R. H. Chittenden

“ Physiological economy in nutrition means temperance, and not prohibition. It means full freedom of choice in the selection of food. It is not cereal diet nor vegetarianism, but it is the judicious application of scientific truth to the art of living, in which man is called upon to apply to himself that same care and judgment in the protection of his bodily machinery that he applies to the mechanical products of his skill and creative power. ”

“ Far more rational is temperance in place of prohibition, and I am inclined to emphasize the systemic value of a daily diet so reduced in quantity that the metabolic processes may be largely decreased, in closer harmony with true physiological needs, especially those which involve the breaking down of proteid matter; and in making this suggestion I can add the assurance, based upon these observations on many individuals, that there is not only perfect safety but gain to the body, in diminishing proteid metabolism to a level somewhere near the actual requirements of the individual. ”

“ The man whose work is mainly mental has no real need for high fuel values in his daily ration. For such a man, a high potential energy in the daily intake of food is an incubus and not a gain. Body equilibrium can be maintained on far less than 3000 calories per day by the brain worker, and in the interest of health, strength, and vigor, as well as scientific truth, why teach the doctrine that a healthy man needs, on an average, foodstuffs to furnish 3000 calories or more per day, with 16 to 18 grams of nitrogen in the form of proteid? ”

“ If it is true, on the other hand, that the healthy organism needs a daily intake of 118 grams of proteid food more or less, in order to maintain physiological equilibrium, to keep up physical and mental vigor, and to preserve the normal power of resistance to the incursions of disease, then we must consider that the good overbalances the evil, and that evil exists in order that good may be accomplished. ”

“ On matters of diet every man should be a law unto himself, using judgment and knowledge to the best of his ability, reinforced by his own personal experiences. Vegetarianism may have its virtues, as too great indulgence in flesh foods may have its serious side, but there would seem to be no sound physiological reason for the complete exclusion of any one class of food stuffs, under ordinary conditions of life. ”

“ Simplicity of diet, however, does not diminish but rather increases the pleasure of eating, especially when daily restriction in diet—indulged in until a new habit is formed—has created a greater keenness of appetite, since under such conditions the palate takes on a new sensitiveness, and manifests a fuller appreciation of the variations of even a simple dietary. There is therefore no hardship, nor curtailment of the pleasure of eating in the restriction of the diet to the real needs of the body. ”

“ Dietary standards at the best are merely an approximate indication of the amounts of food needed by the body, but these needs are obviously changeable, varying with the degree of activity of the body, especially the amount of physical work performed, to say nothing of differences in body-weight, sex, etc. Further, it is doubtless true that there is what may be called a specific coefficient of nutrition characteristic of the individual, a kind of personal idiosyncrasy which exercises in some degree a modifying influence upon the character and extent of the changes going on in the body. ”

“ How far can our natural instinct be trusted in the choice of diet? We are all creatures of habit, and our palates are pleasantly excited by the rich animal foods with their high content of proteid, and we may well question whether our dietetic habits are not based more upon the dictates of our palates than upon scientific reasoning or true physiological needs. ”

“ In these various experiments on dogs carried out by Munk, Rosenheim, and by Jägerroos, there was of necessity great monotony in the diet, and in Munk’s experiments no fresh meat at all was fed, but simply dried food. In other words, if the diet was in any sense responsible for the poor health of the animals, it is fully as plausible to attribute the results to the abnormal conditions under which the animals were kept as to any specific effect due to the low proteid intake. It is very essential that the food of dogs, as of men, shall fulfil all ordinary hygienic conditions. ”

“ For the rich, as well as for the poor, there is need for careful consideration of this question of intemperance in the daily dietary. Were this the proper place, it would be easy to adduce figures showing the great waste which the consumption of food beyond the physiological requirements of the body entails. It needs no great imagination to picture the enormous saving per capita, in dollars and cents, by a reduction of the daily food to a true physiological basis. ”

“ That the physical condition of the body exercises an all-powerful influence upon the mental state, and that a man’s moral nature even is influenced by his bodily condition are equally certain; hence, the subject of nutrition, when once it is fully understood and its precepts obeyed, bids fair to exert a beneficial influence not only upon bodily conditions, but likewise upon the welfare of mankind in many other directions. ”

“ Scrutiny of the daily diet, tabulated in the two balance periods, will show the character of the food made use of. Personal likes and dislikes must naturally enter into the choice of any diet, and freedom of choice, freedom to follow the dictates of one’s appetite, with such regulation as comes from the use of reason and intelligence, are all that is necessary to secure the desired end. ”

“ Physiological economy, as the writer defines it, is not prohibition, but temperance. Moderation in diet, especially in the taking of proteid foods, means a great saving in the wear and tear of the body machinery. It must presumably mean greater freedom from many diseases in which individual organs, such as the liver and kidneys, are frequently involved. It suggests, likewise, greater freedom from many disturbances of general metabolism which eventually terminate in a perversion of nutrition, so marked as to constitute a serious condition of disease. ”

“ Van Someren would doubtless emphasize the importance of insalivation as a means of controlling the appetite and thereby regulating the consumption of food in harmony with the real needs of the body, it is of primary importance for the physiologist and for mankind to know definitely how far it is possible to reduce the intake of food with perfect safety and without loss of that strength, mental and physical, vigor, and endurance which are characteristic of good health. ”

“ If, as is so widely believed, diminishing the daily proportion of proteid food below the standards set by Voit and other physiologists will result in a weakening of the muscles of the body, in decreasing the strength, vigor, and endurance of the individual, then obviously physiological economy in this direction would in the long run be uneconomical, and indeed injurious. The maintenance of body-weight and of nitrogen equilibrium on a small amount of proteid food would count for little, when compared with a gradual loss of bodily strength and vigor. ”

“ In fact, all our observations agree in showing that it is quite possible to reduce with safety the extent of proteid katabolism to one-third or one-half that generally considered as essential to life and strength. In other words, there is perfect safety in a lowered proteid metabolism, and we are inclined to raise the question whether a daily diet containing one-half, or even less, the amount of proteid food ordinarily consumed does not come nearer to the normal and natural requirements of the healthy body than the more elaborate standards we have gradually adopted. ”

“ Further, it requires no imagination to understand the constant strain upon the liver and kidneys, to say nothing of possible influence upon the central and peripheral parts of the nervous system, by these nitrogenous waste products which the body ordinarily gets rid of as speedily as possible. They are an ever present evil, but why increase them unnecessarily? This question brings us back to the starting-point. What is the minimal proteid requirement for the healthy man, or rather, how far can we safely and advantageously diminish our proteid intake below the commonly accepted standards? ”

“ Why not accustom the body to a smaller consumption of food, thereby saving for other purposes the expenditure which this excess of food involves?
The question of the daily diet is one of the most important for the family of small means, and there is no reason why the family treasury should be so heavily drained for this imaginary need. ”

“ There is no question, in view of our results, that people ordinarily consume much more food than there is any real physiological necessity for, and it is more than probable that this excess of food is in the long run detrimental to health, weakening rather than strengthening the body, and defeating the very objects aimed at. ”

“ The poorer man emulates his richer neighbors as soon as his circumstances will permit, and resources that could be much more advantageously expended for the good of the family and the home life are practically wasted—to say nothing of possible injury to health—under the mistaken idea that this more generous method of living is the surest road to health and strength. ”

“ It is a remarkable and suggestive fact that when a person has once practised physiological economy in his diet sufficiently long for it to have become in a measure a habit, he has no desire to return to a fuller dietary rich in proteid matter. ”

“ Just here emphasis should be laid upon one fact, doubtless of primary importance in any modification of the rate or extent of metabolism in any individual, viz., that in this experiment the daily diet was prescribed, thereby taking from the individual freedom of choice in the selection of food. The writer has no question in his own mind that an intelligent choice of food, coupled with the satisfying of a natural or acquired appetite in moderation, will lead to better results than any system of prescription as to what shall be eaten each day and in what quantity. ”

“ While there can be no question that a certain amount of this gain is to be attributed to the practice incidental to these months of work in the Gymnasium, it is equally clear that a large part of the gain is due to the improved physical condition of the men’s bodies, for which the change in diet must be considered as responsible. In any event, the change from the ordinary diet to a diet comparatively poor in proteid has not resulted in any physical deterioration. On the contrary, there is every indication of a marked improvement in physical condition. ”

“ Why, then, draw upon the resources of the body just at a time, or slightly prior to the time, when the work we desire to perform, either muscular or mental, calls for a copious blood supply in muscle or brain, and when all available energy is needed for the task that is to be accomplished? ”

“ We hear on all sides widely divergent views regarding the needs of the body, as to the extent and character of the food requirements, contradictory statements as to the relative merits of animal and vegetable foods; indeed, there is great lack of agreement regarding many of the fundamental questions that constantly arise in any consideration of the nutrition of the human body. ”

“ Further, it is equally plain that if there is possible gain to the body from a practice of physiological economy in diet, we should know how far this can be accomplished by simple restriction in the amount of food without complicating the problem by other factors. ”

“ Metabolized nitrogen per kilo of body-weight for all these men, with one exception, during the experiment amounted to 0.108 to 0.134 gram per day, fully as low as was obtained with the members of the soldier detail on their prescribed diet. It is clear, therefore, that physiological economy in nutrition is as safe for men in athletics as for men not accustomed to vigorous exercise. There is obviously no physiological ground for the use of such quantity of proteid food, or of total nutrients, as the prevalent dietary standards call for. ”

“ With this general concurrence of results, we are certainly warranted in the assertion that the professional man can safely practise a physiological economy in the use of proteid food equal to a saving of one-half to two-thirds the amount called for by existing dietary standards, and this without increasing the amount of non-nitrogenous food consumed. ”