Tropical hygiene : a text for the use of teachers / A.H. Kirby.

  • Kirby, A. H.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Tropical hygiene : a text for the use of teachers / A.H. Kirby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    body to live, grow and work. 1 he foods, however, which contain chiefly sugar or starch, and those which are mainly made up of fat have a very dif- ferent use from those which do not contain much of either of these things, and the best understanding of the difference between the last kind of foods and the others can be obtained by considering for what purposes they are required by the body. 16. Need for the different kinds of food.— One of the facts that are most easily noticed, about the body, is that it is warmer than the things around it. In order to give it this warmth, something that it takes in must be used up, just in the same way as, if a fire has to be kept burning, plenty of fuel must be given to it. It is easy to see that the things which a person eats are the means by which his body is made able to be always warm. The kinds of food that have this special duty are the sugars and starches, and the fats. In being used up, inside the body, they give out heat. They have another use as well, for they help to keep in the heat that has been made already, by covering the body with a certain amount of fat. This is why starch, sugars and fats are often spoken of as fattening foods. Such kinds of food, however, cannot be sufficient for the needs of the body. When it is young it must grow, and whether it is young or old, some- thing must always be given to it, to make up for the waste that is caused through its continuing to live and do the work that is required of it. In other words, the body is always growing. What part of the food is it that is used up for the purpose of 2 A.