Food and the principles of dietetics / by Robert Hutchison.

  • Hutchison, Robert, Sir, 1871-1960.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Food and the principles of dietetics / by Robert Hutchison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    FOOD THE NATUEE, NUTEITIVE CONSTITUENTS, AND EELATIVE VALUES OF FOODS A food may be defined as anything which, when taken into the body, is capable either of repairing its waste or of furnishing it with material from which to produce heat or nervous and muscular work. I am aware that this definition is open to criticism, as most definitions of the term have been before it, and that it is difficult to refuse to oxygen especially the right to be regarded as a food under the terms of such a description. But for practical purposes the definition may be allowed to stand, and it has the advantage of bringing into prominence the two main functions of food—in the first place, as a provision for the growth and repair of the fabric of the body, and, secondly, as a source of potential energy which can be converted into heat and work. In virtue of the former function, food provides for the conservation of the material of the body ; the conservation of bodily energy is maintained by the latter. Substances which are unable to help in either of these directions may have a useful place in the dietary, but they cannot be truly regarded as foods. Examples of such substances are to be found, as we shall learn later, in tea, coffee, and the extractives of meat. Most ordinary articles of diet are not simple bodies ; they are made up of mixtures of various chemical substances, some of which are of nutritive value, while others are not. The former may be spoken of as • \ 3 ■» “ » 3 *> 3 3 3 3 > 1 3 » • 3 33 ija* ' «•»,» ®t>303j »•«•••• ^33 3^33* » 0« ^3^30 3 «>3 »3 33-)3 333333033 ,<■ ’•> 3 3) ) • 3 3 0 - - • _3 3 3 3 3 9 0 3 » 3 • * 3 3 • ' 3 AND DIETETICS CHAPTER I