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 carbohydrates are represented by cane sugar, maltose, dextrin and
invert sugar. Lactose is probably also present in some, but it is
impossible to establish this. By multiplying the number of grams of
carbohydrates present in 500 grams of the foods by the factor 4.1 we
obtain the potential energy represented by the carbohydrate, which
varies from 11.3 to 319.2 calories. The total calorific value of
both proteids and carbohydrates ranges from 54.7 to 397.5 calories.
The total food value of an equal quantity of milk, including fat,
approximates 360 calories.
The value of alcohol as a food product pure and simple in disease
is, however, an open question. There is no doubt whatever but that
it acts to a certain degree as a food even here, not as a tissue
builder, but as a saver of fat and carbohydrate material, and in
order to give the preparations in question full value as food
products, the calories represented by the alcohol, are credited to
each preparation, as are the proteids and carbohydrates. The factor
usually recognized for expressing the calorific value of alcohol is
7. By multiplying the number of grams of alcohol present in 500 grams
of material by 7, the number of calories varies from 420 to 658.
On looking over the literature and printed matter distributed by some
manufacturers, the physician is frequently left under the impression
that these preparations contain all the essential constituents
necessary for maintaining normal nutrition of the body, as is clearly
shown by the following quotation: “Contains sufficient nutritive
material to maintain normal nutrition of the body, a valuable food in
typhoid fever, pneumonia, tuberculosis, ... and all the conditions of
the system associated with enfeebled digestion and malnutrition.”
In order to show the insidiousness of such representations it is only
necessary to give the actual food value of the average daily dose
(the average amount to be taken for twenty-four hours) recommended
by the various manufacturers for their products. The average adult
daily dose recommended varies from 50 to 150 c.c. The total available
calories per daily dose based on the proteid and carbohydrate bodies
varies from 9.8 to 110.5. Adding to these figures the amount of
energy represented by the alcohol, in each case, the total available
calories varies from 55.0 to 299.5. The number of calories per diem
in sickness should not fall much below 1,500 during twenty-four
hours.
TABULATED RESULTS OF EXAMINATIONS OF MEDICINAL FOODS
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