An idea of the importance of cereal foods in the diet may be gathered from the following data, based on the results obtained in dietary studies with a large number of American families: Vegetable foods, including flour, bread, and other cereal products, furnished 55 per cent. of the total food, 39 per cent. of the protein, 8 per cent. of the fat, and 95 per cent. of the carbohydrates of the diet. The amounts which cereal foods alone supplied were 22 per cent. of the total food, 31 per cent. of the protein, 7 per cent. of the fat and 55 per cent. of the total carbohydrates—that is, about three-quarters of the vegetable protein, one-half of the carbohydrates, and seven-eighths of the vegetable fat were supplied by the cereals. Oat, rice, and wheat breakfast foods together furnished about 2 per cent. of the total food in protein, 1 per cent. of the total fat, and 4 per cent. of the carbohydrates of the ordinary mixed diet, as shown by the statistics cited. These percentage values are not high in themselves, but it must be remembered that they represent large quantities when we consider the food consumed by a family in a year.[4] If one’s work calls for extreme muscular exertion, the cereals may be eaten freely, but if one’s habits are sedentary, and the cereals are used in excess, there is danger of clogging the system with too much starch. Indeed, for one whose occupation is indoors and requires little muscular activity, a very little cereal food, such as bread, cake, etc., will suffice; the carbohydrates will be supplied, in sufficient quantity, in vegetables. Mineral matter is supplied in sufficient quantity in almost all classes of foods. Cereals and legumes supply nutrients at less price than any class of foods; therefore a vegetarian diet involves less expense than the mixed diet. An entirely vegetarian diet, however, gradually induces a condition of muscular weakness in many people, resulting in a loss of strength. A well-proportioned mixed diet is best to give strength and activity of both body and mind. Meat, eggs, and milk, which usually supply the proteins, are the most expensive foods, and when these, for any cause, are eliminated, a large proportion of proteins should be supplied by the legumes. * * * * * [Sidenote: Wheat] Perhaps no food is as commonly used as wheat in its various forms. It is composed of: 1. The nitrogenous or protein compound, chiefly represented in the cerealin and the gluten of the bran. This is removed from white flour and from much of the so-called “whole wheat” flour. 2. The starch—the center or white part of the kernel. 3. The fats, occurring chiefly in the germ of the grain. 4. The phosphorus compounds, iron, and lime, found in the bran. The kernel of wheat consists of the bran or covering, which surrounds the white, pulpy mass of starch within. In the lower end of the kernel is the germ.