Artificial digestion experiments made at the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station[11] indicate that cheese protein is digested by the ferments of the intestines rather than by those of the stomach, and this is suggested as a reason for its reputation as a “hearty” food, the belief being that some foods which remain in the stomach longer than the average time, or are not digested by the stomach, are “hearty.” Cheese protein (casein) is intimately associated with fat, and there is experimental evidence to show that this condition has an effect upon the progress of digestion in the stomach. The burning sensation or similar sensations sometimes experienced after eating certain sorts of cheese has been attributed to the presence of small amounts of free fatty acids.[12] It is commonly said that cheese is difficult to digest, the idea being that the body expends more labor in assimilating it than is required for other comparable foods. Experiments recently carried on by the Office of Experiment Stations in which the respiration calorimeter was used to study the energy expenditure during the period of active digestion, do not indicate that cheese differs materially in ease of digestion from a comparable amount of meat.[13] Uncooked full-cream cheese was used in these experiments. Another series recently begun by the Office of Experiment Stations with cooked cheese, though not yet sufficiently advanced to be conclusive, indicates that cheese thus eaten does not differ materially from raw cheese in this respect. In connection with the use of cooked cheese in the diet, one fact should always be kept in mind. This is that, in common with all other fatty foods, cheese which has been overheated in cooking is likely to contain burned—that is, decomposed—fats. Disturbances from this cause, however, should be laid to poor cooking and not to the composition of this special food. The use of potassium bicarbonate has often been recommended for increasing the digestibility of cheese, the amount suggested being a level teaspoonful to a pound of cheese. That the bicarbonate renders the cheese soluble in any appreciable degree, as has been claimed, is not apparent from a number of experiments which have been made. It does, however, neutralize some of the free fatty acids of the cheese, thus destroying some of the characteristic flavor. To some people this may be an advantage, but to others it would be counted a disadvantage. FOOTNOTES: [10] U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Anim. Indus. Circ. 166. [11] Minnesota Sta. Bul. 74. [12] Hutchison’s “Food and the Principles of Dietetics,” London, 1901, p. 145. [13] U. S. Dept. Agr., An. Rpt. Sec. 1910, p. 149; Rpt. Office Expt. Stas. 1910, p. 35; Yearbook 1910, p. 359. THE USE OF CHEESE IN THE DIET.