if any of these preserved bodies are proper food for a deranged stomach either in the case of a real invalid or of a convalescent.
In addition to these there are a great many so-called predigested or pre-*cooked foods which are largely advertised for certain forms of deranged digestion or malnutrition. The market is flooded with brain foods, nerve foods, etc., which, if they were as poor as their advertising claims are exaggerated, would be sorry substitutes for the natural food which grown people eat. Fortunately these foods are often far better than one would suppose and many of them are wholly unobjectionable in character in so far as composition is concerned, though the price which one must pay for these nutrients seems out of all proportion to the actual cost of the raw material. Following are data showing the composition of some of the more important foods which are advertised as having curative or medicinal qualities or as suitable for infants and invalids, and thus are brought prominently to the attention of the invalid or convalescent.
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| Water. | Ash. | Fat. | Proteids. | Reducing | Cold Water | Dextrin.
| | | | | Sugar. | Extract. |
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| Percent. | Percent. | Percent. | Percent. | Percent. | Percent. | Percent.
No. 1, | 3.76 | 3.02 | 6.30 | 9.21 | 52.50 | 78.76 | Much
No. 2, | 2.12 | 4.34 | 8.70 | 14.02 | 49.02 | 75.80 | "
No. 3, | 1.96 | 3.85 | 0.60 | 11.06 | 57.96 | 81.10 | "
No. 4, | 3.25 | 2.20 | 5.65 | 8.66 | - | 82.00 | 11.50
No. 5, | 1.37 | 1.63 | 4.75 | 9.13 | - | 46.57 | 11.02
No. 6, | 7.09 | 0.42 | 0.23 | 14.48 | - | 3.58 | 1.74
No. 7, | 5.73 | 0.86 | 1.00 | 10.41 | 26.32 | 34.57 | 7.30
No. 8, | 1.55 | 1.20 | 1.10 | 5.69 | 57.57 | 50.05 | Much
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The above data give a general view of the relations of nutrient in foods of this class. The percentage of mineral matter varies chiefly in proportion to the varying content of common salt. The fat varies from one to about nine percent. Protein exists in quantities from nearly six to 15 percent. Sugar constitutes the predominant nutritive component of almost all these bodies, only one showing a small percentage thereof. It is evident that if any one of these types of food be regarded as a standard nearly all the others would prove objectionable. The foods in the following table are largely farinaceous in composition.
