Food In Health And Disease | by Nathan S. Davis
It has been my aim to make as practical a book upon dietetics as possible. For that reason the diet best suited in individual diseases has been described fully under the heading of each ailment, although this has necessitated some repetition. The preservation of health is of as much importance as the treatment of the sick, and in order that the food may be adapted to both these purposes the principles underlying its use must be understood. It has therefore seemed best to review the chemical and physiologic data concerning the nutritive and other qualities of various kinds of food; to discuss briefly their relations to the digestive organs and to the organism as a whole; and to trace many of the changes that food must undergo before it can be appropriated to the needs of the human system and prepared for elimination. The first part of this volume treats of these subjects, with such brevity as has seemed compatible with thoroughness. For a similar reason, in the section devoted to the consideration of diet for invalids, attention has been given to the causation of disease, especially as diet, and digestive and nutritional processes are related to it. Symptoms are described whenever it seems best in order to make clear the indications for dietetic and general hygienic treatment.
| Title | Food In Health And Disease |
| Author | Nathan S. Davis |
| Publisher | P. Blakiston's Son & Co. |
| Year | 1912 |
| Copyright | 1912, P. Blakiston's Son & Co. |
| Amazon | Food Is Your Best Medicine |
By Nathan S. Davis, Jr., A. M., M. D., Professor Of The Principles And Practice Of Medicine In Northwestern University Medical School; Physician To St. Luke's Hospital, Mercy Hospital And Wesley Hospital, Chicago; Member American Medical Association, American Climatological Society, Etc.
Second Edition
Preface To Second Edition- This book was written originally for A System of Physiologic Therapeutics so ably planned and edited by Dr. Solomon Solis Cohen. The title given to this series of treatises devoted to nonmedicinal t...
- Part I. General Principles Of Diet And Diet In Health. Chapter I. Food In Health
- General Physiologic Considerations. Composition of Human Body and of Foods. Alteration of Foods in Process of Digestion, Absorption, and Utilization. Classification. Dietotherapy is the application o...
- Utilization Of Food
- Although food has been adapted to the needs of the tissues by-digestion, it must undergo still further chemical modification when it is selected by cells for their repair, is stored in them, or by con...
- Chapter II. The Uses Of Water
- Effect of too Little and of too Much Water. Amount of Water Used. Effect of Water in Health and Disease. Impurities in Water. Purification of Water. Kinds of Water. Water is of the greatest importanc...
- The Uses Of Water In Dietetics
- Deleterious results may also occur from the too free use of water. Physicians see cases of indigestion almost every summer that have gradually been provoked by too copious drinking. Such cases occur a...
- Hypodermoclysis
- II pathologic states, when the stomach will not retain water and when frequent, copious intestinal movements prevent its retention in the blood in quantities that make it diuretic, water can be advant...
- Hypodermoclysis. Continued
- Artificial mineral waters are certainly not the same in effect as natural ones and probably not in composition. The latter contain traces of mineral matter which may help to make them more efficient. ...
- Chapter III. The Elements Of Food. Proteins
- Proteins - Digestion, Assimilation, Elimination; Effects in Health and Disease. Fats and Oils - Uses; Digestion and Assimilation; Effects in Health and Disease; Butter; Cream; Cod-liver Oil. Proteins...
- Proteins. Continued
- In both the stomach and the intestine bacteria cause more or less putrefaction or abnormal fermentation of foods. Among the compounds thus formed from proteins in the intestines, indol and skatol are ...
- Fats And Oils
- Sources Of Body Fat Twenty per cent, of the normal weight of the average man is fat. It is, however, only in small part derived from fatty food. Its chief source is carbohydrate food. Proteins also p...
- Carbohydrates
- Composition Carbohydrates are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The most important are starch, sugar, and cellulose. Chemists recognize three main divisions: (i) Polysaccharides, or starches,...
- Carbohydrates. Continued
- Abnormal Fermentation When the digestion of carbohydrates is slow or ceases, bacteria and yeasts give rise to abnormal fermentation. Bacteria are probably always active to some extent in the small in...
- Salts
- The mineral ingredients of the body are essential to the maintenance of life, to give the body form and stability, and to maintain numerous special functions. Doubtless they take large part, by so-cal...
- Chapter V. Quantity And Kinds Of Food Needed In Health
- Alimentary Equilibrium. Proteins and Calories. Dietary Standards. Army and Navy Dietaries. Prison Dietaries. Diet of Savages. Investigations of Actual Dietaries in the United States. Equilibrium In ...
- Potential Energy
- Food eaten represents potential chemical energy, the source of bodily energy. To determine the amount of potential energy in food eaten it is necessary to know how much food is consumed and the potent...
- Army And Navy Food Ration
- The United States Army ration is as follows: Ounces Fresh beef............................. . 20 or mutton at same price... 20 or pork....................
- The Diet Of Savages
- It is probable that, in prehistoric times, the food of man consisted of fruits, nuts, raw meats, and fish. Such is the diet of some primitive tribes to-day. Cooking in some form is, however, used by m...
- Relation Of Diet To Seasons and Climate
- During hot seasons most persons prefer food that contains an abundance of water; therefore cereals, vegetables, and fruits, are eaten with but small amounts of meats. In cold weather hot soups, hot be...
- Dietaries Of Inhabitants Of The United States
- The numerous investigations upon nutrition made in various parts of the United States under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture, make it possible to state with much certainty what articles o...
- Dietaries Of Inhabitants Of The United States. Part 2
- The following extract from a letter of Mr Hoffman,1 of the Tuskegee Institute, is of special interest in this connection: The daily fare is prepared in very simple ways. Corn meal is mixed with wate...
- Dietaries Of Inhabitants Of The United States. Part 3
- As the experiments of Chittenden which lead him to urge a great reduction in the amounts of protein eaten, have attracted attention both of dieticians and of the public the following dietary recommend...
- Dietetic Fads
- Fruitarians eat exclusively fruit and nuts or sometimes a little of vegetables and cereals in addition to them. Careful studies of persons living upon such food has not often been made, therefore the ...
- The Diet Of The Japanese
- The diet of the Japanese has been carefully-studied by competent men of that country. Beef, mutton, pork and their products are scarcely eaten and were not at all until very recently, but fish is eate...
- Milk And Milk Products
- Milk is universally used as an article of food by civilized and by many uncivilized peoples. It is one of the cheapest, most easily digested, and perfect foods that we use. Mother's milk is the natura...
- Milk And Milk Products. Part 2. Milk Contamination
- Milk is often unwholesome because it is obtained from cows that are not healthy. The commonest cause of its contamination is disease of the udders, but even disease in distant organs makes it undesira...
- Milk And Milk Products. Part 3. Milk Digestion
- Milk is easily digested by most persons. It is usually spoken of as a liquid food, but when it reaches the stomach it is converted at once into a finely divided solid. Its casein is curdled and precip...
- Using Milk In Disease
- Milk is particularly well adapted for use in many diseases because it is easily digested, comparatively unirritating, and, when used exclusively, lessens abnormal fermentation in the intestines. No si...
- Milk Predigestion
- When milk is administered to those whose digestive organs are weak and incapable of full work, it is often partly digested beforehand. This is accomplished by adding to milk that has been slightly aci...
- Milk Preservation
- In countries where fresh milk cannot be had, milk is condensed to preserve it for use. It is evaporated in vacuo until it becomes thick and paste-like. Two kinds of condensed milk are to be had in the...
- Eggs
- Hens' eggs are a complete food in the sense that they contain some of all the ingredients that are essential in foods. On account of the small quantity of carbohydrate in them, they are, however, inad...
- Meats
- Meats are among the most important articles of diet. From them man obtains the largest part of his protein food. Meat flavors are especially savory and excite a flow of saliva and gastric juice. Raw ...
- Meats. Part 2
- Bouillons are made by soaking finely cut meat for a time in water so that the extractives, the salts, and a little gelatin may be dissolved out. It is then slowly heated and cooked and finally brought...
- Meats. Part 3. Meat Digestibility
- The digestibility of meats is estimated sometimes by the relative length of time that it takes artificial gastric juice to digest different kinds; sometimes, and more perfectly, by 7 experimentally de...
- Composition Of Fish, Mollusks, Crustaceans, Etc
- Kind of Food Material. REFUSE (Bone, Skin, etc.). Salt. Water. Protein. Fats. Carbohydrates. Mineral Matter. Total Nutrients. Fuel Value per Pound...
- Chapter VIII. Vegetable Foods
- Digestibility. Sugars. Cereals. Roots and Tubers. Peas and Beans. Green Vegetables. Fruits. Nuts. Fungi. Spices and Condiments. Vegetable foods differ from animal foods in the large amount of sugar a...
- Vegetable Foods. Part 2
- Sugar is a concentrated form of nourishment that especially gives strength to muscles and helps to produce fat. It has long been known to be a strength producer, but its value was not fully appreciate...
- Vegetable Foods. Part 3
- Stale bread is much more digestible than hot or fresh bread, for the latter, when masticated, is made into a tenacious, dough-like mass. The former crumbles into finer particles, which are attacked by...
- Roots And Tubers
- Roots and tubers are much used as articles of diet and differ greatly in nutritive value. They are chiefly composed of starch or sugar. The most valuable of them is the potato. It contains about 80 pe...
- Peas And Beans
- Peas and beans differ from the other vegetable food-products thus far considered, in that they are rich in nitrogenous matter. They are frequently spoken of as good substitutes for meat. Their chief n...
- Green Vegetables
- This group of vegetables contributes little to the nourishment of man. They are eaten chiefly because of their agreeable flavor and because they add variety to our diet. The amount of protein and fat ...
- Fruits
- Fruits can conveniently be classified as those that are eaten as a relish or to afford variety, and those that have food value. Their value as food is small, however. They are pre-eminently carbohydra...
- Fruits. Continued. Sugar And Acid Content Of Common Fruits
- The acids contained in fruits often have much to do with their digestibility. In health apples and strawberries can usually be eaten with impunity but in some gastric disorders the malic acid in them ...
- Nuts
- Nuts are eaten almost exclusively for dessert. They are agreeable, but have little value as food. They contain a large amount of oil, a moderate amount of carbohydrate, and relatively a large amount o...
- Fungi And Algae
- Fungi are sometimes described as vegetable, steak, and roast beef, and the poor are urged to eat them for economy. This is an exaggerated estimate of their value. It is true that they contain a larg...
- Spices And Condiments
- A word must be said of this group of adjuvants to food. They possess no nutritive value, but often aid digestion by stimulating the organs to secrete digestive juices in larger amounts and they make f...
- Chapter IX. Beverages
- Tea. Coffee. Cocoa. Alcoholic Beverages. The necessity for water, and its various uses, have already been discussed. Other beverages are drunk because they are agreeable to the taste or are stimulant...
- Tea
- Tea has been used by Europeans for about three hundred years. It is employed in the United States extensively, but not so much as in England, in the British colonies, and in Russia. Many varieties of...
- Coffee
- Coffee was introduced into Europe a few years later than tea. It is derived from Coffea arabica. The seeds, which are used in the manufacture of the beverage, develop in pairs in a fruit that resemble...
- Cocoa
- Cocoa was introduced into Europe about one hundred years before tea and coffee were. The cocoa which is made into the beverage of the same name is made from the seeds of Theo-broma cacao. They develop...
- Alcoholic Beverages
- Ethyl alcohol is the active principle of alcoholic beverages. It is produced by fermenting sugars with yeast. The difference in these beverages is due in part to the kind of sugar used, in part to the...
- Physiologic Action Of Alcohol
- Small doses of alcohol may be beneficial, stimulating the secreton of gastric juice and increasing peristalsis. For this reason it has been used when the stomach is weak and is doing its work imperfec...
- Physiologic Action Of Alcohol. Continued
- The fact that it can be proven that only a very limited quantity is retained and replaces or saves other components of food, is not characteristic of a true food, which if not used at once for the pro...
- Fermented Or Distilled Alcoholic Beverages
- Alcoholic beverages are generally classified as fermented or distilled. The former include wines and beers; the latter, spirits and liqueurs. Spirits are made by fermenting various saccharine substan...
- Wine
- Wine is fermented grape-juice. The quality of wine depends upon many conditions. Some of these are: the variety of grape used, the soil and climate in which it is grown, its culture, and the character...
- Chapter X. Diet In Health
- Diet for Athletes in training. Diet for Brain Workers. Starvation. Diet in the Different Periods of Life. It is self-evident that a larger amount of fuel or of calories - that is, units of energy - w...
- Diet For Athletes In Training
- Much has been written of the diet best adapted to an athlete when training for a contest. The object of training is to prepare a man to do a very large amount of work, and sometimes skilled work, in a...
- Diet For Brain-Workers
- Mental work does not increase bodily waste. In this it differs radically from physical work. But it cannot be well done unless nutrition, and especially the nutrition of nervous tissues, is good. Ther...
- Overeating and Starvation
- Overeating is a common fault in adult life and not uncommon in childhood. With children it is usually an acute condition; with adults, a chronic one. Men and women are tempted to overeat by habits acq...
- Diet In The Different Periods Of Life
- Aged persons bear want better than do young ones. Indeed, after middle life abstemious eating should be practised in order to maintain health. During old age less work is done; tissues cease to grow, ...
- Chapter XI. Infant Feeding. Mother's Milk
- Mother's milk is the food best adapted to the needs of infants and there is no perfect substitute for it. Not every mother, however, has enough milk for her child, or milk of a quality that adapts it ...
- Is The Character Of Milk Modified Materially By Outside Conditions That Influence The Mother?
- Is the character of milk modified materially by outside conditions that influence the mother? There is great diversity of opinion upon this subject. Two writers make such contradictory statements as t...
- Effects On Infants Of Variation In Mother's Milk
- It is natural to ask next how the variation in the composition of milk affects a nursling injuriously. When its food contains insufficient protein, the infant's flesh becomes soft and flabby, its skin...
- Irregularity In Infant Feeding
- Irregularity in feeding, too frequent nursing, and too long intervals between nursing often make what has been good milk unfit for use. Mothers should not nurse their children so often as to make thei...
- Rules For Infant Feeding
- The rules for a nursing mother or a wet-nurse should be regularity of life, freedom from anxiety, worry, or excitement, a generous diet of easily digested and simply prepared foods, and abundant, gent...
- Substitutes For Mother's Milk
- There is no perfect substitute for human milk. On page 69 the composition of the milk of several animals is compared with that of woman. None approaches the latter closely. Cow's milk is the best subs...
- Substitutes For Mother's Milk. Part 2
- At the instigation of Rotch, elaborate tables have been prepared by George E. Gordon and J. H. Waterhouse, by means of which the amounts of cream, skimmed milk, and sugars needed to furnish all kinds ...
- Substitutes For Mother's Milk. Part 3
- Starting with the belief that in practice it is unnecessary that the percentage of fat should ever be more than twice that of the protein, Holt has found it easy to construct a table by which a series...
- Peptonization Of Milk for Infants
- Partial peptonization of milk is useful in the early weeks of infancy, and when the functions of the stomach are weakened by illness. It is necessary for all children to take full cow's milk at some t...
- Condensed Milk For Infants
- Of the three forms of condensed milk, (1) unsweetened whole milk condensed, (2) sweetened whole milk condensed, and (3) sweetened skimmed milk condensed, the first is the only one that should be used....
- Proprietary Foods For Infants
- The number of proprietary foods for infants is great. They are open to the same objections that have been raised to condensed milk. They are deficient in fats, contain an excess of sugar, and often in...
- Food For Premature Infants
- When infants are born prematurely, their power to digest food is much weaker than when they are born at full term. All the ingredients of their food should be lessened. Rotch advises the following for...
- Weaning Children From The Mother's Breast
- The time of weaning children from the mother's breast varies greatly. Many mothers find that their milk lessens in amount after the first few months, and that mixed feeding must be resorted to. In suc...
- Diet For Children
- After the twelfth month of life a child's diet should gradually be made more varied. It is still necessary, however, to give relatively large amounts of fat and proteins. Atwater estimates that: A ch...
- Chapter XIII. Food As A Cause Of Disease
- Ill Effects of Food. Parasites and Micro-organisms. Poisoning by Food. Idiosyncrasies. For many reasons food is not always wholesome and may be a cause of disease. Its ill effects have been so freque...
- Parasites And Micro-Organisms
- Food is commonly a carrier of pathogenic matter. Parasites, such as intestinal worms and trichinae, are introduced into the human system by infected meat. Such parasitism is entirely preventable, firs...
- Poisoning By Food
- Preservation and adulteration of food are rarely causes of poisoning. Formaldehyd so alters flesh as to deprive it of flavor and renders it impervious to the gastric juice. It likewise retards peptoly...
- Part II. Diet In Disease. Chapter I. Feeding The Sick
- General Considerations of Diet of the Sick. Concentrated Foods. Fats and Oils. Rectal Feeding. General Considerations Of Diet Of The Sick In health, appetite is usually a guide as to the time when f...
- Concentrated Foods For The Sick
- A number of concentrated invalids' foods are upon the market. Some of them are extremely useful in increasing the amount of certain nutritive ingredients that are needed, and in helping to force alime...
- Fats And Oils For The Sick
- Fats are often emulsified for administration to invalids. This is done partly to disguise their taste and partly with the hope of making them more digestible. The taste is undoubtedly improved. It is ...
- Rectal Feeding
- Rectal alimentation must be resorted to whenever food cannot or will not be swallowed, cannot be retained in the stomach, causes intense pain in throat or stomach, when too little can be taken by the ...
- Chapter II. Diet In Infectious Diseases
- Cholera In cholera, infection takes place through the mouth. In almost every instance water conveys its cause. Occasionally, even when the greatest care has been taken to drink only pure water, the d...
- Typhoid Fever
- Indications for the diet to be prescribed for those suffering from typhoid fever are afforded, first, by the existence of acute inflammation in the intestines. Such a lesion anywhere in the gastro-int...
- Typhoid Fever. Continued
- Patients also need to be given an occasional drink of water. Unless specially instructed, nurses frequently neglect this. They wait for the patient to ask for a drink, and he is often too dull to do s...
- Typhus Fever
- In this disease the dietetic indications are to maintain strength, avoid irritation of the kidneys, and promote elimination by the various emunctories. Special difficulty in feeding is encountered in ...
- Yellow Fever
- In mild cases, yellow fever requires little more than careful nursing. In severe cases strength is lost with great rapidity; therefore the administration of food is imperatively demanded, but vomiting...
- Prophylaxis
- For the prevention of cholera in times of epidemic, the following rules should be observed: (1) Raw food, such as vegetables and fruits, should not be eaten, as it may have been washed in water that h...
- Smallpox
- Anorexia, thirst, and vomiting are noteworthy symptoms at the onset of this malady, but vomiting is usually not of frequent occurrence. Cool drinks should be given; indeed, water should be administere...
- Scarlet Fever
- Vomiting is the rule at the onset of the malady, but is rarely troublesome afterward. During the few days of fever, cool drinks - water, lemonade, Seltzer, etc. - should be given freely. The food must...
- Measles
- The diet of measles is that of acute febrile maladies in general. During the period of pyrexia, appetite and digestion are poor. Food at this time should consist of milk, milk preparations, broths, an...
- Erysipelas
- In a majority of cases the malady is mild, produces a very moderate fever, and somewhat lessens appetite and the ability to digest food. The diet in such cases should consist of liquid and soft foods,...
- Septicemia And Pyemia
- In these maladies appetite is diminished, digestion impaired, and general strength much lessened. It is essential, therefore, that as much food be given as possible to overcome loss of strength and to...
- Malaria
- Malaria of the intermittent type is so acute a malady that little need be said of its dietetic management. With the onset of a chill, vomiting sometimes occurs. During the period of pyrexia appetite i...
- Tuberculosis
- The importance of diet in tuberculosis is universally admitted. No matter how good the climatic conditions under which a consumptive may live, he will not improve if he does not have suitable aliment....
- Tuberculosis. Part 2
- Oftentimes starches and sugars are not digested easily, while fats and oils are better managed. Eggs are usually tolerated, and should form an important element of diet. Scraped meat, raw or slightly ...
- Tuberculosis. Part 3
- The following diet-list will be found useful for those patients with good digestion who need to have food crowded upon them, in order to gain in weight and strength: On awakening: A cup of hot milk o...
- Influenza
- In most instances the diet in influenza is the same as in other acute febrile diseases accompanied by loss of appetite and considerable or great prostration. During the acute progress of the malady fo...
- Whooping-Cough
- It is often difficult to nourish children suffering from this malady, because of the vomiting that occurs so frequently with the paroxysms of coughing. In the severest cases almost everything taken is...
- Cerebrospinal Meningitis
- During the stage of fever, digestion is impaired; therefore, only easily digested and assimilable food should be given. Liquids, such as milk, gruels, and broths, are the best. Nausea and vomiting mak...
- Diphtheria
- When prostration is extreme, which it often is because of intoxication by the poisons of the malady, the maintenance of strength is a prime indication for treatment. It is an indication oftentimes dif...
- Rheumatism
- Acute articular rheumatism is undoubtedly an infectious disease. It is so well defined that there is little danger of confusing it with other acute joint affections. We may say the same of the subacut...
- Rheumatism. Continued
- In subacute cases, when there is little or no fever, a somewhat more varied diet may be prescribed. Milk should, if possible, form the basis of the food of such patients. In addition to it, farinaceou...
- Dysphagia And Odynophagia
- Difficulty (dysphagia) or pain (odynophagia) in swallowing is a symptom of many diseases of the mouth, throat, and gullet. These conditions necessarily place limits upon the form and character of food...
- Vomiting
- Vomiting is a symptom that often prevents the utilization of food and makes it necessary to administer nourishment by the rectum, or at least in other ways than by the mouth. There is no one dietetic...
- Dyspepsias
- The word dyspepsia is used to designate those cases of indigestion that are due to functional instead of structural changes in the stomach. The functional derangements may consist in feeble peristals...
- Acute Gastritis
- Causes Food and drink have much to do with the causation of acute gastritis; therefore their regulation is of importance to prevent the malady. A sensitive stomach, one peculiarly liable to acute inf...
- Chronic Gastritis
- Causes Chronic gastritis frequently grows out of acute inflammation of the stomach. The dietetic faults to which the acute disease can often be ascribed are not uncommonly the causes of chronic infla...
- Hyperchlorhydria
- In that group of cases in which free hydrochloric acid is found in excess the following symptoms are usually present to indicate it. The patient is generally thin and pale, though his appetite is good...
- Hypochlorhydria
- In many cases of chronic gastritis the first stage of increased acidity is of short duration, and in a very few cases may be wanting entirely. When free hydrochloric acid is much diminished or entirel...
- Mucous Gastritis
- Mucous gastritis must be regarded as a complication of one of the two preceding forms. The diet adapted to individual cases will depend upon the functional activity of the stomach. In general, howeve...
- Achlorhydria
- In the severest cases, when there is a complete lack of gastric juice and the churning movements of the stomach are very sluggish, that organ must be treated as a receptacle in which artificial digest...
- Dilated Stomach
- Causes An excessively large stomach is not necessarily pathologic. So long as its muscular wall is capable of vigorous contractions and the organ empties itself of its contents in average time, it is...
- Gastric Ulcer
- The pain and distress that accompany this malady are due to the mechanical and chemical action of foods, and often to an excess of free hydrochloric acid. To give relief, the diet must be prescribed j...
- Gastric Cancer
- A suitable management of diet adds greatly to the comfort and helps to prolong the life of those who have malignant growths in the stomach. It is not practicable to prescribe a fixed regimen in these...
- Diarrhea
- Causes Diarrhea is a symptom of several intestinal affections. Frequent, thin, stools, which characterize it, are due either to increased peristalsis, to excess of fluids in the intestines, or to bot...
- Diarrhea In Infants
- Causes This morbid condition is usually due to one or more of the following causes: overfeeding, too frequent and irregular feeding, feeding with improper and spoiled foods. It is much more frequent ...
- Enterocolitis, Or Summer Diarrhea Of Infants
- Causes This ailment differs from simple diarrhea by more frequent defecation and stools containing streaks of blood and mucus. The child generally has more or less fever; at times a constantly high t...
- Cholera Infantum
- This is the most severe and fatal of the acute intestinal diarrheas of infants. It is characterized by excessive vomiting and purging. The stools are thin, watery, and often copious, rapidly causing g...
- Chronic Enterocolitis
- Adults suffering from chronic enterocolitis should be kept upon a milk diet for several weeks. Fats and starches prove especially indigestible. Therefore, at first, farinaceous food must be withheld, ...
- Appendicitis
- At the outset vomiting often occurs and makes the administration of food difficult. It is, however, best to abstain from all foods, until pain and tenderness have gone, even if necessary for several d...
- Intestinal Obstruction
- This disease does not admit of dietetic treatment. No food should be taken by the mouth. The severe vomiting that so often exhausts the patient is most likely to be relieved if the stomach is washed c...
- Constipation
- Causes Constipation, like diarrhea, may either be a symptom of disease or in many cases constitute of itself the complete morbid condition. Infrequent and small bowel movements are the phenomena of c...
- Catarrhal Jaundice
- Gastritis and duodenitis, as a rule, coexist with catarrh of the bile-ducts. The diet must be adapted to this condition. Vomiting frequently prevents the administration of much food. In the beginning ...
- Obstructive Jaundice And Grave Jaundice
- When the common bile-duct is permanently obstructed or jaundice becomes persistent and deep, cerebral symptoms, such as mental irritability and depression, and later coma, delirium, or convulsions, an...
- Cholelithiasis, Or Gall-Stones
- Causes Gall-stones are composed chiefly of cholesterin, which is secreted by the mucous membrane of the gall-bladder and bile-20 ducts. Normally it is kept in solution by the bile salts of sodium and...
- Cirrhosis Of The Liver
- This malady is generally believed to be incurable, but physiologic recoveries do occur. The common cause of hepatic cirrhosis is the habitual and excessive use of alcoholic beverages. It is occasiona...
- Ascites
- Ascites is best relieved by puncture, and, if necessary, by repeated puncture of the abdomen. When the amount of fluid in the abdominal cavity is small, diuretics, diaphoretics, and cathartics may be ...
- Peritonitis
- Acute generalized peritonitis is so rapidly fatal that dietetic treatment cannot be said to form a part of its management. Vomiting usually prevents the taking of food by the mouth. If food is forced ...
- Laryngitis
- Mild laryngitis, acute or chronic, requires no modification of diet. Appetite is often lessened, and food is voluntarily restricted to the simplest kinds. Ulcerative laryngitis, such as occurs in tub...
- Laryngismus Stridulus
- Dieting is chiefly of use as a prophylactic measure in those cases in which indigestion is the exciting cause. By feeding an infant or child carefully, flatulence, indigestion, and constipation may be...
- Bronchitis
- In those cases of simple acute bronchitis that are accompanied by fever, diet must be the same as for mild infectious diseases. Liquid food for the most part, or soft foods if relished, such as custar...
- Emphysema
- The discomfort of emphysema is much aggravated by gastric and intestinal disorders. These should, therefore, be prevented or corrected. The patient should eat sparingly of simple food. In the most chr...
- Asthma
- Indigestion and constipation are observed by asthmatics to be predisposing causes of many attacks. They provoke attacks of asthma as the same conditions aggravate capillary bronchitis. There is no dou...
- Croupous Pneumonia
- This disease must be treated dietetically, as are the other acute infectious fevers. In pneumonia, appetite is diminished and thirst is increased; frequently delirium makes a patient oblivious to hung...
- Pleurisy And Empyema
- Fibrinous pleurisy demands no dietetic treatment unless effusion follows it. Pleurisy with effusion necessitates a nutritous diet to maintain strength, and one that will promote a reabsorption of the...
- Simple Anemia
- Simple anemia cannot be regarded as a pathologic entity; it is secondary to some other morbid condition. Although the primary ailment may not always be discoverable, it should be sought for in every i...
- Chlorosis
- Chlorosis is recognizable by the greenish pallor which develops in the face of those who are affected by it, and by the bloodless appearance of the ears, lips, and mucous membranes. Usually emaciation...
- Progressive Pernicious Anemia
- Pernicious anemia is characterized by the presence of an unusually small number of red blood-cells. In average cases they count approximately 1,000,000 to the cubic millimeter. Simply a great reductio...
- Leukemia
- This disease is characterized by a great and progressive increase in the number of white corpuscles of the blood and simultaneous diminution in the number of red corpuscles. The lymph glands and splee...
- Acute Pericarditis And Endocarditis
- These affections demand no dietetic treatment. They are a part of some general disease, such as rheumatism and the exanthemata, or of a local infection and toxemia, such as diphtheria or tonsillitis. ...
- Acute Dilatation
- Acute dilatation of the heart requires complete rest and an abstemious diet. It is especially necessary to restrict the amount of fluids taken so that the heart and blood-vessels will not be overfille...
- Weak Heart
- Causes Asthenia arises from such lesions of the myocardium as pericarditis, chronic myocarditis, fatty degeneration and infiltration, from chronic and often progressive cardiac and aortic lesions, su...
- Weak Heart. Continued
- Tissue change is often impeded because of incomplete oxygenation of blood and sluggish circulation in capillaries and lymphatics. Diet, it is true, will not correct these conditions; nevertheless an a...
- Angina Pectoris
- Much can be done for the relief of angina pectoris by a dietetic regimen. A diet is indicated that will tend to lower the arterial tension and avert the formation, in the alimentary tract, of toxins p...
- Aneurysm Of The Aorta
- When aneurysm exists, the middle coat of the artery is atrophied and often wanting over a part of the distended vessel. The inner coat sometimes shares the same fate. Rupture of the aneurysm is a resu...
- Arteriosclerosis
- Causes Arteriosclerosis undoubtedly occurs generation after generation in some families. It is admittedly most likely to develop in those who do exhausting physical and mental work. It is believed to...
- Chapter IX. Diseases Of The Kidneys. Nephrolithiasis
- The management of diet is of the greatest importance for the prevention of the formation of renal calculi. These stones may be composed of uric acid, of oxalic acid, of the phosphates, or of two or al...
- Albuminuria
- Albuminuria of renal origin is due to passive congestion or to inflammation, except in certain anemias, cachexiae, and fevers, when the structural change in the kidneys is a degenerative one. It has b...
- Uremia
- Uremia, or renal insufficiency, demands the most careful regulation of diet. The toxins that provoke it are produced in small part by the metabolism of living cells, but chiefly by fermentation in the...
- Passive Congestion Of The Kidneys
- The regimen in these cases is chiefly dictated by the primary disease that causes the congestion. As a rule, when passive congestion of the kidneys exists, digestion is also slow and imperfect, often ...
- Acute Nephritis
- Causes Nephritis may be produced experimentally by swallowing, inhaling, or otherwise introducing into the blood certain chemicals, such as salts of arsenic, lead, chromium and turpentine and some ot...
- Chronic Diffuse Nephritis
- Causes The influence of overeating and of injudicious eating in producing chronic nephritis is so generally appreciated that it scarcely needs discussion. Chronic diffuse nephritis, like acute nephri...
- Interstitial Nephritis
- Causes Interstitial nephritis is due either to arterio-fibrosis and consequent destructive anemia of minute areas of renal tissue, or to toxins that, acting intermittently over long periods of time, ...
- Pyelitis
- When pyelitis is uncomplicated by nephritis, diet must be so prescribed as to insure a copious elimination of urine in order that the pelves of the kidneys will be well washed. This is best accomplish...
- Chapter X. Diseases Of The Nervous System. Neuralgias
- Many neuralgias are not influenced by dietetic treatment. Many others are due to the faulty metabolism of arthritic diseases, gout, rheumatism, anemia, and diabetes, to chronic alcoholism and indigest...
- Migraine
- Migraine is sometimes due to eye-strain, very rarely to adenoids in the pharynx or to disease of the nose. Uterine and menstrual disorders also may cause attacks. Heredity plays an important part in t...
- Neurasthenia And Hysteria
- In many cases of hysteria diet need not be prescribed. This is also true of some cases of neurasthenia. When either malady is persistent, malnutrition, a lessened or capricious appetite, and slow and ...
- Insomnia
- Causes There are cases of sleeplessness that do not require dietetic treatment; there are others that can be cured by it; and some in which it is an important aid to medicinal treatment. During slee...
- Epilepsy
- There is no one diet that is indicated in epilepsy; yet patients having this disease are greatly helped or harmed by judicious or indiscreet eating. Indigestion or slow and labored digestion, a disten...
- Mental Diseases
- Fresh vegetables, fruits, especially prunes, figs, apples, dates, oranges, etc., are needed to maintain regular bowel movements. In early childhood, epilepsy is commonly associated with a rachitic co...
- Chapter XI. Diseases Of The Skin. Eczema
- Eczema is undoubtedly a disease excited by local irritation. It is most easily excited and most likely to be prolonged and severe when metabolism is disturbed. Eating and foods therefore play a part i...
- Acne Rosacea
- While this disease is undoubtedly due in many instances to the persistent use of alcohol, yet bad cases are often observable in total abstainers. The abuse of alcohol is, therefore, not its only cause...
- Acne
- Derangement of the digestive, or of the sexual organs, predisposes to outbreaks of acne. The disease is so chronic and intractable that it invariably tries the patience and skill of a physician. Nothi...
- Furunculosis
- The same dietetic regimen that has been recommended for acne is useful in furunculosis. The key to it is abstemiousness in eating and the use of simply prepared foods. In both diseases, water should b...
- Urticaria
- This skin eruption more than any other is due to dietetic faults or to idiosyncrasies. Certain foods provoke an urticaria in those who are liable to it, as certainly as iodids and bromids produce acne...
- Chapter XII. Disorders Of Nutrition. Emaciation
- Causes Emaciation is a relative term, for there are families who are habitually thin. Members of such families may be strong and vigorous, although noticeably spare. In these cases leanness is an inh...
- Obesity
- Definition And Effects It is impossible to draw a line between stoutness and obesity. The latter word is applied to all grades of stoutness in which the normal, healthful action of organs is interfer...
- Obesity. Part 2
- Water should not be drunk at meal-times, as with it a larger quantity of food can be eaten than without it and the food is more perfectly absorbed - and assimilated. But between meals patients should ...
- Obesity. Part 3
- When obesity has caused cardiac weakness, graduated exercise should form an essential element of treatment. Oertel's plan, which may be carried out at home or at one of the Ter-raincurorte, is parti...
- Rachitis
- Causes Rachitis, a disease of childhood, is a fault of nutrition that is most frequently caused by improper or insufficient food, and rarely by inherited weakness of digestion or other inherited dise...
- Osteomalacia
- Osteomalacia has been called the rickets of advanced life. It is, however, characterized by a decalcification of bone, while in rickets the bone fails to calcify during the period of growth. At first...
- Scurvy
- Causes Scurvy is a disease of nutrition caused by the absence of certain ingredients from the diet of those who are affected with it. It is particularly apt to appear among those persons who live on ...
- Beri-Beri
- This disease is seen rarely in the United States but has been prevalent in the Philippines and in most Oriental countries. It is not only common there but very fatal. Foods have long been blamed for i...
- Diabetes
- The cause of diabetes can rarely be removed. Occasionally cases are met in which glycosuria has been provoked by the excessive use of sugar and starch. These can be cured radically by limiting the ing...
- Diabetes. Part 2
- The mildest cases are discoverable by the disappearance of sugar from the urine before all carbohydrates are withdrawn, and in such cases the strict exclusion of this class of foods will not be necess...
- Diabetes. Part 3
- Devonshire cream, which is liked by many, contains less than 2 per cent, of lactose and 65 per cent, of fat. It is made by keeping the milk in large pans at a gentle heat for many hours. The temperatu...
- Diabetes. Part 4
- These ingredients are to be cooked together. I find that patients generally prefer to take their oatmeal and eggs separately. With the former I permit cream to be eaten. The oatmeal regimen should be ...
- Diabetes. Part 5
- After three or four days I cut from this list the bread; in a day or two more the potato and in one or two days more the raw cabbage, cauliflower, beans, onion, raw tomatoes, radish, celery, fruit, oy...
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Although a patient who has suffered long from chronic rheumatism, whose joints have become much enlarged and almost immobile, and whose muscles consequently have greatly atrophied, presents to the car...
- Gout And Goutiness
- Definition And Causes Gout is a well-defined disease described clearly by characteristic symptoms. Goutiness is a condition which predisposes to gout and often manifests itself by variable symptoms. ...
- Gout And Goutiness. Continued
- Treatment It is generally believed that food rich in nuclein and purin bodies should not be given to the gouty or should be given only in small quantities that it may not increase the production of u...
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