Not only is the taking of meat without beneficial relation to the
capacity for muscular work, but, in fact, an exclusive meat diet results
in the sensation that work is being accomplished with difficulty. When
meat is metabolized it stimulates the body to a higher heat production,
as great an increase as 55 per cent. having been observed in a resting
man. No other food-stuff will accomplish so great an increase. It is
especially worthy of note that this increase in the heat production, due
to the _specific dynamic action_ of protein, as it is called, cannot be
utilized in the execution of mechanical work. When the organism of a
laborer at work in a hot environment is called upon to eliminate extra
heat, due to the work he is performing, he must also eliminate the quota
of heat which is derived from any large ingestion of meat. Hence, the
American farmer in the hot weather can eat little meat.
So far as is known, taking meat even in large excess is not harmful, but
it represents luxury and waste. According to an oral statement by A. E.
Taylor, the results of many thousand urinary analyses in Germany during
the second year of the war showed about 7 grams of nitrogen excreted,
which would correspond to a dietary containing about 45 grams of
protein. As a matter of fact, this is the equivalent of the reduced
protein dietary of Chittenden, and it is reported that no ill effects
can be attributed to it. The flavor of meat is such that it lends itself
to the easy preparation of a palatable meal, but this flavor could
undoubtedly be as well obtained if the present consumption of meat were
cut in two. It is a question of habit, but with the present reduced
supply of meat one must adopt new habits. It would be highly desirable
if the grain now fed to fatten beef were given to maintain herds of
milch cows.
Indulgence in meat is due to the desire for strong flavor. With the
increased distribution of wealth, the demand for meat grows. Its
consumption by all classes had vastly increased in all prosperous
countries prior to the war. It is well, however, to remember that its
use has been excessive and unnecessary, and its price can be cut by
wholesale voluntary abstinence. The British people have suffered no
hardship in the recent reduction of their meat ration.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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