Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1883 — Nutritiveness of Rice. [ARTICLE]

Nutritiveness of Rice.

The increase in the consumption of rice has lately attracted the attention of several men of science in Germany, and among other investigations, according to the Lancet, an attempt has been made by Prof. Yoit to discover the relative capacity which various forms of nourishment possess of being incorporated into the system. He has drawn up the following table of the percentage which remains in the body, and of that which leaves it: Percentage Percentage which is Incorporated, not retained. Meat 96.7 3.3 Rice 96.1 3.9 Eggs 94.8 6.2 White bread 94.4 5.6 Maize 93.3 6.7 Potatoes.... ..90.7 9.3 Milk 88.9 11.1 Black bread 88.5 11.5 According to these results, the Bremer Handelsblatt remarks, meat and rice leave the smallest amount of residuum,, and occasion the smallest excessive exertion to the digestion, and, in fact, introduce the minimum quantity of ballast into the human frame. Dr. Konig, of Munster, considers that the fact of large masses of population living on rice is easily accounted for, and in summing up the information collected upon the subject, Prof. Yoit remarks that potatoes, when consumed in excessive quantity, fail to nourish the frame effectively, make the blood watery and render the muscles weak. Apart from the subject dealt with in the table drawn up by Prof. Yoit, the question of the relative nutritive value of rice and potatoes has been investigated by Dr. Konig, who is of the opinion that, if similar quantities of both articles are compared, the former possesses four times the value of the latter in really nutritive properties. It is also remarked that the introduction of rice as a substitute for potatoes is facilitated by the fact that no such variation takes place in its quality as is the case with the potato, which is liable to be materially influenced by the effects of unfavorable weather.