Chapter 6

BREAD AND ITS RELATIONS

At all times, and among all peoples, bread has been recognized as one of the great staple articles of diet. Although its commonly quoted designation, "the staff of life," would more appropriately belong to the albumins, there can be no question that breads of one kind or another are among the most wholesome and necessary of all food-substances. Not alone is this true on account of the starch of which they are largely composed, but they contain more or less vegetable albumin; it is thus seen that bread is a mixture of the two most important food-stuffs, starch and albumin, but the quantity of the latter is so small that an individual would have to eat an enormous amount of the mixture to secure enough of this ingredient to meet the needs of the body. For practical purposes, then, we may regard bread as being starch.

Within recent years quacks have disseminated very widely throughout this country the error that foods are more digestible when raw. It was long ago demonstrated that pure albumins, of which eggs and milk are the nearest natural examples among foods, are assimilated somewhat better when eaten raw, but this applies to no other foods except sugars. Any success that has followed the teachings just referred to undoubtedly rests purely on the fact that their followers are instructed to live largely on raw eggs and milk, and as the patient usually discovers in a short time that these two foods agree with him while other uncooked ones do not, he naturally eats them to the exclusion of the rest and where he takes a sufficient quantity increases in weight and strength.

The idea that starches are more digestible when eaten raw could be easily refuted by any intelligent farm-boy who recalls one or more sad experiences from over-indulgence in raw sweet potatoes.

What shall we look upon as bread? Of course all such food-stuffs as are commonly included within this designation are to be accepted; such as wheat-bread, graham-bread, whole-wheat bread, biscuits, rolls, light bread, bakers' bread, waffles and batter-cakes, rye bread, corn bread, preparations of corn-starch, with which we should place those articles of diet so commonly used in the south, usually called grits, hominy, egg-bread, muffins, corn-meal cakes, potatoes, both sweet and Irish, arrowroot and the so-called cereals or breakfast-foods, including oatmeal.

Now which of these is the most wholesome? This inquiry cannot be answered conclusively for the reason that the digestibility of this, as of other foods, depends largely on the individual. For the sake of clearness the various breads will now be considered in detail.

_Wheat-bread the Best._--It may be confidently asserted that well-cooked and perfectly dry wheat-breads are to be regarded as being generally the most digestible of all bread-stuffs. This is not dependent on any inherent property in wheaten starch as a result of which it is acted upon more readily by the juices whose office it is to render it fit for absorption in the body, but is wholly due to the fact that breads of wheat-flour may be made very dry and light.

As has been already explained, it is particularly necessary that starches should be thoroughly soaked in saliva, and this can only be accomplished when the bread is of such consistence that it must be chewed for a time, and so dry that it will readily absorb the salivary secretion. The writer, then, would advocate well cooked light-bread or bakers' bread, or toast made from either, as being the best of all food-stuffs of this character. The crusts of biscuit a day or so old are quite digestible, as are also waffles, if made with little grease and cooked thoroughly. The soft inner portion of biscuit and that of hot rolls, as well as batter-cakes, is decidedly unwholesome.

Graham-bread should not be constantly indulged in for the reason that it contains multitudes of sharp particles of the husk of the grain that cut the delicate mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines as it passes along, and if its use be long and continued, severe ill effects necessarily follow.

In this connection attention should also be called to the common error that particles of husk are of advantage to breads of all sorts; the former consist chemically of exactly the same thing as sand, and are quite as indigestible, and this, in connection with what has just been said of their action on the delicate mucous membranes of the intestinal tract, should be quite enough to convince anyone that they are not only useless, but injurious. It is true that the irritation produced by the husk will oftentimes cause the bowels to act, but results of the same character may be induced by many other agencies, within themselves less harmful.

_Rye-bread._--There is no reason why rye-bread should not be prepared in quite as wholesome a way as is wheaten-bread, and this grain should undoubtedly rank as one of the best of the cereals. Its use, however, is so limited in this country that it is scarcely necessary to go into a lengthy discussion as to its merits. It may be remarked that the ergot fungus frequently grows on this grain, and when ground up with it occasionally poisons the consumer where the quantity of the substance is large and the bread is eaten in considerable quantities. Instances of this kind are not uncommon among the peasantry of Europe, where a black bread made from rye is the staple article of diet. Of course, when making food-preparations of rye, we should be careful to have the flour thoroughly winnowed, and to cook the bread until sufficiently dry to acquire a proper consistency for chewing.

_Corn-bread and Corn Food-products._--When made from perfectly sound grain, and if not allowed to undergo fermentative changes afterward, there can be no question that food-products of corn are entirely wholesome, and, from the standpoint of chemical composition, quite as nourishing as similar articles of diet prepared from other grains. It is, however, unfortunately true that we cannot, in the majority of instances, definitely assure ourselves that our corn-bread is made from grain that comes up to the above specification, nor can we be sure that the meal is fresh, or preserved at such a temperature as would forbid the growth of various germs. It has long been known that bad corn would kill horses, but notwithstanding this, we have accepted the view that no amount of deterioration in the grain could result harmfully to man. That this latter assumption is incorrect seems now in the highest degree probable.

_Pellagra._--It is known that a very curious and fatal disease called pellagra is prevalent to a considerable degree at the present time in the United States, and it is not going too far to say that all of those best capable of judging are of the opinion that the malady is the result of eating just such corn as we know kills horses.

It is likewise true that the nutritive power of this grain could in no way be increased by allowing it to decay before consumption; indeed, the contrary must be the case, and, if it were in no manner actually harmful, our sense of the aesthetic and of what is proper to eat, should make us reject in this case, as with other foods, that which is unsightly to the eye and unpleasant to the taste. We should no more eat bad grain than a rotten apple, or putrefying meat. The increased prevalence of pellagra is exciting attention all over the United States, and is very generally assumed to be the result of lack of care in the harvesting and preservation of our corn. Instead of being cut before it is ripe, and shocked in the field during the latter part of the summer, it should be allowed to ripen on the stalk, and after cold weather sets in gathered while dry, and preserved in well-covered and well-ventilated barns. Every care should be taken to keep it dry while being shipped from one part of the country to another, and similar precaution should be observed with the various food-products made from it. If kept in a cold place, meal or grits made of good corn may be preserved in excellent condition for eating throughout the winter; but as soon as the warm weather begins they should be stored in the refrigerator, and should there remain during the summer; similar precaution should be taken with meal or other corn-products during the hot months.

Over a large area of the United States corn-bread is an article of daily diet with a great majority of the inhabitants, and its wholesomeness as compared with other breads becomes, therefore, an important question. Unfortunately, corn-meal does not lend itself to the preparation of a dry bread having sufficient consistency to require chewing. It is true that the crusts of the bread made from this grain answer these requirements fairly well, and there is therefore no reason why this part of it should not be used to any extent, provided it be prepared from good meal. We should endeavor to cook thin pones of the bread rather than the thicker ones so common in the south. The objection that corn-bread can only be masticated with difficulty applies to the other preparations of this cereal, such as egg-bread, muffins, etc., and they are not, therefore, with the exception of the crusts, to be looked upon as being the best form of bread. Corn-cakes, like all batter-bread, are to be mentioned only to be condemned. Grits and hominy are soft and moist and cannot be properly chewed, and are, therefore, not to be recommended as good breads. Corn-starch preparations are likewise entirely lacking in the elements required to make good bread, and should only be used occasionally and in small amounts.

_Disadvantages of Potatoes._--Irish potatoes are eaten almost as commonly in some portions of the United States as are corn-products in others, and therefore deserve the careful consideration of the hygienist. While it is not believed that, like the latter, potatoes give rise to any definite disease, it is unfortunately true that they are theoretically worse breads than those made from the grain just referred to. In whatever way cooked, they are moist and require no chewing, and as a consequence many persons with delicate digestions do not assimilate them properly.

_Arrowroot._--The preparations of arrowroot are considered digestible, though here again we find that such articles of diet are generally moist and of not proper consistence to be chewed, and they are, therefore, not as valuable as are breads made from wheaten flour.

_Rice._--Rice is used by a large portion of the world's inhabitants. When cooked thoroughly and very dry, it is perhaps almost as good bread as is that made from wheat. The starch granules of the former, like those of arrowroot, are somewhat smaller than those of wheat.

If it were possible to keep rice-flour in good condition, and if it could be made into light-bread, it is likely that it would be superior to wheaten flour, but this does not appear feasible.

A peculiar and very fatal disease prevails in the East, known as "kak-ke" or "beri-beri," which is now generally regarded as being the result of eating decomposed rice. The writer has seen one or two examples of what he considers American beri-beri, but as our rice-eating population is small, it is not likely that this disease will ever become a serious problem in the United States.

_Cereals or Breakfast-foods._--Lastly we will consider the so-called breakfast-foods, which are neither more nor less than various preparations of the different varieties of starch. They are generally made from oats or corn-starch. They are nothing more than bread, and as some of them have been put through a sort of fermentation it is difficult to understand how they could be regarded as being quite as wholesome as the original products from which they were made. This, however, is not the principal objection to them. The real trouble lies in the fact that they are, in the majority of instances, served with cream and sugar. When we remember what has already been said about starches that are soft and cannot be chewed, and of the ill effects of sweets on persons who have any inclination towards dyspepsia, it will be seen that these foods are not to be regarded as being wholesome. The real reason that would appear to explain the coming into existence of these preparations is that they are mixed with cream and sugar, which appeals strongly to the "sweet-tooth" of the average person. They are nothing but bread, and very bad bread at that. The remarks made concerning breakfast-foods apply with equal force to oatmeal, which, as generally used, has the additional disadvantage of containing particles of husk.

In concluding this discussion on starchy foods the writer desires particularly to call attention to a very common error in the way they are eaten. Mention has already been made of the fact that fats after being melted are by no means so wholesome as in their natural state, and produce, when heated with starches, a very indigestible mixture. Thus, theoretically, it is bad to use any great amount of lard, butter or other fat in the preparation of breads, and it is likewise undesirable to spread butter on heated breads, as is so often done just before eating biscuits, waffles and batter-cakes. The combination is certainly a seductive one, and pleasing to the taste of most persons, but this in no way invalidates the fact that the mixture is exceedingly indigestible.

_Pastries and Cakes._--Peculiarly unwholesome are pastries containing any considerable proportion of fat, and also most varieties of cake. With the exception possibly of hot batter-cakes served with an abundance of butter and syrup, cooks have so far produced no compound so heinous and totally depraved as pound-cake. Fruit-cake also stands high up in the list of undesirable sweets. It certainly passes all understanding why cooks should continue to persecute the stomachs of a dependent world with such highly obnoxious concoctions; the only excuse that can be given for them is that the mixtures are palatable. Where a housekeeper feels it necessary to prepare cake, she should select some receipt free from butter or other fat, such as angel-cake or sponge-cake, both of which when properly made are exceedingly good to the taste, and lack the undesirable quality of containing fats. Explanation for the peculiarly unwholesome character of food containing melted grease lies probably in the fact that the grains of starch under such circumstances must be to a greater or less extent covered by a thin layer of the fatty substances, and as a consequence it is impossible for the saliva to penetrate to the starch and perform its normal digestive function.