FATTENING POSSIBILITIES OF THE HUMBLE POTATO.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 21, Issue 89, 2 December 1910, Page 2

FATTENING POSSIBILITIES OF THE HUMBLE POTATO.

The lawyers of Harry Thaw recently made a plea to have the prisoner removed from one institution to another on the ground that he was being kept exclusively on a diet of bread and potatoes, they at once sounded a note of cheer to the enormous army of the thin. For the argument of counsel was that the potato diet made Thaw take on weight, which he did not at all want to take on, and it is this argument which has caused the attenuated to make a careful inquiry into the antecedents and actions of the potato, with a view to its possible adoption as a cure for the lean. One physician v ho was asked about the effect of potato eating upon the system, said “Yes, undoubtedly the eating of potatoes will make one •fat if anything will. But I do not believe an exclusive diet of potatoes would long agree with any person. Not that the potato in itself is not a very valuable' food product, for it is, but ■ because it does not contain oil.the elements required by the system.

“A person could not live very long on a potato diet without harm. Many would become a prey to indigestion. But a diet of, say, bread and butter and potato might not prove injurious if the person taking it would also. take a great deal of bodily exercise. It is because of the starch and water in the potato that it is bound to fatten those who eat it regularly, and it is because of the starch that the potato should be avoided by persons with a tendency to rheumatism and indigestion. Taken with other foods the potato is one of the greatest fatteners known to the medical profession.” ANALYSIS OP THE POTATO. .And this is how Mr. Potato is made up, getting an analysis, from many different potatoes examined Per cent. Water ... ... 76.00 Starch ... ... 19-68 Sugar ... ... 1-20 Albumin ... , ... -70 Gum ... ... .40 Asparagin ... ... .30 Fat ... w ••• *3O Solanin ... ... .05 Other nitrogenous substances .15 Insoluble matter 40 Ash ... ... ... -82 100.00 When you get a food containing 95 per cent, of water and starch you get something bound to put on weight. The trouble with the potato diet, in the opinion •of the doctor, is that it la too bulky. Said he :—‘‘Even granting that six pounds of potatoes per day is sufficient to supply fully all the needs of the body, it must be evident that this quantity is still unduly bulky, weighing, as It does, about twice as much as an or-

dinary mixed .diet. The result or its continued use would be the undue .burdening of the stomach and bowels, culminalug probably In'dilatation of these organs. The so-called potato belly of the Irish peasant Is an example of this result. . PAUI.TS OP A POTATO DIET.

“In addition to being bulky the potato contains too little proteid (albumin) in proportion to its starch It would require about twenty-two pounds of potatoes to yield even 118 grams of proteid daily, while this quantity of potatoes would contain more than four times as much carbohydrates (starch) as one really needs. As a matter of fact, however, Hubner has found that six and one-half pounds of potatoes are enough to furnish three thousand calories of energy and to prevent any loss of bodily proteid. This is probably to be explained by the relatively enormous quantity of carbohydrates—that is, proteid sparers—which the potato contains.” So, despite the scientific objections of certain of the profession, the practical experiment demonstrates the fattening power of the ‘"spud." Then, of course, everybody wants to know what sort of a potato is

going tot produce the best results—that is, the best results from the 'point of view of the skinny—and the answer is the potato cooked with the jacket on. It has been calculated that if a bushel of .potatoes were peeled and soaked before being boiled—and this is the way that most of our wives, mothers, house-keepers, and cooks go about the preparation for the mashed potato—the loss of nutrients would be> nearly equivalent to the amount contained in one pound of beefsteak. That is where you get an idea of the sustaining value of the vegetable and also see how important it is that the skin be not taken off before cooking. ’ - It follows, then, that potatoes should either be stemmed or cooked in their skins. Two medium sized potatoes, weighing together five and one-third ounces, when boiled and eaten in the usual way, remain from two to two and a half hours in the stomach, and that is a shorter time than a similar weight of bread would require. Very young potatoes are not mealy, and they require more cooking and are less digestible than those of middle age. And, at the other extreme, very old potatoes arid those which have been long kept show some alteration in the quality of their starch. —’’Popular Science Siftings."