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USES OF THE FOOD ELEMENTS.

Concerning the purpose which these
different elements serve, it has been demonstrated by the experiments of
eminent physiologists that the carbonaceous elements, which in general
comprise the greater bulk of the food, serve three purposes in the body;

1. They furnish material for the production of heat;

2. They are a source of force when taken in connection with other food
elements;

3. They replenish the fatty tissues of the body. Of the carbonaceous
elements,–starch, sugar, and fats,–fats produce the greatest amount of
heat in proportion to quantity; that is, more heat is developed from a
pound of fat than from an equal weight of sugar or starch; but this
apparent advantage is more than counterbalanced by the fact that fats
are much more difficult of digestion than are the other carbonaceous
elements, and if relied upon to furnish adequate material for bodily
heat, would be productive of much mischief in overtaxing and producing
disease of the digestive organs. The fact that nature has made a much
more ample provision of starch and sugars than of fats in man’s natural
diet, would seem to indicate that they were intended to be the chief
source of carbonaceous food; nevertheless, fats, when taken in such
proportion as nature supplies them, are necessary and important food
elements.

The nitrogenous food elements especially nourish the brain, nerves,
muscles, and all the more highly vitalized and active tissues of the
body, and also serve as a stimulus to tissue change. Hence it may be
said that a food deficient in these elements is a particularly poor
food.

The inorganic elements, chief of which are the phosphates, in the
carbonates of potash, soda, and lime, aid in furnishing the requisite
building material for bones and nerves.