Investigation of Workers' Food and Suggestions as to Dietary
1917-10 1917 1910s 12 pages 4 vitamines which prevent scurvy. Fruit which is not over-ripe is particularly valuable.‡ Potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots and turnips also contain the vitamines which prevent scurvy. Eight ounces of potatoes a day will supply sufficient. Particularly in tim...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English English |
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London : His Majesty's Stationery Office
October 1917
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/68D192A5-32F3-4E3C-8DE2-188523AED002 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/4C53660F-ACC6-4E2D-9093-9C87D07CB47C |
| Summary: | 1917-10
1917
1910s
12 pages
4 vitamines which prevent scurvy. Fruit which is not over-ripe is particularly valuable.‡ Potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots and turnips also contain the vitamines which prevent scurvy. Eight ounces of potatoes a day will supply sufficient. Particularly in times of scarcity when there is any restriction of diet, it is advisable that vegetable food, such as potatoes, should form a large proportion of the available diet, for the vegetables contain salts which neutralise the acids formed in the vital processes of the body. Fortunately, the cheaper foods (bread, margarine, porridge, milk, herrings, cheese, beans, onions, cabbages, swedes and the cheapest cuts of meat) provide all the requisite nourishment, and probably better adapted to maintain health than are more highly flavoured and expensive foods which artificially stimulate the appetite. The drinking of strong tea many times in the day is physiologically unsound, as also is the consumption of sweetmeats between meals, especially by boys and girls. Sugar is not a natural food, but an artificially separated foodstuff. It should not be allowed to lessen the appetite for the natural complete foods. 4. Fatigue prevents the proper digestion of food, and one of the earliest symptoms of over-work is some form of digestive derangement; further, since nervous energy is required to control the work of the digestive organs, nervous fatigue, as well as physical fatigue, is followed by digestive disturbances. A tired man accordingly benefits by a brief rest before a meal. Food should be taken regularly and not hurriedly, and the energy so taken should be distributed fairly evenly over the day; thus strength is maintained and the digestion at no time overloaded. Food should not be taken between meals or at frequent intervals; a good digestion depends upon a keen appetite. 5. Calculation of Energy Value of Foodstuffs.— The energy value of a foodstuff can be determined by burning a weighed quantity of it in a suitable apparatus called a calorimeter, and ascertaining how much heat it gives off. The large calorie, which is used as the unit of energy value, is the amount of heat required to raise 1 kilogramme (1¾ pints) of water from 15 degrees to 16 degrees Centigrade through 1 degree Centigrade (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit). Calculation has shown that, when dried, foodstuffs possess the following energy value:— One gramme* of— Protein is equivalent to 4.1 calories. Carbohydrate „ „ 4.1 „ Fat „ „ 9.3 „ 6. The energy expended in mechanical work can also be expressed in calories, for one calorie has been found by experiment to be equivalent to the energy expended in lifting one kilogramme through 425.5 metres, which is about the energy expended by a man 70 kilogrammes (11 stone) in weight in walking up a staircase 6 metres (about 20 feet) in height. Such a man would require one extra calorie in the energy value of his food to make good this expenditure of energy. Even in walking on the level the body is raised at each step, and the calculation has been made that to walk 2.7 miles in an hour on a level road calls for the expenditure of 160 calories in a man of 11 stone. 7. Investigations made by a number of scientific workers indicate that about 15 per cent. of the energy expended is derived from protein, and about 80 per cent. from fats and carbohydrates combined : that is to say, that normally protein supplies only one-fifth of the total energy expended. Numerous investigations have shown that the energy required by a man engaged in moderately light munition work is about 3,500 calories of food as purchased. Where calculations are based (as they are in the experimental part of this Report) on food as eaten, the minimum canteen diet may be taken to be about 3,000 calories when balanced among the three classes of foodstuffs in the following proportions of dried weights :— Protein 100 grammes. Fat 100 grammes. Carbohydrate 400 grammes. Such would be contained in the following diet:— Lean meat 5 ozs. Fat 1 oz. Butter 1 oz. Bread 16 ozs. Potatoes 16 ozs. Oatmeal 3 ozs. Milk ¾ pint. Men engaged in hard physical work, especially in the open air, require a good deal more energy-producing food, and may consume as much as 4,500 calories with advantage. On the other hand, the energy required from food by a man clothed, lying at complete rest, at ordinary room temperature, in a still atmosphere, is about 1,600 calories of eaten food; while for a man engaged in a sedentary occupation, tailor or clerk working in a warm room, as little as 2,200 calories may suffice.† An average adult woman worker requires rather less (about 0.8 or 0.9) than a man. ‡ It should, however, be remembered that at the present time fruit, with few exceptions, is a prohibited import, and that foreign fruit is consequently in very short supply. Supplies should, therefore, as far as possible, be drawn from home-grown fruit or salads and vegetables. Raw fruit can be replaced by raw swede turnip. Children will eat this raw, or it can be grated down and eaten on bread. * To express in terms of calories per pound it should be remembered that one pound is equal to 453.6 grammes ; one ounce is equal to 28.35 grammes. Example.— Suppose one pound of roast beef contained— Protein ... ... ... ... 26.75 per cent. Fat ............ 12.90 „ „ in this case there would be (26.75 x 4.1) + (12.90 x 9.3) = 229 calories per 100 grammes. In the pound of meat there would, therefore, be 229 x 4.536 = 1,040 calories. † There is evidence that the workers in Germany are not getting more than this value in their ration, and the remainder of the civil population considerably less, receiving, in fact, a ration which has not been regarded hitherto as sufficient for maintenance.
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