p. 484 | SOWING FOR PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL HEALTH

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 31, 1900

SOWING FOR PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL HEALTH

By David Paulson; W. S. Sadler

David Paulson & W. S. Sadler

STRUCTURE BUILDERS,

or THE PROTEIDS.

In the human body the proteid substance is principally used in the work of forming the tissues, such as muscles, the blood, etc., and hence it might be called the structure builder, while the starches, sugars, and fats might be regarded as the fuel that is burned up in the bodily structure. It is a remarkable fact, illustrating a wise Providence, that the common grains, which can be grown so universally, contain very nearly the proper proportion of starch and proteids. Wheat contains about one part of gluten to seven parts of starch, which has been quite generally accepted by various authorities as the proper combination of these two most important food elements.

HOW THE PLANT MANUFACTURES PROTEIDS.

"If the root of a grain of corn be placed in a chemical solution containing nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur, phosphorus, chlorine, potassium, sodium, magnesium, lime, and iron (or, in other words, all the mineral elements that are required for its construction), while the upper parts project into the air, the plant, when placed in the light, grows well, develops into a large stock, flowers, and produces seed, with which the experiment can be repeated."—Verworn's General Physiology, page 139. No growth can take place in a plant unless carbon is furnished it; but, as the preceding solution contains no carbon, it is evident that the plant utilizes the carbon found in the air. For if a bell-jar filled with carbon dioxide (the poisonous gas thrown out from the lungs of man and animals) is placed over the top of such a plant which is exposed to sunlight, in a few hours it will be found that all the carbon dioxide has disappeared from the bell-jar, and that an equal quantity of oxygen has taken its place. This proves that under the action of sunlight the plant secures its carbon (the one element it does not secure from the earth) from this noxious gas, which is everywhere present in the air, and which becomes very detrimental to health if allowed to accumulate to any considerable quantity above four parts of the carbon dioxide to ten thousand parts of air.

The Scriptures teach us that the breath of all mankind is in God's hand. Job 12:10. And divine wisdom is certainly seen in that wonderful arrangement whereby the plant breathes in the poisonous air that man breathes out, and breathes out purified air for men to breathe in again. So every green plant is a purifier of the atmosphere. For the Christian there is a significant lesson in this purifying work of the plant-world; for we are told, in Isa. 61:3, that we should be called "trees of righteousness." Does that not suggest that we should be able to neutralize the poisonous spiritual miasma that is given out by our wicked associates, and return a purified, holy atmosphere that would be life-giving to them?

HOW MINERAL SUBSTANCES AND PRODUCTS OF DECOMPOSITION ARE USED IN MAKING PROTEIDS.

The essential difference between starch and proteids is in the fact that the latter contain the element of nitrogen, which is nowhere to be found in the starch family. And, strangely enough, while the plant in making starch does not have the ability to use the large amount of carbon that is found in the soil, but chooses to receive it from the air, so, on the contrary, the same plant in making proteids refuses to utilize the immense volume of nitrogen that is found in the air (nitrogen composes about four fifths of ordinary air), but selects the same from the soil.

The wisdom of the Creator is very distinctly manifested in this process. Decomposing bodies contaminate the air with carbon dioxide, while they leave behind, to be absorbed by the earth, various poisonous products containing different forms of nitrogen, which are utilized by the plants to manufacture proteids. Thus nature takes the elements of death in the air and in the earth, and transforms them into pure food substances calculated to sustain and nourish life.

WHERE AND IN WHAT CONDITION THE PROTEIDS ARE FOUND.

Proteids are found in some form in almost all plants. For food purposes our proteids are to be chiefly found in the grains, legumes, nuts, flesh foods, milk, and eggs.

1. Grains.—The proteid element makes up from ten to twelve per cent of the common grains. This may be readily demonstrated by subjecting ordinary dough made from wheat flour to the action of running water, which will wash away all the starch, and leave an elastic substance, which is called "gluten."

2. Legumes.—Peas, beans, and lentils contain about twenty-five per cent of this important food element, which is a larger proportion of proteids than is contained in any form of flesh food. As some of the legumes can be grown in almost any part of the earth, and with a little careful study can be made into a variety of palatable dishes, there is but little excuse for seeking our proteids from the animal kingdom.

3. Nuts.—Some of the more common nuts, such as peanuts, almonds, etc., while they contain about fifty per cent of fats in a condition easily assimilated, also contain about twenty-five per cent of proteids, thus emphasizing very clearly their immense food value.

4. Flesh Foods.—Practically three fourths of every pound of meat is simply water, containing various waste products and soluble salts. Almost the entire food value of flesh foods is made of proteids and fats.

5. Milk.—Milk contains about four per cent of that form of proteids known as casein. This is the substance that forms the curd of milk, and from which cheese is made. The cheese ordinarily found in the market is entirely unfit for food, owing to the fact that it is swarming with microbes, and is saturated with

the various poisonous products that these germs have manufactured while feeding upon its proteids, which are especially prone to putrefactive changes.

6. Eggs.—The white of eggs is a good example of an almost pure form of albumen, and is one of the most easily digestible of any of the animal products.

PROTEIDS, THE BODY'S BUILDING MATERIAL.

The proteids are the most important food element; for this substance is largely used in building up the structure of the various tissues of the body. They contain one chemical element,—nitrogen,—which the other food substances do not contain; therefore it can be readily seen how useless it would be to attempt to live upon a diet composed entirely of starch and fat. Experiments have demonstrated that an animal fed upon food-stuffs from which nitrogen was absolutely excluded would die almost as soon as would those that received no food at all, and in some cases sooner. Proteids enter into the construction of every cell in the human body. (See Bunge's Physiological Chemistry, page 501.) Experiments have demonstrated that life may be sustained by proteids alone, which could never be true of a diet of starch and fat.

WHEN PROTEIDS BECOME POISONS.

While the proteids have such a possibility for good in the human body, yet if they are allowed to decompose, or decay, whether due to the action of microbes in the alimentary canal, or to the fact that the food had begun to decay before it was eaten, they become far more dangerous and destructive to life than any other food element. A child may eat a decayed apple, and suffer only temporary inconvenience as a result; but if he be so unfortunate as to eat spoiled canned salmon or tainted meat, unless prompt medical attention is secured, there will probably be a funeral in that child's home. The deaths frequently mentioned in the newspapers, resulting from the eating of corned beef, tainted ice cream, and overripe cheese, are all due to virulent poisons produced by the decay of proteids found in these substances.

For every ton of coal that is burned up in a furnace, there is a certain amount of ashes left behind. So for every pound of proteids that is taken into the human system, there will be a certain amount of waste matter to be eliminated in the form of carbon dioxide, water, urea, uric acid, and other minor products.

The urea is carried off in solution by the secretion of the kidneys. For every ounce of proteids eaten, there will be eliminated in this way about one third of an ounce of urea.

Uric acid is another waste product that results from the breaking down of tissue in the system. There is normally eliminated about one thirty-fifth as much uric acid as urea. The uric acid, when it is allowed to accumulate in the system, is deposited in various parts of the body, such as the joints, muscles, etc., producing rheumatism, gout, and a train of other evils. Leading physicians have been forced to the conclusion that uric acid is one of the most serious and dangerous of all the poisons formed in the human system, and that the health of the body is absolutely dependent upon its prompt elimination. The amount of uric acid that has to be carried off is enormously increased by the use of various food substances containing either uric acid or other substances that are practically regarded as such by the body.

Uric acid is naturally found in the muscular tissues of animals. According to Dr. Haig, the eminent English authority, for every pound of roast lamb that is eaten, three and one-half grains of uric acid is taken into the system. A pound of meat juice contains fifty grains of uric acid. There are seventy grains of dangerous substance in a pound of coffee, which is eliminated by the body as uric acid: likewise, there are one hundred and seventy-five grains of a similar substance in a pound of tea. From this we can readily see the folly of seeking to cure a rheumatic patient without carefully regulating his diet, so as to exclude from his daily bill of fare such poisonous substances.