p. 343 | Grapes as Food

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Nov 13, 1879

Grapes as Food.

WE have on former occasions referred to the value of fruits as articles of diet; both in health and sickness. Grapes may deservedly claim a high rank among the fruits in this respect. They contain a considerable amount of hydro-carbonaceous matter, together with potassium salts, a combination which does not tend to irritate, but, on the contrary, to soothe the stomach, and which is consequently used with advantage even in dyspepsia. According to Dr. Hartzen, of Cannes, in France, who has recently contributed an article on the subject to a foreign medical journal, the organic acids in grapes, especially tartaric acid, deserves more consideration than they have generally received. Their nutritive value has, he thinks, been much underrated. It is known that they are changed to carbolic acid in the blood, and possibly careful researches may show that they are convertible into fats. Dr. Hartsen thinks that they should be ranked with the carbo-hydrates as food. They have been found a valuable diet in fever, and the success of the “grape cures” in the Tyrol and other parts of Europe appears to show that they are positively beneficial in other diseases. No doubt the good results of a residence at these establishments are in a measure to be ascribed to the climate and the general hygenic discipline adopted. The advantage does not wholly consist in the fact that so many pounds of grapes are eaten daily, but partly in the fact that other less healthful things are not eaten; and pure air and exercise are also important elements in the curvature treatment. But after giving all due weight to these allied influences we must allow no small fraction of the beneficial result to the grapes.