Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 197, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1917 — Brain Workers Need Food High in Energy Material, Says Expert on Dietetics [ARTICLE]

Brain Workers Need Food High in Energy Material, Says Expert on Dietetics

A man engagetLTir mental work is generally supposed to need a diet having about the kame energy vplue as that of a man doing very light mechanical work, because the consumption of energy in mental "work is not great. But the Medical Rewrd calls attention to the opinion expressed by Dr. W. M. Bellas, professor of general physiology. University college, London, In a book on the physiology of food. Doctor Bayliss points out that while the oxygen actually consumed by the nerve centers in their work may not be great it has to be supplied at high pressure. This is proved by the fact that even a momentary stoppage of the blood supply causes immediate unconsciousness, although the oxygen in the brain has not been exhausted. From this It seems possible that although the actual quantity of food needed may not be great “yet this food may require to be presented at high pressure, and that to attain the high pressure if may be necessary to fake a” diet of an energy equivalent to that of a moderate muscular work.” Doctor Bayliss holds that from the food standpoint no benefit is derived from alcohol. Also that there Is no special virtue in butcher’s meat and that vegetable foods, if properly chosen, can supply all that is necessary for a complete diet, but at thp same time he considers a diet of.pure-

ly vegetable origin unsafe, because not enough Ig known yet about the properties of the several vegetables stuffs, The proteins of vegetables are not so easily digested as are those of meats, but in compensation more of the food can be taken, and The digestive organs need bulk.