p. 18 | Diet Reform by M. M. Martinson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 8, 1916

Diet Reform

By M. M. Martinson

It is a well-recognized fact that we may not be properly nourished even though we have plenty to eat; for we are nourished by what we assimilate. That is the reason so many are dying of starvation in a land of plenty. They eat sufficient food, but it is of such a nature that the digestive organs cannot digest it, and the body fails to assimilate it. There results a state of malnutrition,—undernourishment,—and this starvation develops one of the so-called deficiency diseases, such as scurvy, pellagra, and beriberi, in a severe or light form.

The cause of scurvy is a lack of certain food elements. Diet is the alpha and omega in the treatment of this disease. Experiments have shown that an exclusive diet of polished rice or of white bread will produce beriberi in pigeons and chickens. Students of pellagra have ascribed it to a mold, or fungus growth, in the grain; others, to infective bacilli and the effect of light on the skin. One fact seems to be settled, and that is that the prevention and the cure of pellagra center on the diet.

What we need is a change of food. We use too much starch and cane sugar, too much hog and hominy, and not enough vegetables and fruits. The American people are drenched in starches and sweets, jams and preserves, which irritate and cause auto-intoxication, responsible for the symptoms complex, known as pellagra. These same foods also head the list in producing acid dyspepsia, rheumatism, and kidney diseases. They not only irritate and overheat, but they are deficient in food chemicals so essential to health.

From recent studies on foods, we learn that they must contain something besides the fundamental elements, such as starch, albumin, and fats. Funk calls these additional elements vitamines.

Eykmann, by feeding his pigeons and chickens on polished rice, white wheat bread, and starch and sugar, produced beriberi. He found that he could cure his dying pigeons in two or three hours by giving them the extract from the polishings taken from the rice.

Aaron fed rats on casein, butter, starch, and salt. On this diet they died. He fed other rats on the same food, and gave them an extract taken from wheat bran, and they thrived and increased in weight. This shows the importance of extractives in the diet.

In the spring we feel a longing for something green, because our food has been deficient in certain elements, or vitamines.

In grains, such as rice, wheat, barley, and oats, we find these vitamines principally in the pericarp, or husk. We put the rice through a polishing process and remove the extractives. By our modern methods of milling, we save the starch and the gluten of the wheat, as white flour, and we give the bran to the cow. Bran is especially rich in phosphates and iron, but by our milling process we lose over half of these essential salts, saying nothing of lecithin, nuclein, and vitamines.

White bread, polished rice, and other starchy foods and sugars may be taken in abundance, but they will not support life, as they are not of the right mixture, such as the Lord placed in the foods before we put them through our milling and cooking processes. If it were not for the fruits, green beans, peas, carrots, cabbage, and lettuce, which are rich in vitamines, we should doubtless see more people with acid dyspepsia, rheumatism, poor circulation, faded cheeks, flabby muscles, sunken eyes, weak backs, and toothless gums; and probably there would be more people affected with pellagra.

While it is true that fruits are mostly water, and are weak in starch, albumin, and fats, yet they are valuable to balance the heavier foods and supply the system with acids and extractives. Those who cannot use the acid fruits should use the subacid ones, and try to have one meal each day with a liberal supply of fruits; and it is well to have one cooked and another fresh, as the cooking does not destroy the acids, but the vitamines are more or less destroyed. As we cannot all have fresh fruit every day, the housewife should begin to plan to put up cooked fruits, so that the family can have some fruit all the time. Fruit is essential to health.

Eggs and milk are in a class of foods by themselves, as they have no starch elements; and a person who has clogged his system with starch foods will find relief many times in restricting himself to from four to ten glasses of milk a day.

Eggs are the richest and most stimulating of all foods. They contain remedial agents that are essential in malnutrition. The egg yolk contains a phosphorized fat, which is far superior to the “hypophosphates” and “glycerophosphates” put up in a bottle.

Milk and eggs are placed at the head of the list of foods in treating pellagra. However, it must not be forgotten that some people are sensitive to eggs. It is not such an uncommon thing to see people with colic, asthma, eczema, and hives due to eating eggs. At a recent meeting of the Pediatric Society, a children's specialist pointed out that the feeding of eggs to children must be watched very closely. In malnutrition they are essential, while in other disorders they may be too stimulating a food.

The more an egg is cooked, the harder it is to digest, and the cooking also destroys its remedial elements. Continued cooking destroys some of the delicate chemical elements of foods. While it is true that we cannot eat all our vegetables raw, yet we should use many of them in that way. Cabbage is with some easier to digest raw than cooked. Turnips and

carrots can be eaten with relish if masticated well. Palatable salads can be made from celery, cabbage, and carrots. Raw vegetables should be carefully cleaned before using.

The American people are a nation of dyspeptics; and they will be as long as they continue to live on manufactured foodstuffs. Many of our drinks are colored and flavored with chemicals. Our foods are the same. They are put up in cans or paper, flavored to please the taste. You can fill yourself up on that class of foods, but you cannot fortify your system against disease. You eat, but still you are starving.

It is time we were turning to nature. Every farmer can go into winter quarters with plenty of nice turnips, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, carrots, beets, and parsnips. A corner should be sown to mustard greens. It is not enough to cook potatoes; you must have a variety of vegetables. These should be prepared in different ways. A good cook can do more for a family than can the doctor. Cooking is the highest of all professions. A man who has a wife that is a good cook, or one that can direct the cooking, has a jewel. A servant may be able to cook a dish of oatmeal, slice some baker's bread, or make biscuits or a cup of coffee, and still not be a good cook.

M. M. MARTINSON, M. D.