Butter substitutes are made up more or less of vegetable oils, which give energy but which do not contain the necessary growth-promoting factors of butter-fat. Beef-fat contains a small amount of the fat-soluble growth-promoting factor; but even when beef-fat is used in the making of butter substitutes, the quantity of it and of the small amount of butter added, varies so greatly that the butter substitute should not be allowed wholly to replace butter in children's food. Butter substitutes in which vegetable oils are the only fat, are entirely lacking in this growth-promoting factor. If butter substitutes are used, extra milk is necessary in order to keep up the supply of these essential growth-promoting factors.

Boiling is believed to increase the ease of digestion of milk by preventing the formation of large firm curds in the stomach. Brief boiling is thought not to injure seriously the value of either of the growth-promoting factors. Boiled milk seems in the case of many persons to have a constipating effect, which may be offset by the use of fruit juices. This may be found to explain the cause and cure of scurvy. Boiled milk has all the energy value of fresh milk. Boiling does not seem to affect the value of the protein sufficiently to be of any serious disadvantage. Any injury to the value of the protein by boiling is probably due, in part at least, to the coagulation of the albumen of the milk. Increasing the amount of milk fed, if milk is the only food, seems to correct any damage which might be produced by boiling, either on the protein or on the growth-promoting factors.

If, as occasionally happens, milk reacts on the individual as a poison, a special study should be made in order to include in the dietary foods other than milk that are rich in lime. Many times, however, a dislike for milk may be confused with inability to use it. If it is merely distaste that prevents its use, milk may be included in the dietary by being cooked with other foods. Eggs will replace milk, if it is impossible to use the latter. Milk is a valuable substitute for meat.

Eggs should be used as long as they can be afforded. When possible, one egg a day should be used for each child in the family, and, if available, one or two for each adult. The children and women of the family should have the eggs first, since they need the most iron. If the cost of eggs makes their use impossible, thought should be given to increasing the use of other foods that are rich in iron. The cheapest of these are breakfast foods or breads made from the whole cereal grain. Frequently it is objected that milk and eggs cause biliousness. If this happens, it is in most cases due not to the use of milk and eggs, but rather to the absence of fruits and vegetables in the dietary. Eggs are not only valuable sources of iron, they are also rich in lime, rich in both of the unknown substances (so-called vita-mines) necessary for growth and health, and the protein of eggs is of the efficient type. Eggs may be used to replace meat or milk.

Meat is not a necessary food if other animal foods are used in the dietary. Its greatest advantage over other animal foods is its palatability. Meat in the diet of little children is always questionable. The protein of meat is very subject to putrefaction, and the digestive tract of the child is particularly susceptible to this condition. The protein of meat is a valuable type but not necessary if milk, cheese, or eggs replace it. Meat contains stimulating substances not desirable for the normal child. It has a high iron content, but the susceptibility of meat to putrefaction may often destroy its value as a carrier of iron. Iron may often be introduced better in the diet through other foods. Meat lacks lime and has a much more limited quantity of the growth-promoting substance that is carried by certain fats than has either milk or eggs. It contains the second growth-promoting substance (page 412). The protein substitutes for meat are milk, cheese, eggs, and to a lesser extent soybeans and peanuts. Other legumes are not good meat substitutes unless used with milk, cheese, or eggs.

Fruits and vegetables should be used liberally in the dietary, for they are among nature's best body-cleansing and regulating agents. They furnish substances which stimulate the activity of the intestine, neutralize the harmful acids produced by the tissues, and keep both intestine and blood in good condition. Fruits stimulate digestion and are appetizing additions to the • day's food. Complaint is often made that at certain seasons fruit and vegetables are too expensive to be used liberally. However, their value is not comparable to the loss of efficiency resulting from a diet that lacks natural laxatives and iron. When apples are cheap they should be baked or made into applesauce and should be canned for use during a season of scarcity. Carrots, beets, turnips, cabbage, onions, and parsnips are cheap at a time when other vegetables are expensive, and if carefully prepared they are easily digested; they not only give variety to the dietary, but also furnish the much-needed vegetable material.

A diet enriched by fruits and vegetables has a tendency to prevent or correct anaemia, to prevent constipation and its attendant ills, and to improve general health conditions in that it increases the amount of iron furnished to the blood and helps to prevent a putrefactive condition in the intestine. The leaves and stems of plants are particularly valuable additions to the dietary in that they supply lime and fat-soluble growth-promoting substances.

Those cereals and cereal foods that contain the larger part of the grain should be given preference in the dietary. While such a cereal food as white flour retains all the original energy-yielding ingredients and most of the protein, it has lost in the milling process the substances occurring in the outer layers, which stimulate the activity of the intestines, which help in such body functions as bone-building and the formation of red blood corpuscles, and one of which promotes growth.

White bread is entirely wholesome if thought is given to including in the meals, in forms other than bread, the substances lost by the flour during the milling process. This may be accomplished by using fruits and vegetables for their laxative properties, milk for its lime and growth-promoting substances, and eggs for their iron. The proteins in the cereal grains are not of the efficient type and must be supplemented in the diet with animal proteins. Cereal grains also lack both lime and the growth-promoting substance soluble in fat.

Sweets in the dietary are unquestionably desirable, but they should be served in such a manner as not to reduce the appetite for other foods and not to satisfy the appetite with sweet foods only. Fruits and vegetables, simple desserts of various kinds, jam with bread at the close of the meal, and candy occasionally in place of other desserts, are the best ways of using sugar. The craving for sugar between meals generally indicates a badly controlled appetite or a poorly fed individual; or it may be the outcome of some diseased condition of the body.

Candy or other sweet foods eaten between meals result in poor appetite. Sugar is an abundant source of energy, is easily digested and absorbed, and rightly used it has its place in the dietary. It lacks altogether any building foods, and, if used in large quantities, is very irritating to the mucous membrane. Therefore, it should not be eaten to the exclusion of other foods. The candy-fed child, refusing as it does other foods at mealtimes, is very likely to have poor, decayed teeth, weak bones, flabby muscles, and a disordered stomach. The rule should be to use sugar with other foods and at the close of the meal.

Enough water should be consumed each day to maintain the body in a clean, wholesome condition. It is just as necessary to bathe the body inside as outside. Many cases of serious bodily disorder are directly traceable to neglect of the needs of the body for water. Constipation is frequently the result of insufficient water in the dietary.

The dietary should be planned to meet the needs of all members of the family. The main part of the meal may be made suitable for all, and to this the foods especially needed by each individual may be added. Little children should not eat all foods that are allowable for adults, nor should the grown members of the family be limited to the same simplicity of diet as the children, for children have undeveloped digestive organs that will be overtaxed by heavy foods. The strength of food in the diet of the child should be increased only as the muscles of digestion strengthen and develop. Foods that are too strong overtax the immature digestive tract, and foods that are too weak fail to develop it.

Persons working hard outdoors eat more food than those whose work is of a light, indoor character. Not only are they able to digest easily foods that are rated as difficult to digest, but they may actually need food that will require at least moderate work on the part of the digestive tract. They may have a disagreeable feeling of hunger, even when sufficiently fed, if the food consumed does not "stay by" them for a certain period of time. Just the reverse is true of the indoor worker who uses his muscles but little. These facts are often overlooked, and frequently the entire dietary is shaped-to the needs of one member of the family. Hard muscular work increases the need for energy-producing foods but does not materially affect the need for other types of food.