Hygiene and public health / by B. Arthur Whitelegge.

  • Whitelegge, Arthur, Sir, 1852-1933.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hygiene and public health / by B. Arthur Whitelegge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    119/610 (page 107)
    ^^Ktietm'ics.—Adopting an average of the state- ments of various authorities, it would seem that a daily dietary for a male adult should be composed somewhat as follows :— Nitroge- nous Food. Fat. Carbohy- drates. Salts. Sucli a diet would contain Nitrogen_ Carbon, Rest .... Moderate \ work . j Hard work 3 oz. 4i „ 6 M \\ oz. 3 „ 4i „ 12 oz. 15 „ 18 „ 1 oz. 11 •■i 11 200 grs. 300 „ , 400 „ 4000 grs 5000 „ 6000 „ These amounts are only roughly approximate. The necessity for so great an increase of nitrogen during hard work is open to question, and on the other hand the hard work standard of carbon in the above table is low. More food, especially fat, is needed in cold climates, less in hot. All the ingredients are supposed to be water-free, but would, in practice, be combined with at least their own weight of water, raising the total daily weight of solid food to 40 or 50 oz. Besides this, other 50 to 80 oz. of water are taken as drink. A man consumes daily about of his weight of dry solid food and of water. Women are said to require about 10 per cent, less than men, both of carbon and nitrogen. Infants require nitrogenous and fatty foods with only a small proportion of carbohydrates, which is supplied by milk-sugar. A child of ten years of age needs half as much, and at fourteen years quite as much, as a woman. The following table supplies the means of deter- mining how far a given dietary complies with the requirements stated above, and conversely of con- structing a dietary that will satisfy these conditions.