p. 574 | The Science in Chewing by James H. Hara

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 14, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 36.

The Science in Chewing

By James H. Hara

Avoidance of Stomach Trouble by Proper Mastication

By JAMES H. HARA

At the very portal of the corridor of the human temple are sixteen pairs of teeth. Behind these is a roomy chamber; the floor of which is the tongue. Innumerable taste buds are scattered over the tongue, the tonsils, the uvula, the soft palate, the epiglottis, and their adjacent parts. Around the cavity are six reservoirs from which flows the salivary secretion.

As a digestive juice, saliva plays an important rôle in human economy. Contrary to the old belief, the whole great class of foodstuffs known as carbohydrates can be almost completely digested before the food reaches the stomach.

The experience of daily life teaches that the activity of the salivary glands begins even before the introduction of food into the mouth. A mere thought, sight, or smell of tempting food “makes one’s mouth water.” Aside from this psychical influence, the chief factor in the production of salivary secretion is chewing.

VALUE OF DRY FOODS

Professor Pavlov, a distinguished Russian physiologist, claims that the drier the food, the richer is the quantity and quality of salivary secretion. On the other hand, foods containing an abundance of water cause only a scanty flow. Indeed, “liquid food,” as Mr. Fletcher points out, “is a form of substance invented by civilization that Mother Nature did not count with when she planned the human body.”

In view of the natural brevity of the process, need we comment, asks Professor Chittenden, of Yale University, “upon the desirability, for purely physiological reasons, of prolonging within reasonable limits the interval of time the food and saliva are commingled in the mouth cavity?” It seems obvious, in view of the relatively large bulk of starch-containing foods consumed daily, that habits of thorough

mastication should be fostered, for the purpose of increasing greatly the digestion of starch at the very gateway of the alimentary tract. It is true that in the small intestines there comes later another opportunity for the digestion of starch; but it is unphysiological, as it is undesirable, for various reasons, not to take full advantage of the first opportunity Nature gives for the preparation of this important foodstuff for future utilization. Further, thorough mastication, by a fine commingling of the food particles, is a material aid in the digestion that is to take place in the stomach and the intestines.

Only a few years ago, Mr. Fletcher was made an object of ridicule. His “chewing cult” was a subject of nation-wide joke and jeer. But to-day the tide has changed. Fletcherism is no longer a fad or a fancy. Nor is it the hobby of an extremist. The scientific researches of Professor Pavlov and Dr. Van Someren of the Old World, and Professors Chittenden and Cannon of the New World, all unmistakably point in favor of thorough mastication.

The comparative study of the anatomy of the human oral cavity; the fact that there is such an abundant salivary secretion, and that nowhere else in the whole alimentary tract is there a single taste bud; the adaptability of teeth and tongue; and the wide range of motion of the jaw, with its powerful muscles—all clearly indicate the design of the Master Builder that our food be chewed and tasted.

In the maddened rush of the present-day human activity, many a man eats for ill health rather than for health. During the last two decades, there has been an appalling increase in diseases of the digestive organs. With enlightened understanding of life’s phenomena, it is very evident that many a “stomach ailment” owes its origin to the improper treatment to which the food was subjected in the receiving chamber of the living temple. Pain is the protest of Nature against her intruder. Disease is the fruit of sin. “God speaketh once, yea, twice, yet man perceiveth it not.”

In view of such manifold evidences from physiologic, anatomic, biochemic, and pathological viewpoints, can we too strongly emphasize the value of thorough mastication? Let all conform to every heaven-appointed precept. Then can we present our bodies as living sacrifices, and our lives shall be living epistles, “known and read of all men.”