cooked longer, and to which salt and a sweetening material are commonly added. In the oatmeal of our forefathers much of the hull or husk remained in the ground product, but with modern improved processes more of the fibrous hull is removed. The germ is not removed from the oat preparations. In the crushed or flaked oat foods the grain is more or less cooked with steam, and while still moist rolled into thin flakes and dried. Such products are, of course, only partially cooked, and further cooking is necessary before using. The rice foods come to us either flaked, or as "puffed" rice. In the latter form the rice has been treated by a special process of cooking with dry heat, the resultant product resembling somewhat popcorn in flavor and texture. In the preparation of wheat breakfast foods the germ, as a rule, is not removed, and save in farina and the gluten preparations more or less of the bran and middlings are retained. In certain products the whole grain, bran and all, is used. The unground wheat grain is seldom used as breakfast food, except in the "puffed" products (prepared similarly to puffed rice), and in frumenty, in which the husked grain is boiled with milk and spices. The latter preparation has but a restricted use in this country. Where the grain is only moderately crushed and the bran not removed, the product is known as cracked wheat or wheat grits. The flaked wheat foods are prepared in the same way as rolled or flaked oats. Shredded wheat is prepared by a special process and represents the whole grain. The gluten breakfast foods are characterized by a very high protein content and contain only about half the starch usually found in wheat foods. They are intended primarily for those to whom much starch in the diet is objectionable, but as a rule the extent to which the starch has been removed falls far short of the manufacturer's claims. In the so-called malted foods advantage is taken of the diastatic power of barley malt, the diastase of malt imitating the action of the ferments of the saliva and pancreatic juice. Generally the amount of malt added is not sufficient to convert more than a part of the starch into soluble forms. Analysis shows that in many of these foods the soluble carbohydrates exist largely in the form of dextrin and suggests the possibility of glucose or some other soluble dextrin-containing carbohydrate being added. Furthermore, it must not be forgotten that the treatment of starch with dry heat also produces dextrin, as illustrated in the case of ordinary toast. It is evident, therefore, that many of these "malted" foods are not deserving of the name. Still another group of breakfast foods now quite widely used includes the various laxative preparations. These usually consist chiefly either of wheat bran or some inert material, such as agaragar or Iceland moss. In some instances fruits and nuts are used and occasionally an oil, such as olive oil, or linseed oil. COMPOSITION OF CEREAL FOODS. Aside from the constituent grains and the method of manufacture, the cereal breakfast foods are of two general classes, those which are either raw and which need prolonged cooking or which have been cooked to some extent and need further treatment before use, and those which are "ready-to-eat." Pearled barley, hominy, samp, corn meal, oat flakes, cracked wheat and farina are types of the first class, while among the "ready-to-eat" preparations we find such products as cerealine, corn flakes, rice flakes, wheat flakes, puffed rice, shredded wheat, Grape-nuts and some of the various "malted" foods. Table I, pages 32 to 39, gives the analyses of 130 of these products examined in this laboratory between 1909 and the present time, 32 being analyses just made. In addition to the chemical composition the claimed weight of the package (which was generally found to be correct) is given together with the calories yielded by one-fourth pound of the food, and the cost per package, per pound and per 100 calories. The costs are based on New Haven prices maintaining on September 26th of this year. These costs will be discussed in more detail later. COMPARATIVE FOOD VALUE OF THE CEREAL BREAKFAST FOODS. In order that the relative composition of these foods may be shown more clearly, an abridged table, Table II has been prepared, in which the average data for the different types are given, grouped under the two headings, "to be cooked" and "ready-toserve." See pages 24 and 25. Among the foods requiring further cooking the superiority, from a nutritive standpoint, of the oat meals is apparent at a glance. They contain from 50 to 100 per cent. more protein and from three to nine times as much fat as the other "to-be-cooked" products. In fact, they are the only breakfast foods, aside from certain laxative preparations, that contain any considerable percentage of fat, and indeed for this reason they have been criticized as "heating" foods and undesirable for use in hot weather and by people suffering from certain types of disease. An average serving of rolled oats, however, contains only about 1 1-3 ozs. of the dry cereal, and a daily consumption of this amount for four months would supply only about as much fat as 2-3 lb. of butter. The "heating" effect of oat preparations, therefore, obviously may be neglected except under most unusual conditions. If oatmeal supplies so little fat in the ordinary dietary, it is apparent that the amounts supplied by the other "to-be-cooked" cereals is almost negligible. This further emphasizes the fact that, while these foods contain important percentages of protein, they are, with the exception of the oatmeals, essentially carbohydrate foods. While among the "ready-to-eat" preparations considerable variations are shown in all the ingredients except the carbohydrates, the most striking differences, as we have shown elsewhere, are in the amounts of carbohydrate rendered soluble in water by the various manufacturing processes. Only about 10 per cent. of the carbohydrates of flaked rice, Shredded Wheat and Triscuit are water-soluble, raising a serious question as to the desirability of the extensive use of such foods in the dietaries of young children. Flaked wheat shows only about 15 per cent., while on the other hand, flaked corn shows 26, puffed rice 32, puffed wheat 27 and Grape-Nuts 36 per cent. of water-soluble carbohydrates. From a nutritive standpoint, the table shows that these types of breakfast foods, excepting possibly the oatmeals and Holland Rusk, are practically interchangeable. While one-quarter of a pound of oatmeal or Holland Rusk yields 430 calories, the same quantity of each of the other foods listed yields approximately the same number of calories, 400. For all practical purposes, therefore, it may be assumed that one ounce of any of the commonly used breakfast foods yields about 100 calories. An attempt has been made in the table to indicate in terms of familiar measure the volume of the different foods weighing one ounce and yielding 100 calories. For instance, I Shredded Wheat biscuit, 21⁄2 Triscuits, 2/5 cup rolled oats, 1/4 cups corn flakes, or 4 heaping tablespoonfuls of Grape-Nuts each yields 100 calories and weighs about one ounce. DIGESTIBILITY OF THE CEREAL BREAKFAST FOODS. The value of a food depends not only upon the amounts of nutrients present but also upon their digestibility. Experiments with healthy men have shown that partially cooked wheat preparations have the highest digestibility and those made from unbolted wheat the lowest. Experiments at the Maine Experiment Station with rolled oats, rolled wheat, corn meal, hominy and certain specially prepared brands, showed that in general about 90 per cent. of the organic matter was digested. The general conclusion from these experiments was that rolled wheat showed the highest and the corn products the lowest digestibility, oats occupying an intermediate position. When the actual nutrients are compared with the total nutrients it is seen that the relation previously noted still maintains; that is, the oat preparations provide the largest amounts of digestible protein and fat, followed by wheat, rye and barley, while the corn and rice products supply but relatively small amounts of these elements and relatively large amounts of carbohydrates. Other Maine experiments bring out the interesting fact that the processes to which certain products Necessary to yield 100 Calories. Weight. |