The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 1 of 2Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry (American Medical Association)
Science
The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 1 of 2
Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry (American Medical Association)
Patent medicines
The ingredients on which the food value of any article of food
depends are the proteid substances, carbohydrates, fats, certain
inorganic bodies and--under certain conditions--alcohol. The amount
of each of these present in a preparation must be established by
chemical analysis. From the results thus obtained it is possible to
calculate the potential energy represented by a given food product.
In this report the potential or food value is expressed in the large
or kilocalorie, that is, the amount of heat required to raise the
temperature of one kilogram of water one degree centigrade.
The factors employed in this report for expressing in calories the
actual amount of energy utilized by the system are 4.8 for proteid
substances, 4.1 for carbohydrates, and 9.2 for fats.
The accompanying table embodies the results obtained by submitting
all the well-known so-called “predigested foods” to chemical
examination. The table as published in The Journal included columns
on: Price of bottle, number of cubic centimeters in a bottle, cost
per 500 cubic centimeters, reaction, specific gravity, percentage
of non-volatile residue, ash, percentage of nitrogen, calories as
proteids in 500 grams, carbohydrates before inversion, alcohol by
volume, average recommended adult dose per diem in cubic centimeters,
cost per diem to supply 1,430 calories. These columns were eliminated
from this abstract, as they were unessential, so far as the practical
value of the article is concerned. In most cases two samples of the
same brand were purchased at an interval of about six months. All
the analyses were made before Jan. 1, 1907. Some of the preparations
contain much glycerin which does not, so far as known at present,
possess any recognized food value, although there are a number of
experiments on record to indicate that it influences metabolism.
The percentage of nitrogen accredited to each of these products
represents the total amount of nitrogen, irrespective of the nature
of the nitrogenous substances, although some of this nitrogen has no
nutritive value.
By multiplying the percentage of nitrogen found by the factor 6.25
we obtain the percentage of nitrogenous matter (proteids) contained
in the various preparations. By multiplying the number of grams of
nitrogenous matter present in 500 grams of material by the factor 4.8
it is found that the potential energy available by the nitrogenous
matter varies from 10.3 calories to 153.1 calories. Five hundred
grams of the material is made the basis of calculation, because it
approximates a pint, the amount usually believed to be present in
the various trade packages, and because it affords a ready basis of
calculation.
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