whose intermediary action iron produces its effect. If, however, these
organs are not entirely degenerated, but only partially so, as in the
first few years following the menopause—in women until the end of the
fifties—we can obtain better results; and indeed after giving such women
iron we may observe that they look better, and often fresher (see, also,
Chapter LIII). As organic iron is more easily assimilated, this form is
to be preferred, and the question arises: How should we take it? Of all
kinds of food used at present, spinach and the yolk of eggs contain the
most iron; so we could give these. Fortunately spinach is obtainable at
all seasons in the United States. For those who prefer eggs, yolks in
quantities large enough to satisfy our needs would not be easily
digested, and also as eggs would be difficult to procure fresh every
day, we must think of another expedient. We may take iron preparations
obtained from the blood of animals. But why not take the blood itself,
which contains iron in a form similar to that in our blood, and in
larger quantities than in any other food? This would certainly be more
efficacious, and also less expensive.
Footnote 300:
Naunyn: In Schwalbe’s Lehrbuch der greisenkrankheiten, Berlin, 1909.
Footnote 301:
Grawitz: Hidem and also in “Klinische Pathologie des Blutes,” third
edition, Leipzig, 1906.
Bunge mentions that the chlorotic girls of Basel (Bâle) come to the
slaughterhouses in order to drink the blood of animals that have just
been slaughtered. The question arises as to which animal’s blood is the
best. That of the pig is preferable for several reasons. Its blood
contains much iron (according to Bunge 226 milligrammes in every 100
grammes), its organs are anatomically and histologically very like our
own, and the pig is an omnivorous animal, as we are, being able to eat
even 14 to 20 pounds of meat a day. Several of the organo-therapeutic
preparations, like ovarian extracts, and testicular and kidney extracts,
are, if obtained from the pig, more active than those obtained from
other animals. And, finally, from pigs’ blood very savory sausages and
puddings can be prepared.
In Denmark and Norway a favorite pudding is prepared from pigs’ blood,
together with flour, sugar, barley, groats, and raisins, and we have
found it very palatable. In these countries many physicians prescribe
this pudding and blood sausages (in England called “black puddings”) to
chlorotic girls.
We consider pigs’ blood to be of very great value, not only on account
of its iron, but also because it contains, as does blood in general
(according to Claude Bernard), extracts of the ductless glands in their
most assimilable form, and by taking this blood we, at the same time,
introduce these organic extracts. To obtain the greatest possible
benefit from these properties the blood should be drunk fresh; but as
this is not very easy to do for obvious reasons, we can substitute blood
sausages and black puddings. Blood contains chemical substances of great
importance, as iron, manganese, phosphorus and small quantities of
iodine, besides also lecithin, glycogen, glucose, jecorin, etc. It also
contains important ferments, as diastase, and sugar- and fat-splitting
ferments. Likewise it contains important immunizing substances,
opsonins, alexins, etc.
The blood of pigs is very nourishing, for it is rich in albumin. Indeed,
considering that this blood is wasted in the slaughter houses, it is
necessarily the cheapest kind of food. And it is also an article of food
which is easily digested, absorbed, and assimilated. It is hard to
understand why this article of diet has not been made more use of long
ago. Professor Bunge, the well-known physiologist, likewise strongly
recommends the use of blood as an important article of diet. We show in
the following table, compiled from the researches of Abderhalden,[302]
the composition of pigs’ blood and of ox blood in respect to their
nourishing qualities and different mineral contents.
Footnote 302:
Abderhalden: Zeitschrift für Physiolog. Chemie, 1898, 25, 56 (for
pigs’ blood); and Hidem, 1897, 23, 521 (for ox blood).
PIGS’ OX
BLOOD BLOOD
per per
cent. cent.
Water 71.6 80.89
Hæmoglobin 14.22 10.31
Albumin 4.66 6.98
Fat 0.11 0.052
Fatty Acids 0.04
Sugar 0.069 0.02
Cholesterin 0.044 0.199
Lecithin 0.231 0.135
Phosphoric Acid w. 0.006 0.003
Nuclein
Oxide of Iron 0.696 0.054
Calcium 0.068 0.007
Magnesium 0.089 0.004
Potassium 0.2303 0.004
Sodium 0.2406 0.0364
Entire Phosphoric Acid 0.1002 0.0040
Anorg. Phosphoric Acid 0.749 0.017
Chlorides 0.2690
According to the researches of T. König,[303] Farwick and C. Kraut blood
sausages have the following composition:—
───────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────
IN THE NATURAL SUBSTANCE │ DRY SUBSTANCE
────────┬────────┬────────┬────────┼────────┬────────┬────────┬────────
│ │ │Nitrogen│ │ │ │
│ Nitro- │ │ Free │ │ Nitro- │ │Nitrogen
Water │ genous │ Fat │Extract │ Ashes │ genous │ Fat │and Dry
│Substance│ │Matters │ │Substance│ │Substance
────────┼────────┬┴───────┬┴───────┬┴───────┬┴───────┬─┴──────┬─┴──────
49.93% │ 11.81% │ 11.48% │ 25.09% │ 1.64 │ 23.59% │ 22.90% │ 3.77%
────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┴────────
Footnote 303:
J. König: “Die menschlichen Nahrungs und Genussmittel,” Berlin, 1903,
I, p. 76.
Experiments were made in England centuries ago by transfusing the blood
of young animals into the veins of old animals (sheep, cows, and
horses), which latter, by this means, became more lively and active. In
some cases the special senses became more acute—hearing especially,
according to Dr. Hufeland. On man such transfusion has also been tried;
Dever and Riva,[304] in Paris, succeeded in treating certain diseases by
transfusion of animals’ blood, and, as Hufeland states, a lunatic
recovered his health after transfusion with calves’ blood.
Footnote 304:
Quoted after Hufeland, Makrobiotik, edited by Steinthal, Berlin, p.
13, 1887.
It is strange that this treatment is not more used now. Should we not be
able to treat certain diseases, such as old age, by transfusing the
blood of younger individuals, or of certain animals? This is certainly a
bold question, and we are not yet in a position to answer it definitely.
We must take into consideration the fact that the transfusion of blood,
even though human, into other individuals presents certain dangers. Bier
has tried transfusion in a few cases of lupus, and there appeared at
first symptoms of intoxication followed later by a marked amelioration.
But if transfusion by present surgical methods is not free from dangers
we can give the blood in a more rational manner by the mouth. As Bunge
has shown, the hæmatin is absorbed by the intestines, while the
diapedesis of the blood corpuscles themselves through the intestines has
been demonstrated in the experiments of Grawitz. The serum of Moebius
(anti-thyroidin) also acts if taken by the mouth.
At the present time nothing hinders us from using the blood of pigs in
the way just mentioned. But care must be taken to obtain fresh and
healthy blood. Pigs often get pneumonia through catching cold during
transportation. Therefore those pigs whose blood we use must have been
previously specially examined.
For this purpose also pigs should not be too fat. As we learned from
observations in the slaughter houses, a fat pig of 200 pounds may not
have more than a liter of blood, whereas oxen of 900 pounds have nearly
10 to 12 liters of blood. Still, for reasons already mentioned,
preference should be given to pigs’ blood.
It is most important that, when the diet consists of much milk and
little or no meat, some iron-containing food be taken in addition.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER XLI.
SOME REMARKS ON THE HYGIENE OF EATING—HOW TO OBTAIN AN APPETITE—ON
MASTICATION.
IF we desire to derive benefit from what we eat in order to keep the
body in good condition, and thus successfully resist the onslaught of
old age, we must possess a good digestion and be able to make use of our
gastric juice. Without this secretion all, or the greater part, of what
we eat will remain undigested in the stomach and intestines, and by its
stagnation produce much disturbance and lessen the vitality of these
important organs. Everything, therefore, depends upon being provided
with an adequate supply of gastric juice. There are two ways of aiding
this: First, by the direct action of the food on the walls of the
stomach. Second, by various means which act on the nervous system that
governs the glands of the stomach and provokes their secretion. As by
the first means only a small amount of gastric juice is secreted, we
will deal with the second.
The nerves of the gastric glands can be stimulated by various agencies
which influence the central nervous system, and thus provoke appetite;
for instance, sight, for we know of old how the sight of tasty dishes
provokes our appetite. Professor Pawlow, of St. Petersburg, has shown by
experiments on dogs, in whose stomachs he had made a fistula, that
merely showing them a piece of meat was sufficient to cause them to
secrete a large quantity of stomach juice. Umber has also shown on man
that optic influence was able to produce the secretion of gastric juice.
In addition to sight, smell produces similar results. Professor
Bickel,[305] of Berlin, has experimented on a girl of 23, who, after an
injury from caustic potash, had to have a fistulous opening made into
her stomach, her œsophagus being completely strictured. By holding
steaming hot soup under her nose he caused the secretion of a clear
stomach juice to run through the open fistula.
Footnote 305:
Congress für Innere Medicin, 1904.
The secretion of the stomach juice can also be produced by the sense of
taste. Professor Bickel showed this in the above case by placing on the
girl’s tongue a solution of sugar, and again of salt, and there followed
each time a secretion of stomach juice.
Pawlow has also proved this by ingenious experiments on dogs. After
making a fistula in their œsophagus he gave them pieces of meat to eat,
which, on being swallowed, fell out again by the open œsophagus, so that
they never reached the stomach; and yet the taste of the meat and
chewing were sufficient to cause the production of a large amount of
gastric juice.
Thus the secretion of the gastric juice is under nervous influence. But
if pleasant nervous impulses are able to promote its secretion, on the
other hand, as shown by the observations of Beaumont, and also of
Sommerfeld on men, disagreeable impressions are able to check it. Bickel
and Sasaki have also observed this to have occurred in persons who have
been in a state of anger, which coincides with our own observations that
when we are in a depressed mental condition, or when we receive
disagreeable news, we often lose our appetite. If, therefore, we want to
eat with relish we must put aside all mental pre-occupation and worry,
and go to the table in a cheerful mood. Persons of a melancholy
temperament seldom have an appetite, and in melancholia there is often a
refusal to eat, so that nourishment has to be maintained artificially.
When any one has been working in the open air all day and is of a
cheerful disposition, he will not need anything appetizing to make him
eat. By his work he has digested his food easily, his body craves for
more to keep up his energy, and his empty stomach requires to be filled;
he will be hungry and have a good appetite without any artificial
stimulus.
But it is a different thing with ladies who sit all day long in their
rooms, or with men who sit all day at their office desks. Such persons
very often need an artificial stimulus for a good appetite and
sufficient gastric juice. We must then resort to small artifices to
induce these. A snow white table cloth, beautiful service, choice fruit
in artistic vases, wearing clean linen and evening dress, and having
agreeable society and possibly music at dinner, will, perhaps,
sufficiently act on the different senses to produce appetite and a free
secretion of the gastric juice.
In certain restaurants we often see an open buffet with the choicest
dishes displayed, from which we can select our meal; and this certainly
acts as an appetizer. In certain countries, also, it is the custom to
take before dinner little _hors d’œuvres_ or delicacies, like the
Zakuski in Russia, or the smörgasbord in Sweden, which certainly serve
to enhance the appetite.
Those whose appetite needs stimulation may receive benefit from meat
extracts, such as bouillon, before dinner. These extracts are some of
the few things which can produce a sufficient secretion in the stomach
directly, without the intervention of appetite, as has been shown by the
experiments of many authorities. Such an appetizer would not, however,
be advisable, because bouillon, containing extractive substances, is
more injurious than meat if taken often and in large quantities.
For such as have no appetite it may be of advantage to wash the tongue
before meals with a solution of salt; this, to a certain extent, will
also cleanse a coated tongue, with which a good appetite is not easily
attained; and at the same time, according to Bickel’s above-mentioned
experiment, it may provoke a secretion of stomach juice. Vinegar and
water will have the same effect as the saline wash. A coated tongue
should always be cleansed before meals, for when the papillæ of taste
are covered, the direct action of the food on them may be prevented.
Just before dinner, and for an hour after it, no mental work should be
done; and it is often better to open a letter after than before dinner,
so as not to spoil the appetite. A short walk in the fresh air before
dining will also be an appetizer. We have personally noticed a
diminution in appetite on those days when no exercise was taken.
Much depends on the way the meals are served. Above all things food must
be pleasant to the eye and to the palate, and it is the great art of the
cook to fulfill this. The greatest possible cleanliness is paramount,
for with many people the sight of a dirty cloth or napkin is able to
kill all appetite and check the secretion of gastric juice.
Reading while eating is contrary to the above indications, unless
perhaps it be something humorous, like Mark Twain’s “Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn,” for instance. If we have the chance of choosing our
neighbors at the dinner table let us rather sit next some one having the
characteristics of Mark Twain than an undertaker or one who talks
business.
Besides the gastric juice the saliva also plays a very important rôle,
as it contains a valuable ferment which facilitates the digestion of
starch into sugar: the diastatic ferment. In order to have a good supply
of saliva the food must be kept longer on the tongue, as the flow of
saliva is best induced by the stimulation of the nerves of taste; so we
must masticate longer, and move the food between the teeth and on the
tongue for as long a time as possible, so that it will act on the nerves
of taste.
The secretion of the salivary glands under nervous influence is actuated
in the same way as is that of the gastric juice. It is powerfully
influenced by psychical impressions; for instance, by impulses coming
from sight to the nervous centers and thence to the salivary glands, as
can easily be seen by daily observation. If we offer a hungry dog a
sausage we shall all witness an abundant flow of saliva, and the same
may also be seen in man, and the German saying, “das wasser läuft im
Munde zusammen,” may be literally true.
The secretion of saliva can be provoked by much the same agencies as
that of the stomach juice, but above all by mastication. This has the
greatest effect on the flow of saliva, especially when accompanied by
good appetite; in fact, we may say good appetite provokes the flow of
saliva and mastication maintains it for a long time. We are thus able,
by abundant salivation, to aid digestion wonderfully, especially with
regard to starchy food, as the diastatic ferment of the saliva assists
in transforming starch into sugar; otherwise such material would be
rather difficult to digest, only depending then on the pancreatic and,
perhaps, intestinal ferments. Another great advantage of thorough
mastication is that the food reaches the stomach in the smallest
possible pieces, perhaps in liquid form, and thus the stomach juice can
reach it freely from all sides, whereby digestion is greatly
facilitated.
Not only the digestion in the stomach, but also the absorption of food
transformed into a liquid from the intestines is much assisted by
thorough mastication; while, as the result of insufficient mastication,
as with fast eaters, the food may cause much greater work to the walls
of the stomach. Being much less absorbed from the intestine it may
irritate it as a foreign body until expelled by greater efforts of the
intestinal walls. Long-lasting gastric and intestinal catarrhs may
result from insufficient mastication.
The great advantage of methodical long mastication has been shown by
Harry Campbell,[306] Horace Fletcher,[307] and Van Sommeren, of Venice.
According to their recommendation it would be necessary to masticate
food until it has almost lost its taste. It certainly requires long
practice, especially in the case of fast eaters, to acquire the habit of
prolonged mastication, for nothing is so difficult as to give up habits
indulged in since childhood. Fast eating is not only injurious to
health, but if indulged in in company, it is a breach of good manners.
Footnote 306:
“Observation on Mastication,” Lancet, vol. ii, 1903.
Footnote 307:
Horace Fletcher: “The A, B-Z of Nutrition,” New York, 1904.
The authorities on thorough mastication also claim that by so doing they
are able to do with less food, which is the more readily to be believed,
as they are able to digest and absorb everything better, their food
leaves less residue, and they profit more by what they eat than do fast
eaters and bad masticators.
Good mastication means also good exercise for the teeth, the good
condition of which is of the utmost importance for a healthy digestion
just as it is important for all other organs of the body. When we eat
fast we are inclined to wash down the imperfectly masticated food by
large quantities of water, which may be prejudicial, as we are thus too
freely diluting the contents of the stomach. Many women abstain from
drinking at their meals for fear of getting fat, which is an erroneous
idea, as Prof. Van Noorden has shown that this cannot produce
obesity.[308] On the other hand, not drinking during meals may lead to
bad results. We are accustomed to take most of the water we drink with
our meals; not taking any at meals may largely decrease the amount of
fluid in the body, which has many bad effects. As shown by Pawlow, and
also by Bickel, more stomach juice is secreted when the body contains
more fluid. Then drinking a certain amount of water at meals may assist
in the absorption of the food. There is also the great advantage that by
the aid of fluids the end-products of nitrogenous matters, which have
toxic actions, may be more easily eliminated from the body than with a
dry diet. We believe it is preferable to take even an excess of water,
than none at all, with meals, and there are many people who have no
appetite unless they drink while eating.
Footnote 308:
v. Noorden: “Die Fettsucht,” Nothnagel’s Handbuch.
The question whether after meals we should rest or take exercise must be
answered individually; those suffering from obesity or other disorders
of metabolism, like gout or diabetes, had better take some form of
exercise after a meal, while weak persons should rest. In general, a
short walk after meals, and then remaining quiet for an hour, will prove
to be best; but mental occupation for at least an hour after meals
should be strictly prohibited.
The time for meals should be when we are hungry, as we should never eat
at other times for fear of not being able to digest well, owing to the
absence of stomach juice. It is essential to take our meals every day at
the same time; our stomach is of such a clock-like mechanism that it
best indicates the hour for meals. If well disciplined it will secrete
its gastric juice every day at the same hour. If possible we should
always eat in company, for then we will eat slower, masticate better,
and, if the company is jovial, probably secrete more gastric juice.
Just as after meals, so also before them, any strenuous exercise should
be forbidden. A little exercise may promote the gastric digestive
secretions; but if we become tired from much exercise, then certainly
not much and sometimes no gastric juice will be secreted; then meat
extracts, bouillon, or soup will be necessary for obtaining an appetite.
Some people eat too much bread, which may cause overwork for the
stomach, as to digest bread gives it more work than does other food. It
has been found that the albuminous parts of bread require five times
more ferments and pepsin of the stomach than does meat; besides which,
as we have found in many of our patients, there is nothing that causes
an acid stomach so often as does too much bread, especially in nervous
people.
The most digestible food for most stomachs is meat, if it does not
contain much connective tissue. Meat sauces and bouillon are excellent
appetizers. However, such nourishment at every meal has its
inconveniences, on which we will enlarge in another chapter. It is most
desirable only to take meat once a day—at dinner.
The albumin in meat is much easier to digest than that in vegetables; to
digest the latter, particularly potatoes, cabbage, etc., we need to have
a thoroughly good stomach. Fat dishes are able to diminish the quantity
of stomach juice, and fatty potatoes or other vegetables with much fat,
demand sound stomachs, in the same way as does rich pastry. Butter is an
easily digested fat if it is fresh, but certainly not when it contains
free fatty acids.
Besides meat, cereals, such as are taken in America at breakfast,
especially when finely ground and taken in the form of flour, are most
easily digested. It is an excellent American custom to commence
breakfast with grape-fruit, which is somewhat astringent and very
refreshing; but to begin breakfast with an apple or a pear is the
greatest possible offense to a normal stomach, and occurs only because
of the lack of a thorough knowledge of the physiology of the stomach.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER XLII.
ON THE USES OF SMALL DOSES, AND THE DELETERIOUS ACTION OF LARGE
QUANTITIES OF ALCOHOL.
IN everyday life we are exposed to worry and disappointment; and also,
as many of us easily tire after work, we frequently feel an inclination
to take something to cheer us up and to incite us to further exertions;
thus we take stimulants, such as alcohol, tea, coffee, tobacco, etc.
We may fairly compare these stimulants to a whip with which we urge on a
horse. A short reflection, however, will teach us that rest would be the
best stimulant for a tired horse; but, unfortunately, physiological
thinking is not yet the commonsense view of all.
A willing horse requires no whip, and many of us are able to attain a
good old age without requiring any stimulants. The grandfather of the
author of this work has attained the age of 105 without taking any
stimulants.
As our numerous friends, both in America and England, know, we do not
take any alcohol, not from principle, but because we find no pleasure in
so doing. Still we don’t feel inclined to follow the anti-alcohol
fanatics in their crusade, because we detest fanaticism of any kind,
whether displayed by Chinese, by Mohammedans in Bochara or Morocco, or
by Christians in England or America. We also do not uphold such
narrow-mindedness as prohibiting even the smallest amount of alcohol to
those who only take it in the greatest moderation, solely on the ground
that there are some good-for-nothings who can never take it without
getting drunk. With equal justice might we take away the fortune from a
man who has gained it by his labor, on the ground that there are others
starving because they will not work. We are not prepared, either, to
accept the dictum of the anti-alcoholics that alcohol is a poison even
in small quantities. We do not deny that there are many among them who
cannot stand even small quantities, which is a probable reason why they
are so clamorous against it; but they do not possess normal health,
physically or mentally; and the supposition is not unjustified that
there is in some of them a lessened tolerance for alcohol owing to their
previous immoderate libations.
The truth is, as shown by many physiologists, such as Atwater and
Benedict, and also by Professor Tigersted,[309] even at the
Anti-Alcoholic Congress at Stockholm, that alcohol may be regarded, but
in small doses only, as a precious gift, for by it we may preserve
important parts of the bodily tissues—carbohydrate and fatty substances,
which may be economized by the use of certain quantities of alcohol. The
nourishing effect can be attained only if not too much be taken, for in
over-abundance a decomposition of albuminous substances can be produced
as a toxic effect.
Footnote 309:
Quoted after Dr. Hollitscher, Präger med. Wochenschrift, 1907.
Alcohol in small doses is unquestionably an excellent stimulant for the
nervous system and the circulatory apparatus. There are many people who
are able to do more work, especially of a physical nature, when they
take a certain amount of alcohol; and at the same time they have a
better appetite for food. Alcohol, however, is of more benefit in this
respect if we take wine; and of all alcoholic drinks, except beer, wine
contains the least percentage of alcohol, especially French wines, which
normally contain only 9 per cent. But this stimulating effect only holds
good when we do not take large amounts, for in the latter case the
quality of work is impaired, especially mental labor.
In a given quantity, and preferably in the shape of red wine, alcohol is
able to cheer us up, and to a certain extent diminish grief and sorrow;
but after taking large quantities we feel more depressed.
Beer is more nourishing than wine, but has a more sluggish effect.
English and some kinds of American beer often contain nearly as much
alcohol as some kinds of wine, sometimes more than light Tyrolean or
Italian wines.
The most beneficial form of alcohol is a light wine, and, as a medical
stimulant, the older vintages of French wines. Beer may, to some extent,
assist digestion, owing to its bitter constituents. It is true that it
contains the least percentage of alcohol of all beverages of this
nature, but it has the disadvantage that it is taken in larger
quantities as one gets accustomed to it, and thus more alcohol and a
larger amount of liquid may be introduced, the result of which may be
injurious to the circulatory system (see “Hygiene of the Food”).
Observation proves that many old people thrive well on a small amount of
claret or other red wine taken daily at meal times. In such cases it may
be regarded as a harmless tonic, if taken only in small quantities, and
if their health be otherwise normal except for the debility attributable
to old age. Dr. Savile, of London, has also found salutary effects from
moderate and exactly regulated quantities of alcohol in the aged inmates
of the workhouse infirmary.
In our judgment we shall be best guided by the way in which our regular
patients tolerate alcohol. When, having been accustomed to it all their
life, they ask for wine or whiskey, and they can tolerate it well, we
admit that small amounts act as a kind of tonic for them; but it should
never be given if there is an incompatibility for it, for then it is
distinctly harmful and should be avoided.
Brandy is the most dangerous form of alcohol,[310] but whiskey in small
doses may be reckoned much less harmful; but the least injurious of all
are light wines and the still lighter kinds of beer, which contain only
some 3 per cent. of alcohol.
Footnote 310:
There may be exceptions, however. The father-in-law of a Swedish lady
patient of ours is at present 96½ years old. For a good many years the
old gentleman has been drinking daily a large amount of cognac.
That wine may be taken without harm, even to considerable old age, can
be illustrated by a series of examples, of which we have mentioned some
already, where persons have reached 100 years of age in spite of
drinking wine every day. They might, perhaps, have lived longer had they
taken no alcohol, for, as a rule, such persons come from long-lived
families, and, as we have said previously, such people may permit for
themselves greater license in this respect; but this must be distinctly
regarded as the exception, for, as the statistics of the United
Temperance Association in England show, total abstainers have a much
greater chance for a long life than have others. According to Neisson’s
investigation of 6111 persons from 16 to 90 years of age who were taking
alcohol, the ratio of mortality among them was three times greater than
for the whole population of England.