Mastication

“ In considering the reasonableness of masticating everything that has taste until it is absorbed by Nature's Food Filter, it must be remembered that the only liquid food provided for man that is not artificial is milk, and the natural means provided for taking milk into the stomach is by sucking, which is like mastication. ”

“ Mastication promotes the flow of saliva and the insalivation of the food.—The more efficiently food is masticated the greater is the salivary flow, and the more intimately is it mixed with the saliva, or, as we say, insalivated. The saliva has apparently no effect on fats; whether it acts on proteids seems more doubtful, though by some authorities the penetration of these by the alkali of this fluid is said to aid in their subsequent digestion; on starch, however, the saliva acts very potently, and hence mastication plays a special part in promoting the digestion of starchy foods. ”

“ While the mastication is going on the saliva becomes mixed with the food. In the saliva is the ptyalin, which begins to digest the starch. Starch that is well masticated is not so liable to ferment as that which gets scant attention in the mouth. Starches and nuts need the most thorough mastication. If thorough mastication were the rule, meat gluttons would be fewer, for when flesh is well chewed large quantities cause nausea.
Milk digests best when it is rolled around in the mouth long enough to be mixed with saliva. To treat milk as a drink is a mistake, for it is a very nourishing food. ”

“ Thus we find that a child who has been brought up on hard, starchy foods, necessitating abundant mastication has much larger and more active salivary glands than one who has been fed on soft foods which slip down into the stomach before they have had the chance of being properly masticated, and it is needless to say that the more efficient these glands are the more likely is digestion to be carried out satisfactorily. ”

“ Now we have seen that the great cause of defective mastication in children is the softness of the food given them and that the feeding of them upon an excess of soft food, especially the starchy kind, disturbs digestion, induces toxæmia, and in this way evokes a catarrhal tendency. ”

“ Mastication.—Thorough mastication of all food up to the point of involuntary swallowing, with the attention directed, however, not on the mechanical act of chewing, but on the tasting and enjoyment of the food; liquid foods to be sipped and tasted, not drunk down like water. There should be no artificial holding of food in the mouth beyond the time of natural swallowing, even if, as is to be expected at the start, that swallowing is premature. ”

“ Such portions of whole grain as may be swallowed without mastication, will pass on and out without danger of the putrefactive changes which result from an excess, or deficient mastication of cooked food. ”

“ Another great advantage of thorough mastication is that the food reaches the stomach in the smallest possible pieces, perhaps in liquid form, and thus the stomach juice can reach it freely from all sides, whereby digestion is greatly facilitated. ”

“ Mastication should be moderate, not rapid. In masticating food, the salivary glands are excited to action, and some time must elapse before they can, secrete saliva in sufficient 144 quantities to moisten it. If the aliment is not supplied with saliva, digestion is retarded; besides, in rapid eating, more food is generally consumed than the system demands, or can be easily digested. Laborers, as well as men of leisure, should have ample time for taking their meals. Imperfect mastication is a prevailing cause of indigestion. ”

“ Not only the digestion in the stomach, but also the absorption of food transformed into a liquid from the intestines is much assisted by thorough mastication; while, as the result of insufficient mastication, as with fast eaters, the food may cause much greater work to the walls of the stomach. Being much less absorbed from the intestine it may irritate it as a foreign body until expelled by greater efforts of the intestinal walls. ”

“ Good mastication means also good exercise for the teeth, the good condition of which is of the utmost importance for a healthy digestion just as it is important for all other organs of the body. When we eat fast we are inclined to wash down the imperfectly masticated food by large quantities of water, which may be prejudicial, as we are thus too freely diluting the contents of the stomach. Many women abstain from drinking at their meals for fear of getting fat, which is an erroneous idea, as Prof. ”

“ The degree of mastication required varies also according to the mode of life of the animal, and the digestibility of its food. Animal food, for example, being easy of digestion, requires less mastication than vegetable food, which is more difficult. This is so much the case, that most animals which live on fresh vegetable matter spend half their waking hours in ruminating or re-masticating the food, which they have already cropped and stored up for the purpose in one of their four stomachs. ”

“ Though during the mastication of our natural food the salival glands are excited into action by the stimulus on their excretory ducts, and a due quantity of saliva is separated from the blood, and poured into the mouth; yet as this mastication of our food is always attended with a degree of pleasure ”

“ When the food is of a kind necessitating abundant mastication it is much less likely to be taken in excess, for the longer the time spent in mastication the less will the individual be tempted to consume ”

“ It would seem, therefore, that the perfection of nutrition requires the proper mixture of saliva added to all food substances, and that mastication is not only a means of separation in order to give saliva a chance but a valve opener for salivary glands in order to make the proper solution for the stomach; and, that taste exists, in one of its important functions, to indicate how long the process should continue and when it has effected its healthful purpose.
Any one who tries it, no matter how perverted the taste has become by abuse, will find that Nature is not only kind but alluring. ”

“ Any habits we may form of thoroughly chewing our food will evidently aid in this process. Undoubtedly much of the distress known as dyspepsia is due to too hasty meals with consequent lack of proper mastication of food. The message of Mr. Horace Fletcher in bringing before us the need of proper mastication of food and the attendant evils of overeating is one which we cannot afford to ignore. It is a good rule to go away from the table feeling a little hungry. Eating too much overtaxes the digestive organs and prevents their working to the best advantage. ”

“ Mastication.—The first step in the preparation of food for imparting nourishment to the system consists in proper mastication, or chewing. Food should be thoroughly masticated before it is taken into the stomach. ”

“ We receive it by eating the flesh of the animal. How much better to get it direct, by eating the food that God provided for our use.”
“Grains used for porridge or mush should have several hours’ cooking; but soft or liquid foods are less wholesome than dry foods which require thorough mastication.”
When porridges are used, something dry like zwieback or crisp crackers should be eaten with them to induce mastication. ”

“ One of the results of agricultural progress has been to diminish the fibrous, cellulosic food and make it more easy to masticate. The food of to-day is for the most part soft and pappy, of a kind which does not compel thorough mastication ”

“ One way in which the amount of food needed to satisfy the appetite and build up the body may be very largely reduced, is by increasing the amount of mastication. If each bite of food is chewed and chewed until it is all reduced to a liquid state, the amount required will be less than half of what is usually taken, and so much less strain will be thrown on the excretory organs. ”

“ Irving Fisher of Yale, the opening speaker, dwelt on these points, and declared that civilized man tries to avoid mastication by the use of pulverized, [Pg 777] liquified and pappified foods; that civilization has brought about a pressure of time with the result that we eat by the quick lunch counter and the clock, whereas the animal eats his meal in peace; that we eat too fast, to the injury of our teeth, as shown by the fact that those who do masticate food thoroughly have better teeth; and that experience shows thorough mastication results in better health and greater efficiency. ”

“ Animal food does not need the same amount [Pg 174] of mastication as vegetable food, since it is not digested in the mouth, though some contend that the mixture of proteid with alkaline saliva facilitates its subsequent peptonisation. Cooked animal food is, however, all the better for some mastication, owing to the coagulation of the proteids, and, in order to insure the efficient mastication of meat, fish, and poultry, Dr. Sim Wallace recommends that they should be given in large pieces cut thin. “Flat pieces about one inch square generally necessitate a certain amount of mastication. ”

“ Need we comment, in view of the natural brevity of this process, 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, with the purpose of increasing greatly the digestion of starch in the very gateway of the alimentary tract. ”

“ The mouth easily accomplishes this work when the habit of mastication has been acquired, but, if it perform it carelessly, the other organs of digestion cannot act in normal function, and, as a matter of fact, perfect digestion cannot occur, since one of its processes has been omitted. The only portion of the operation of digestion that can be voluntarily controlled is that which is done in the mouth, hence the subject of the mastication of food is an all-important one. Its value in the economy of the human body is excellently treated by Horace Fletcher in his "A-B-Z of our own Nutrition." ”

“ Individuals differ greatly in the quantity of the supply of the juices of the mouth which are active in salivation. They differ so much that it is safe to say that no two have equal provision.
One person may dispose of a morsel of bread in thirty mastications so that the last vestige of it has disappeared by involuntary process into the stomach. Another person, of similar general health appearance, selecting as nearly as possible an equal morsel of bread, may require fifty acts of mastication before the morsel has disappeared. ”

“ It is difficult to swallow large flat pieces of meat without mastication, but when finely minced little or no mastication is called forth.” The younger the child the more underdone should the meat be. ”

“ In early infancy, when no teeth exist, and the muscles which move the jaws are still comparatively small and powerless, and mastication is consequently impossible, milk, from the mother’s breast, is manifestly the only food intended by Nature for its use; and, so long as it can be obtained of healthy quality and in sufficient quantity, no other ought to be substituted in its place. ”

“ In proportion as the organization becomes developed, and strength, activity, and aptitude for abundant exercise increase, a larger allowance of plain animal food becomes essential to health. The instruments of mastication are now fully adequate to their office, and the stomach is no longer oppressed by the effort of digesting it. ”

“ If it have taste it is a sign that it contains mineral or vegetable substance that needs treatment of some sort to render it suitable for the body, and it will then resist some mastication, some mouth-treatment, as in tasting, before compelling swallowing, just as the sapid liquids do.
Anything that has taste, even soup, wine, spirits or whatsoever is tried, will resist numerous mastications before being absorbed by the Food Filter. Above all things, milk, wines, etc., should be sipped and tasted to the limit of compulsory swallowing. ”

“ If the principles already laid down be true, it cannot reasonably be maintained that a child's mouth without teeth, and that of an adult, furnished with the teeth of carnivorous and graminivorous animals, are designed by the Creator for the same sort of food. If the mastication of solid food, whether animal or vegetable, and a due admixture of saliva, be necessary for digestion, then solid food cannot be proper, when there is no power of mastication. ”

“ The stomach-coats are extremely strong, and some action seems to go on in it to prepare the food for the gastric juice, as a substitute for the mastication with which other warm-blooded animals reduce it to a pulp in their mouth. ”

“ Beginning with the babes, we pour into their stomachs all kinds of artificial saccharine foods in liquid or semi-liquid form, following this up, later on, with such viands as mashed potatoes and gravy, rusks soaked in milk, milk puddings, bread dipped in bacon fat, pounded mutton, thin bread and butter, and the like. Food of this kind does not invite mastication (nor have mothers been taught to teach their children to keep it in the mouth, the doctor might have added) . "Hence the instinct to masticate has little opportunity of exercise and not being properly exercised, tends to die out. ”

“ Prepared food is more or less divided, so that to some extent mastication is superseded. For the rest, in the kitchen starch is hydrated, fibre softened or made brittle, dough vesiculated, albumen coagulated, and indigestible matter removed.
Any one may perceive how impossible it would be to masticate a mouthful of flour, and how raw meat would clog the teeth. Hurrying over our meals, as we do, we should fare badly if all the grinding and subdividing of human food had to be accomplished by human teeth. ”