“The Availability of Nutrients from Plant Sources”
A RECENT issue of the American Medical Journal discusses the subject of “The Availability of Nutrients from Plant Sources.” In the article may be found these statements: “The final source of human energy is found in plants. In so far as mankind obtains energy by consuming the flesh of the domestic animals, only a fraction of the supply taken by the latter in the plant products can ever reach the sphere of usefulness to man. The animals which furnish food to man are expensive converters of the energy of plants into a form directly available for his uses. Only a very small residue of the total energy intake of such animals is left in the tissues which they furnish as food to man; the great bulk of what has been consumed has become lost in the processes of animal life during the long periods of growth and maintenance before the animal food products can be marketed. To appreciate this, one need only consider the enormous amounts of vegetable food necessary to produce the flesh of cattle for human consumption. A cow eats a liberal plant ration daily during several years before she is ready for the market. . . . “It has long been believed that it may be possible to utilize green vegetables so as to render them more available for digestion and assimilation by man. Some experiments in this direction have recently been carried on in Germany. The outcome has been decidedly gratifying and may pave the way for useful innovations in the use of vegetable foods.” The article, while not fully endorsing vegetarianism, nevertheless shows that leaders in the great medical profession are coming more and more to recognize the value and the true scientific basis of a vegetarian diet. There are many of us who know from personal experience that a rational vegetarian diet is by all odds the most desirable. If vegetarianism could be relieved of the faddists who apply neither sense nor reason in their methods, the cause would be greatly benefited.