Any attempt to follow a daily routine which accords with the true needs of the body leads necessarily toward foods derived from the plant kingdom, with the adoption of simple dietary habits, and with greater freedom from the exciting influence of the richer animal foods. There is, however, virtue in a simple dietary that appeals and satisfies, and in so doing testifies to the completeness with which it meets the physiological requirements of the body. A physician,1 writing in the "British Medical Journal," says: "I determined to give the miniimim-of-proteid diet a fair trial in my own case. The result was that I was relieved of a life-long tendency to acid dyspepsia and occasional sick headache my fitness for work, my appetite and relish for food, were increased, without any diminution, but rather a slight increase, in my weight. My practice extends over a wide area of rough mountainous country involving long journeys on cycle, on foot, driving, and in open boats, in fair and foul weather. The muscular exertion and endurance necessary for the work would seem to require a large proportion of proteid and a generous diet altogether, but since I began to experiment I have suffered less than formerly from fatigue, and seem to eat in all a smaller quantity of food. My diet consists of:

1 Ann Coirce; British Medical Journal. April 7. 1906, p. 829.

Breakfast

8.80 a.m. - Oatmeal cakes, bread and batter, about 1 cubic inch of cheese or bloater paste, marmalade, and one breakfast cup of tea.

Lunch

1.30 p.m. - Same as breakfast, with occasionally a boiled egg, and sometimes coffee instead of tea.

Dinner

7 p.m. - Thick soup containing vegetables, with bread, followed by suet pudding or fruit tart; or vegetable stew, containing 2 or 3 ounces of meat, with boiled potatoes, followed by milk pudding and jam, and occasionally a cup of black coffee."

This statement of personal experience is in close accord with statements that have come to the writer in hundreds of letters during the past two or three years, from persons who have for some reason chosen to follow a more abstemious mode of life. Such testimony has a certain measure of value in that it offers corroborative evidence of the beneficial effects of a moderate diet, more closely in accord with the actual demands of the body for food. It does not, however, carry quite that degree of assurance that scientific evidence, gathered by careful observers and controlled by weights and measures that hold the imagination in check, affords; and so we may turn to a different type of testimony, presented in an elaborate research by Dr. Neumann,1 of the Hygienic Institute at Kiel, an experiment on himself extending through a total of 746 days.

The experiment was divided into three periods. In the first period of ten months the subject, with a body-weight of 66.5 kilograms, consumed daily on an average the amounts of food indicated in the following table. In this same table are also included the daily values, based on the preceding data, for a body-weight of 70 kilograms. Thirdly, the table likewise shows the amounts of utilizable food contained in the foodstuffs actually eaten, on the basis of 70 kilos body-weight.

1 Dr. med. et phil. R. O. Neumann: Experimented Beitrage zur Lehre von dera täglichen Nahrungsbedarf dee Menschen unter besonderer Berucksichti-gung der notwendigen Eiweissraenge. Archiv fur Hygiene, Band 46, p. 1,1902.

Average Daily Food For Ten Months

During this period of ten months, the body-weight of the subject remained practically constant, or indeed showed a Blight gain up to 67 kilograms. All the functions of the body, and the general condition of good health, were in no wise impaired; so that in the words of the subject, the amount of food eaten must have been sufficient for the needs of the body. Somewhat striking is the fact that of the 2309 calories in the daily food, more than one-fourth was derived from the beer consumed daily (1200 c.c). Also noticeable is the relatively small amount of carbohydrate taken daily, only about one-half the quantity designated by Voit as the average requirement of German laborers. Finally, it is to be observed that during this period of ten months, the daily consumption of food as calculated for a man of 70 kilograms body-weight, based on the actual food consumption of the subject with a weight of 66.5 kilos, wag not widely different from our own statement of 60 grams of proteid and 2800 calories. The. however, in Dr. Neumann's experiment was toward lower fuel values and somewhat higher proteid consumption.

In a second period of 50 days, with a slightly larger daily intake. Dr. Neumann observed that his body was laying by nitrogen, i.e., storing up proteid on a daily diet of 76.5 grams of proteid and with sufficient fat and carbohydrate to famish a total fuel value of 2658 calories. In the final period of 8 months, the following data were obtained:

Average Daily Food For Eight Months

During this period, it is to be noted that the fuel value of the day's food averaged only 2057 calories, which for a body-weight of 70 kilograms would amount to less than 2000 calories. The proteid consumption, however, was larger than we have found to be necessary for a man of the above weight. Still, the facts are in harmony with the general principle that there is no necessity for a daily intake of food such as common usage dictates, there being obviously a wide difference between a minimal daily consumption of 118 grams of proteid and 3000 or more calories, such as is assumed to be needed by a man of 70 kilos, and 74 grams of proteid with 1999 calories. Under the latter conditions, the subject gained a kilogram in weight during the eight months, while the establishment of nitrogen equilibrium testifies to the now generally accepted view that it is quite possible for the body to establish nitrogen equilibrium at different levels, i.e., with different quantities of proteid food and different fuel values.

The diet made use of by Neumann was a mixed one, containing a great variety of animal and vegetable foods, but withal simple and moderate in quantity. Calculated per kilogram of body-weight, the average consumption of food material per day during the three periods was as indicated in the following table:

Daily Food Consumption Per Kilogram Of Weight

The average of daily food consumption for the total of 746 days was as follows: 74.2 grams proteid, 117 grams fat, 218 grams carbohydrate, and 2367 calories. On such a diet, during this long period, equilibrium was satisfactorily maintained, thereby furnishing additional evidence that quantities of food way below the so-called normal amounts are quite adequate to meet the needs of the body. There is no conflict whatever between these results and our own; they both point in the same general direction. Perhaps the one thing that needs to be again emphasized, however, in view of the low fuel values used by Neumann, is that while they proved quite adequate in his case, the demand in this direction is governed largely by the degree of bodily activity. In fact, Neumann's results with fuel values are in perfect harmony with the data obtained by us with professional men, but the writer is inclined to believe that for the majority of mankind, with the varying degrees of activity and muscular exertion called for, a some- • what larger number of heat units is desirable, and indeed on • many occasions demanded.