Part 5

Cancer is a disease of modern civilization. It is the one major unsolved problem in the field of medical science to-day. From the _Journal of the American Medical Association_ of June 14, 1913, we quote: "That cancer has increased in recent years is perhaps a commonplace, but the extent of the increase is not generally realized. Under existing conditions, one in seven women and one in eleven men die of cancer." In the _Medical Record_, issue of May 15, 1915, Dr. W. G. Mayo is quoted as saying: "Cancer of the stomach forms nearly one third of all cancers of the human body.... Is it not possible that there is something in the habits of civilized man, in the cooking or other preparation of his food, which acts to produce the precancerous condition?... Within the last one hundred years, four times as much meat is taken as before that time. If flesh foods are not fully broken up, decomposition results, and active poisons are thrown into an organ not intended for their reception, and which has not had time to adapt itself to the new function."

Dr. L. Duncan Bulkley, senior physician to the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital, says on this point, "Analyzing the various data obtained, we find that cancer has increased in proportion to the consumption of four articles, meat, coffee, tea, and alcohol."

One is hardly up to date who does not present an abdominal scar caused by an offending appendix. At the fifteenth International Congress of Hygiene and Demography held in Washington, D. C., Dr. Henning contributed a paper dealing with "statistics upon the increase of appendicitis and its causes." He said: "A meat diet is of great influence in the development of appendicitis. This diet leads to constipation. In most instances, too long retention of intestinal contents in the cæcum causes slight inflammation in that region, the results of which are to weaken the appendix, and to render it nonresistant against later infection." When Dr. Lorenz, the celebrated Vienna surgeon, was in the United States, he called attention to the relatively greater prevalence of appendicitis in this country as compared with Europe, and attributed it to the greater consumption of cold storage meats here, which he said rendered Americans unduly septic, and especially prone to infection of the appendix. Nicholas Senn was told by the hospital surgeons in Africa that they had never seen a case of appendicitis in a vegetable-eating African.

_7. Trichinæ and Tapeworms_

"A story is told of two of the most noted of Germans,--Bismarck, the statesman, and Virchow, the scientist. The latter had severely criticized the former in his capacity as chancellor, and was challenged to fight a duel. The man of science was found by Bismarck's seconds in his laboratory, hard at work at experiments which had for their object the discovery of a means of destroying trichinæ, then making ravages among animals in Germany. 'Ah,' said the doctor, 'a challenge from Prince Bismarck, eh? Well, well, as I am the challenged party, I suppose I have the choice of weapons. Here they are.' He held up two large sausages, which appeared to be exactly alike. 'One of these sausages,' he said, 'is filled with trichinæ. It is deadly. The other is perfectly wholesome. Externally, they can't be told apart. Let his excellency do me the honor to choose whichever of these he wishes and eat it, and I will eat the other.' No duel was fought, and no one accused Virchow of cowardice."

The trichina is a small, wormlike parasite found in the flesh of "measly pork," which, when eaten, burrows in the muscles of the human, producing an extremely painful and often fatal affection. About two per cent of hogs, it is estimated, harbor this parasite.

Practically speaking, the human being becomes the host of a tapeworm only by eating underdone flesh containing the larvæ of the parasite. (Thoroughly boiled or fried tapeworm is a harmless diet.) The ox, the hog, and the fish frequently harbor the larvæ of tapeworms.

_8. Poor Economy_

In these days of increased destruction and decreased production of human foods, it is of great importance to know how to secure a maximum amount of nutrition from a minimum expenditure of money. The world is facing a food shortage that in some places has assumed the proportion of the gaunt specter of famine. In view of this fact, it is well to remember that flesh is the most costly source of food. Sixty-two per cent of the best beefsteak is water. Flesh foods contain but twenty-five per cent nourishment, and seventy-five per cent waste matter. The grains contain seventy-five per cent nourishment, and but twenty-five per cent waste. Now it does not require a knowledge of higher mathematics to determine that since ten pounds of grain, when fed to an animal, make but one pound of flesh, the latter becomes a very costly source of our food supply.

_9. The Testimony of Anatomy and Physiology_

Even a kindergarten study of the structure of the human body reveals the fact that man was not intended to be a carnivorous, a herbivorous, or an omnivorous animal, but rather a frugivorous creature. He does not possess the rough, raspy tongue of the cat family, the long, pointed canine teeth of the lion, the sharp claws of the tiger, or the talons and hooked beak of the eagle. In the carnivora, the alimentary canal is very short, being only three times the length of the body. In herbivora, as the sheep, it is thirty times the length of the body. In frugivora, such as apes, monkeys, and man, it is twelve times the body length. Baron Cuvier, a famous anatomist, writes, "The natural food of man, judging from his structure, appears to consist principally of the fruits, roots, and other succulent parts of vegetables."

_10. Flesh and Morals_

The menu provided for man in the beginning did not include animal food. Not until one thousand six hundred fifty-six years of human history had passed was man permitted to eat flesh, and then only after every green thing had been destroyed by the Deluge. What we eat exercises a profound influence upon what we are, how we think, and how we feel. Let us divide the animal kingdom on the basis of diet and disposition. On the one hand, we have the lion, the tiger, the wolf, the bear, the leopard, the panther, etc.; all these are vicious, snarly, crabbed, ferocious beasts. What comprises their diet? We call them "beasts of prey." They feast upon the bloody, quivering flesh of their victims. On the other hand, we might mention the horse, the ox, the deer, the sheep, the elephant. Think of their dispositions, calm, quiet, pacific, easily domesticated. May it not be that their diet of cereals and herbs contributes to their peaceful temperament?

Dr. Curtis, the eminent physician to Mr. Garfield, said, "What parent is there who has not viewed with alarm how old Adam enters into the baby along with the first spoonful of chopped beef!" Gautier said, on this point: "The vegetarian régime, modified by the addition of milk, of fat of butter, of eggs, has great advantage. It adds to the alkalinity of the blood, accelerates oxidation, diminishes organic wastes and toxins. It exposes one much less likely than the ordinary régime to skin maladies, to arthritis, to congestions of internal organs. This régime tends to make us pacific beings, and not aggressive and violent."

To these we may add the testimony of Holy Writ, "Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh."

Physical Benefits of Joy

The emotion of joy finds physiologic manifestations exactly opposite to those of sorrow and grief. There is increase of function in the muscles, and expansion of the blood vessels. As a result of increased muscular activity, the joyful person feels light and springy. Children, when joyful, dance and skip and clap their hands. The expansion of the blood vessels brings the "flush of joy." This increase in the circulation causes increased secretion of the digestive juices, with increased appetite, and increased power of digestion and absorption. This means increased nourishment. "Laugh and grow fat" has a physiologic basis. Fat people are not good-natured because they are fat, but they are fat because they are good-natured.

Laughter has a wonderfully beneficial influence on bodily functions--a fact recognized centuries ago when the wise man said, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." Laughter is a potent stimulant to all the helpful bodily functions. It hastens digestion, stimulates circulatory reaction, promotes tissue changes, enhances glandular activity, facilitates elimination, and altogether radiates a most beneficent influence throughout the body. Laugh, and the whole body laughs, and counts its work a pleasure.--_Dr. George A. Thomason._

STIMULANTS _and_ CONDIMENTS

_by ARTHUR N. DONALDSON, A.B., M.D._ of the Faculty of the College of Medical Evangelists, Loma Linda, California

The Creator intended that the process of eating should be enjoyed. He has gathered the tasteless, insipid food elements together, and mixing in mineral and organic accessories, has produced for the tickling of our palates all the numberless flavors that the combined action of those highly specialized organs of taste and smell have enabled us to enjoy. The tasteless starch is bound up in the palatable potato; the insipid protein, in the pea, the lentil, and the bean; the rather nauseating fat, in the plump, appetizing olive. To the child not yet educated to the perverted demands of his father's palate, the thought, taste, and smell of these aromatic and savory substances produces a desire to eat. By the time he is twenty, he will not be satisfied with the natural flavor of his food. The cook must pepper or ginger it up, and he must further mustard or Worcestershire it to get it down. His soups are hot, and his salads are hotter. The palatable pleasure in a meal of his childhood is a lost asset. What has brought about this change in the appetite of man?

We all know, from experience, that we handle our food better if we relish it. This is due largely to the fact that the taste organs telegraph ahead to the stomach to prepare for work. The stomach responds by pouring out some digestive juices, and is consequently all ready to begin business the instant the tourist arrives. But when the food is bolted, there is a failure on the part of the taste nerves to telegraph ahead, unless they are stimulated more intensely by the addition of some readily diffusible sapid substance. Are we thus fooling nature?--We are not. Primarily, this unnatural stimulation leads to the most prevalent American dietetic sin; namely, overeating. We do not know when we have had enough. Dr. Wiggers, of Cornell University, has shown that overeating results in the surcharging of the blood stream with elements of digestion; and this, through the operation of physical laws, ultimately leads to arteriosclerosis and its chain of disasters. Secondly, with this unnatural stimulation of the taste nerves, the telegraphic messages to the stomach and the intestine are unreliable. Normally the tract is informed as to the nature of the food about to come, and is thus enabled to pour out a specific juice for a specific kind of food. Obviously this specificity which characterizes all normal processes is broken down, and the digestive function is placed under a handicap, when we cover up the natural taste with condiments.

The idea that condiments and stimulants act favorably in directly stimulating the production of gastric juice and in increasing gastric motor activity, and thus facilitating the digestive process, is a delusion. Professor Carlson, of Chicago University, has shown that these so-called stomachics and appetizers will have done their bit ere they enter the misunderstood stomach. And, our savory sauces and peppers being irritants in the mouth, they are no less irritants to the lining membrane of the stomach. They are always taboo in mild dyspeptic disorders, yet we think them just the appetizers for the run down nervous individual who never enjoys the pangs of hunger. Rather, he should be advised to oxygenate his impoverished blood by a brisk walk, to stir up his eliminative organs by vigorous exercise and the ingestion of water; for these bring no gastric catarrh, no sluggish liver.

It is recognized by every writer on dietetics, that condiments are irritating to the organs of elimination. The kidneys suffer, the ureters suffer, the bladder suffers, and the urethra suffers. We are very quick to stop the use of these substances when the kidneys give evidence of disease, and we will with alacrity drop the hot stuff from our dietary when the bladder and the urethra are inflamed. We do not like the smarting, burning pain produced by their presence. If they are detrimental during disease processes, they are just as detrimental in health. The long continued use of minute quantities of an irritant will incontrovertibly give ultimate evidence of its harmful nature, and we may expect such pathology as congestion of the liver, catarrh of the alimentary tract, hemorrhoids, nephritis, and general nutritive disturbances to be the possible heritage of our stimulating diet.

It is an interesting scientific fact that the highly soluble substances which are used as foods or food accessories are always irritating to the living membranes, particularly to the mucous membranes of the digestive organs with which they come in contact in the process of digestion, whether these membranes are healthy or diseased. Among such substances, we may mention sugar and salt.

Sugar and salt are excellent examples of the sapid, readily diffusible condiment so essential to our table, yet so invariably used to excess. We need about two teaspoonfuls of common salt a day--especially those who enjoy the vegetarian diet. Most vegetables are rich in potassium. This inorganic substance combines with sodium chloride, and is eliminated from the body. Consequently, the greater the amount of potassium in our food, the greater will be the loss of sodium chloride from the blood and the tissues, where it is an essential element, with the resultant need of an increased supply in our diet. Where there is an insufficient use of salt, there is a manifest disinclination to partake of the large variety of earth's products rich in potassium. But we are accustomed to the use of far more salt with our food than is necessary; and in excess, it is positively harmful, and the results of its use are serious.

Sugar is a pure carbohydrate; yet, by reason of its nature and use, it must be classed as a condiment. It, too, when used freely, brings on gastrointestinal catarrh through its direct irritant action, and affords unexcelled media for the growth of intestinal flora.

_Stimulants_

There are practically four strong stimulants to which civilized people are addicted; namely, alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee. Of the action of all, it may be said that the fatigue of nerve and brain is soothed by a spur. That is the work of a stimulant,--to goad the worn system to added effort, to produce an abnormal, false energy. Thus the individual is led on to a state of actual exhaustion without a warning note from his fatigued system. His energy is actually dissipated rather than increased. The results are shown in his heart, his nervous system, and his eliminative organs. Admiral Peary, speaking of the use of coffee in the rations of polar explorers, states that with the added effect of intense cold, it so stimulates the nerves as to cause the men to exhaust themselves, and soon wear out, by doing more than they can endure.

The actual extent of injury from the moderate use of tea and coffee has not been scientifically determined. The difficulty is, as Irving Fisher states it, "Sensitive people do not keep moderate." A little unnatural stimulation calls for a little more, and the tendency is to create a demand for something stronger. Fisher has truthfully declared that to abstain is much easier than to be moderate.

The claim that alcoholic beverages give added strength is a fallacy. The narcotic action of alcohol benumbs the sense of fatigue. From reliable clinical and laboratory findings, we are warranted in asserting with authority that alcohol lowers the power of all mental processes. The muscular efficiency is reduced. The ability of the body to protect itself against disease is undermined. The policemen of the body--the white corpuscles--are rendered more or less inactive--paralyzed; and the formation of other resistive elements of the blood is restricted. In other words, vital resistance is below par. Alcohol is furthermore a heart and circulatory depressant, and is no longer used by competent physicians as a circulatory stimulant. In short, it lowers mental and physical efficiency, and of course will naturally give its stamp to the unfortunate offspring.

Tobacco, too, blunts the edge of fatigue and worry. But its effect is transient, and the stimulation is followed by depression, which of course calls for more of the stimulant. Statistics tell us that where the weed is prohibited, efficiency is increased, and morale is improved.

Among the serious consequences of smoking, we find cancer of lip, tongue, and mouth, and serious cardiovascular changes. In a series of one hundred cases of cancer of the tongue and mouth, Dr. Abbe, of New York, found that ninety were inveterate users of tobacco; and he gives the stimulant the credit of being the ætiological factor in a high percentage of all malignant growths in this region. Tobacco not only directly affects the heart muscle, but its nicotine, through stimulation of the suprarenal gland, causes the production and throwing into the blood of an excessive amount of adrenalin, which brings about a tremendous rise in blood pressure, and of course an increase in the burden that the heart must carry. The ultimate result is arteriosclerosis, tobacco heart, nephritis, and very possibly a closing of the scene with a paralytic stroke.

Professor Fisher very aptly appeals against the introduction of more poisons into a system already burdened with poisons of its own elaboration.

We are not at liberty to ignore nature and her laws. Our bodies are not our own. When the Creator has opened to us of heaven's abundance for the sustenance of life, and has given us a dietary that answers every need of palate and body, we are palpably in error before our Maker when we question His wisdom, and take into our systems those substances which we know to be destructive to mind, soul, and body.

Our country, however, is blessed with an abundance of foodstuffs; and if our people will economize in their use of food, providently confining themselves to the quantities required for the maintenance of health and strength, if they will eliminate waste, and if they will make use of those commodities of which we have a surplus, and thus free for export a larger proportion of those required by the world now dependent on us, we shall not only be able to accomplish our obligations to them, but we shall obtain and establish reasonable prices at home.--_Woodrow Wilson._

SIMPLE MENUS _and_ RECIPES

_by Mr. H. S. ANDERSON_ Food Specialist, College of Medical Evangelists and Loma Linda Sanitarium

The art of planning and combining the food for a meal is of no small importance to the housewife or the cook. The very best foods may be served in such combinations as to bring distress to the digestive organs, and produce weakness instead of strength.

Because human beings differ so much, and their needs are so varied, it is impossible to lay down any set of rules on diet alike for all. There are general principles, however, by which all may be guided, and which, if heeded, can accomplish more for the individual or the family, in maintaining health, than all doctors' prescriptions. This is made plain by the fact that it is better to know how to keep well than how to cure disease.

It is therefore of great importance for those who have the responsibility of planning for the table, to have a working knowledge of the principles which guide in making out a balanced menu.

In the planning of a meal, careful study should be given to the combination of foods. On the one hand, only such foods as digest well together should be used at one meal. On the other hand, foods should be chosen that will supply all the needed elements in about the right proportion.

Because of the woody substances found in vegetables, especially the coarse or fibrous vegetables, such as carrots, beets, turnips, cabbage, potatoes, and others, they digest slowly, and consequently remain a long time in the stomach before they are broken sufficiently for intestinal digestion. Fruits remain in the stomach a short time, and, owing to the large amount of saccharine matter they contain, are apt to ferment if retained too long.

Fruit and vegetables therefore should not be eaten at the same meal. This has special reference to the coarse and underground vegetables; while the finer or fruity vegetables, such as green peas, corn, squash, tomatoes, etc., and some others which also ripen in the sun, may be used with almost any food.

A safe rule in planning a meal, is to be sure that the _soup_, the _relishes_ (greens, salads, etc.), and the _dessert_, if used, combine well together, as these are so generally used by nearly all classes of people when placed on the menu. Then if fruit is used, in salad, or as dessert, there should be on the menu at least one of the finer vegetables, such as tomatoes, corn, or the like, which can be eaten with the fruit; and if the meal is planned without fruit, any of the coarser vegetables may be used as desired.

A large variety should not be planned for any one meal. It is a great additional expense; and besides, when several articles are taken at one meal, fermentation is likely to occur and the system will not be so well nourished. Recent research work has shown that the digestive juices vary both in kind and in quantity with different kinds of food eaten. This may explain why many persons cannot digest complex mixtures and extensive variety, and is a mighty argument for simplicity at meal-time.

A select variety, of only a few kinds of food, at any one meal, with diversity in the meals from day to day, will prove advantageous to the individual and the family, both from the standpoint of economy, and from the health point of view.

An excess of milk and sugar taken together clogs the system, and should be avoided. Fats are more digestible cold than hot, because hot fat tends to coat and intimately penetrate the food with which it is cooked. This is especially true of fried foods, part of the food being surrounded with a layer of fat, keeping the digestive juices from acting on the other food elements. When subjected to a high temperature, fats decompose, and the resulting acids are very irritating to the mucous membranes of the stomach and the intestines.

The following combinations of food digest well together:

Grains, fruits, and nuts Grains with milk Grains with eggs Grains, vegetables, and nuts

Foods that do not digest well together are:

Milk and sugar taken together, in large quantities Fruit and vegetables Foods cooked in fats