WHEAT BEST FOR STREBGTH.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12970, 25 November 1907, Page 5

WHEAT BEST FOR STREBGTH.

Ada Mai Kmckb, in "Chiowto Tribune.' , Which makes muscle—moat or wheat ? Which makes the better worker, a vegetarian or the flesh-eater P Professor Fisher, of Yale University, has been testing the endurance of flesheaters and comparing it with the endurance of those who abstain from flesh. He says the non-nesh-eaterocome out victors. Professor Fisher ha* been careful in his experiments. He says that the strength of a muscle is measured by the utmost forco it can exert: its endurance by the number of times it can repeat a given exertion within its strength. The repetition of such exertion is finally stopped by the reduction of tho strength or the nni6cle until it is unable to perform further. Thus endurance moy be expressed in terms of loss of strength, end these experiments were undertaken to determine whether the flesh-oater or the abstainer from meat loses etrongth more rapidly, other things being equal. It has been found that for rapid exertion of strength, a quick spurt, the advantage hue often l>oen on tho side of those nourished on the purin-con-teining fowls, which are known to be I highly stimulating in effect. So what ! are the purinsP i CLASSIFIED .\S BDILDING MATERIAL. j The nutritive elements of food ire roughly classed as proteide, albuminoids, carbo-hydrates, fats, end mineral matters. The function of building up and repairing body tissue is fulfilled by the nroteids end mineral matters, the proteids being represented chiefly in eiich ioads as meat, feh, cheese, lentils, which contain them in relatively large quantities. The'carbohydrates— sugar and starch—with the fate—oil, butter, and their kind—are sources of potential energy. The proteids also contribute energy, but in a less degree—a pound of butter, for example, \ being worth about three times as much cc a pound of cheese in the production of energy j while cheese, ac a source oi building material, is immensely superior. It will be seen that the problem of dietetics is that of distributing and allotting these food functions in the best interests of tho body, and that a low proteid diet ie one where the chief proteid-containing foods are sparingly used -or where those containing proteids in smaller amounts are substituted. • The purin bodice ere the results of wear and tear in the ©ell constituents. They ere waste products, on their way to excretion, and are present in. large quantity in meat, meat extrecto, tea, coffee, and cocoa. ' The ground is cleared for the experiments. FORTY-NINE PERSONS IN TESTS. The experiments consisted of endurance tests on forty-nine pereone representing two contrasted types of dietetic habits, athletes accustomed to a high proteid and full flesh dietary, athletes accustomed to a- low proteid and non-fleeh dietary, and, lastly, sedentary persons taking 3. low proteid and non-flesh dietary. . . The men were Yale atudents ana and physician*, nurses, and employees of a ea/iatarium, - where the non-flesh dietary ie rigorously maintained. All of these latter had abstained from flesh, foods for\ from four to twenty years, and fire had never eaten euch foode. Two oemparisone were planned, one between flesh-eating athletes and abstaining athletes., and the second, between flesh-eating: athletes md sedentary workers. ,•■ i>:.r .'■". .' '.:■■"••■//• ■ •,- :: ;'' Three eimple endurance tests • 'were used. The first was holding the. arms horitontelly as - long aa possible; the second deep knee bending, and the third leg raising with the subject lying on his back. . -• .-.'.• ■ Tho first comparieon*—arm holding— show* a greet superiority, on the,, side of the •bstatnere. Even the maiutiUfß' 'record of 'the fle«h-eatere : ws* barely more, than Jialf the average of the atetaincrs. Only two 'of the flesh-eaters succeeded in holding their arms out for more than fifteen .minutes, whereas twenty-two of, the thirty-two abstainers surpassed this. None of the eaters reached half an hour, while fifteen of the thirty-two ebet«nera>xoeeded this. And of these thirty-two, nine, exceeded an hour,, four, exceeded two hours, and one exceeded three, hours. ;, •"••■•■■■■:■■. i-^v,>-?<: ; 'v.v>';-;-^ . TRAIN FOR HONOUR, OF YAMI^ Professor, Fisher raises the query of vegetarian esprit de : corpe ac: possibly influencing results. But this possibility was k«pt in yiew and the;fletheaters were stimulated to a judicious use of their college, pridV, and : knowledge/that their achievements would be , recorded «s that 6f Yale athletes. So Professor :•' Fieher -. concludes that the."Yale spirit", wae a* efficacious es could- be any; vegetarian spirit.. '; ■•■■/ •' ■'■'■ •".".. ;,■'!■;.'..,".■■•'.■' • The pain experienced by' the-abstain-ers in the arm holding-test was less, than "that felt by tho flesh-eaters, -and therefore provides further evidence of their muscular euperiority. WitJi the" flesh-eaters the pain came eariy. yWiththo ebstainere the pain began later and fluctuated more widely. vFor, the deep knee bending the fleeheating athletes' average was 383 times; that of the abstaining athletes was 927, and that of the sedentary ebetiiners 535. For the leg raising the flesh-eat— ing athletes' average was 279, that of the abstaining athletes 288; ,O»ly one: sedentary abstainer competed. His result was 740. j ■;'■•':; DIET RESPONSIBLE'FOR" STRENGTH. • Could exercise and not diet have produced the results F No, because the sedentary abstainers surpassed the' exercising flesh-eaters. Dr. J., who reached the record of 1225 in deep knee bending, spends his day in his office. ■ ■' ■ '■"■ •, ■;, ' .-. CJould sleep have been the cauee? Noi, for' here all the advantage was on the side of the'flesh-ekters, who as students had .more freedom, and *c, athletes were making * every effort to keep good houre and live on- hygienic Jines: for tbe/Wke of the contests for which "many v of; .them; wore training.. 1 Among the sedentary. abetainer* v the ' opposite conditione applied..- Seferalof the! physicians nad night duty, , , or for/ ■other reasons-were short on eleep.s [ '■'■',■% It was because Profe&tor Fisher bad" noticed their unusual capacity for long hours that these tests were undertaken. A Yale instructor and physician who had many, abstainers in hi* summerclasses found that these men-did all the work which-the others accomplished and two hours extra daily; Wae superiority of physique the reason ? No, for the flesh-caters here had the initial advantage. The abstainers were in most cases ex-invalids. Two had had in yearn past tuberculosis of the lungs, one had had hip diseeep, another typhoid fever,-etc. Other factors being scientifically eliminated, it was diet that effected tho surprising records, and diet free I from tea, coffee, condiments, meat and fish, and low in proteids.