univ. of Asics.
i - 00T 5 1908
ſº, AU2 cºd C. -T P
5–77
,P,3

Bees AND ITS PLACE
F=> . . .
IN DIETETICS
*Sºº-
J. E. SIEBEL
“SO-º-
BEER
AND
ITS PLA CE IN DIETETICS
* ,
. E. SIEBEL
Director of the Zymotechnic Institute, Chicago
(REPRINTED BY PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR)
TNeto Bork
D NITED STATES BR EW ERS’ ASSO CIATION
1893
s
C2 <<
lfuCH has been said and written about the
f Inourishing qualities of beer, and about its
• *w- sº # properties as a refreshing and healthy
º beverage. Moreover, these qualities are
recognized (if not consciously, at least
*Nº practically) by a large and highly respectable
class of the population—in fact by every one
who has given the article a fair trial. The
gigantic and constantly increasing figures represent-
ing the consumption of beer in the United States,
as shown by the reports of the Revenue Department,
bear witness to this fact, and cannot be interpreted
otherwise, except by a forced construction; never-
theless there are still those who believe, or pretend to
believe, that the continuously increasing consumption
of beer is due chiefly to its stimulating and narcotic
properties, and that the nourishing qualities of this
article must be considered as a fortuitous incident
rather than as a chief property. This opinion is
more especially held and proclaimed in the United
States, while in older countries the truthfulness of
the old saying “In the place of a brewery no bakery
is needed ” is almost generally recognized.





4
Yet while we are fully satisfied and convinced that
the stimulative and narcotic properties of beer are not
represented therein in a sufficient degree, and are by
no means sufficiently direct in their action to account
for the increasing consumption of this article by the
masses of the people, it is at the same time also a fact
that the true causes for the ever increasing popularity
of this beverage are not as generally nor as thoroughly
understood as it is desirable, from the standpoint of
the manufacturer as well as from that of the con-
sumer and the public at large.
The desire to contribute in this direction has
prompted the preparation of this paper; and while it
is impossibe to do justice to the matter in the time
and space allotted to me now, I nevertheless hope to
be able to present the outlines of the various branches
of this important subject in a manner which will
recommend its further study to those who are in a
position to influence public opinion as to dietary
matters and to others taking an interest in a subject
of so vital and general importance.
Aside from the great mass of the people who eat
what pleases them or what they happen to get, there
is a growing constituency which, either on the strength
of medical advice or by virtue of their own convic-
tions, adheres to certain principles of nutrition or
dietary systems, as they may be called, in order to
satisfy the most pressing wants of nature.
Hence we find those who prescribe or follow a diet
consisting of vegetables exclusively, others who favor
a diet with bread or pastry for a basis. Some people
would confine mankind to the consumption of sweet
fruits and maybe nuts, and others, still, extol a. diet
consisting simply of meat and fat.
Then there are the specific diets recommended in
particular cases, such as the milk cure, the grape cure,
hot water Cure, etc.
As yet we have not heard of a beer cure or beer
diet, but we trust it will appear from the following
that such a thing is by no means as unfeasible and
inconceivable as might be inferred from the jeremiads
of those shallow and bigoted people who ceaselessly
bewail the irrepressible advance of the beer traffic
and, for that matter, of most other progressive move-
ments also. Indeed, it may well happen to turn out
that the much abused cheap beers of the period will
be largely instrumental in bringing about a new era
in the history of the consumption of beer by elevating
the same from the position of an ordinary beverage
to that of an indispensable and national article of a
regular daily diet.
The various dietary systems derive their strength
partly from practical success in special cases, partly
from considerations and arguments based on different
views relating to the chemistry of nutrition, composi-
tion and digestibility of various kinds of food, the
comparative anatomy of the human digestive appara-
tus, the history and development of the race, on moral
and religious prejudices and convictions, and on other
more or less one-sided and arbitrary propositions. The
degree of prominence given to one or the other of
those propositions decides the merit of one or the other
dietary system. -
Fortunately the availability of the human digestive
Organs cover such a wide range of different food
materials and is sufficiently expansive that mistakes
in regard to dietary measures, although they may
prove fatal to individuals, do not menace the human
race, and this circumstance fully accounts for the
(;
peaceful co-existence of so many different schemes of
nutrition.
For us it will be to show that the proof of the bene-
ficial dietary properties of beer is not conſined to any
one-sided and arbitrary propositions, but that from
every position, the chemical, the physiological, as well
as the anatomical standpoint, its growing popularity
must be attributed to its dietary advantages, while at
the same time its most general consumption must be
indorsed from a utilitarian and economical position
also.
CHEMISTRY OF NUTRITION AND BEER.
As a matter of course the adaptability of an article
for food depends in the first line on its chemical com-
position. It must contain the ingredients by which
the waste of the system can be replaced, and a refer-
ence to so-called standards of daily dietaries is conven-
ient as covering general requirements in this respect.
The standard in last column of the subjoined table,
which shows the composition of an average sample of
beer and that of other food articles, is supposed to
represent the average wants of a man engaged in
moderate exercise. The inorganic constituents are
not considered, as it is supposed that they are fur-
nished in sufficient quantities no matter what kind of
food is taken.
- 5 *
†: * ºš Ā
- § | < | # #3 =
.-- - e * | 3 | # tº 3' sº
£ | 3 | tº 24 = | 3 || 3 || 3 ||3:50
E Sl) 80 F § 5 || 3 | # |5'E -
3– & 5: r2: H | ºn- || C | ºn |&D R3.:
Nitrogenous
matter..... I 1.2 0.5|17.6 3.9 19.3i 2.11 2.0, 8. 118
C a rb O h y – w
drates. . . . . 7.2| 5.8 4.9. 22. 5.851. 600
Fat. . . . . . . . . . trace{11. 2.6 3.6|| 0.2] 0.5| 1.6|| 56
Mineral mat- included
ter. . . . . . . . . 0.6 0.2| 1.4|elsewhere 5.1|0.7| 0.7| 2.3
Water, . . . . . . 91. 90. 70. S8.6 72. 75. 91. 37. 2,250
Alcohol...... 3.5
While it appears from this table, which might be
considerably extended, that mone of the various
articles quoted are like the so-called standard, and
while it is readily seen that even in those materials
which nature herself has established as complete
food, egg and milk, there, is a difference, the great
similarity between milk and beer, not only as regards
the great percentage of water, but more especially
the predigested form (Saccharine matter) in which the
carbohydrates are present in both, is highly signifi-
cant. This similarity becomes still more apparent
when it is considered that the alcohol as a heat and
force producer (whatever be its incidental stimulating
qualities) represents nearly twice its weight of carbo-
hydrates. These carbohydrates or their equivalents
being present in beer in a liquid and readily assimi-
lable state, and inasmuch as fats may be replaced by
other carbohydrates, it follows that these constituents
of beer are alike in nutritive value to their equiva-
S
lents in milk and far superior to those in potatoes,
Cabbage, bread and other articles containing starch
in a raw or farinaceous state. With these latter food
materials, however, beer has in common a deficiency
in nitrogenous constituents, if judged by the dietary
standard, and like these, in order to constitute a
rational diet, it must be supplemented by meat, peas
Or other leguminous fruits and substances containing
an excess of nitrogenous constituents in general.
This condition of things also accounts for the fact
that people who drink beer have very little use for
fruits, sweetmeats and solid, starchy food in general,
since their nutritious constituents are represented in
beer in a more available and more congenial form.
On the other hand, the partiality of those who indulge
in a solid meat diet for an accompanying mug of
beer or ale is also readily explained on the same basis.
From the above table it does also appear that the solid
food material or its equivalent in beer is frequently
underrated; in fact most kinds of beer possess as
much of it as potatoes, some even more, and all beers
possess more than many other vegetables like cab-
bage, turnips, etc. Considering the preponderance of
carbohydrates in beer and bread, the saying that
“beer is liquid bread" is well founded in the chemical
composition of both products, but nevertheless this
saying does not give paramount expression to the
potent fact that beer contains these constituents in a
much more available form than bread, and to do jus-
tice to this peculiarity the saying ‘‘ beer is predigested
bread" would be more proper.
OUR DIGESTIVE ORGANS AND BEER.
“Beer is predigested bread.” This fact becomes all
the more apparent when we consider the subject from
a physiological standpoint. In order to be assimilable,
carbohydrates in food must be dissolved, and it has
been shown that only a small portion of raw starch,
and, for that matter, gelatinized Starch also, is dis-
solved by the ptyalin of the saliva, while the pepsin of
the gastric juice is fitted chiefly to dissolve albuminous
matters and make them absorbable. The digestion or
dissolution of starch matter is, therefore, left almost
entirely to the pancreatic fluid, which is secreted in
the duodenum, a comparatively small part of the
digestive system. -
This arrangement of the digestive system gives
great force to the arguments of those who claim that
cereals are not a proper food for man, since nature has
not provided him with sufficient means to digest
them. As a matter of fact starchy food, whether the
starch be raw or gelatinized, requires a continued
digestion in the intestines, causing flatulency and
other symptoms, among which may be counted the
proverbial lassitude of people subsisting chiefly on
potatoes and similar starch foods.
While these conditions hurl a strong blow against
vegetarians in general, it is a great argument in favor
of that eclectic class of vegetarians who desire to feed
mankind on such sweet fruits as contain most of their
carbohydrates in the predigested state of sugar and
sufficient enzymotic constituents to dissolve whatever
raw starch there be in them. The nitrogenous cont
stituents in the diet of these eclectics are, according
to their recommendations, to be found in nuts and
certain fat kernels. This paradisic diet, which is still
10
(at least preferably so) followed by the anthropoid
ape, has doubtless much to recommend it, if viewed
in the light of our digestive capacities. However, if
the defenders of this diet are correct (and there is all
reason to believe that they are, in a measure at least),
then we are certainly justified in replacing the car-
bohydrates of their rations by beer as containing
them (the carbohydrates) in the most digestible form
of all the materials here considered. As to deriving
the nitrogenous constituents from beef, cheese, etc.,
in preference to nuts, that is a practice which is past
the stage of needing any defense whatever. The only
exception that can be taken to beer in the above con-
nection is when it is too young and contains an excess
of yeast cells, which are able to set up secondary
fermentations in the stomach; but even this can only
happen in stomachs deficient in the normal quantity
of acid, if otherwise the beer is consumed at the
proper temperature. Flat beer—that is, beer deficient
in carbonic acid—is objectionable for similar reasons,
hence this substance must also be considered an essen-
tial ingredient of beer; it not only gives it its refresh-
ing taste, but also helps to maintain the normal
condition of the digestive apparatus.
IBEER AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF MAN AND APE.
The position of those people who advocate a diet of
sweet fruits and nuts, and by imference our Own in
advocating a diet consisting largely of meat and beer,
is further strengthened by considerations regarding
the comparative anatomy of man and the anthropoid
ape, for, as will be seen from the subjoined table, the
different parts of the digestive organs of these beings
*
\
11
are of the same relative proportions as to size, and
otherwise the nature and proportion of their digestive
Secretion, as well as their general anatomy, is the
S3,1116°. .
TABLE SHOWING COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF MAN
AND
APE.
MAN. ANTHROPOID APE.
Walks upright. Walks upright.
With Out, tail. With Out, tail.
TWO hands and two feet.
Flat nails.
Eyes look forward.
Skin with millions of pores.
Well developed incisor teeth.
Blunt molar teeth.
Dental formula 5, 1, 4, 1, 5.
Salivary glands well devel-
oped.
Smooth tongue.
Mammary glands on breast.
Stomach. With duodenum.
Intestinal Canal 12 times
length of body.
Two hands and two feet.
Flat nails.
Eyes look forward.
Skin with millions of pores.
Well developed incisor teeth.
Blunt molar teeth.
Dental formula 5, 1, 4, 1, 5.
Salivary glands well devel-
Oped.
Smooth toingue.
Mammary glands On breast.
Stomach with duodenum.
Intestinal canal 12 times
length of body.
Lives on fruit and nuts.
According to this table, which has been abstracted
from Schlickeisen's book on “Bread and Fruit,” the
similarity between the ape and man is very striking,
yet while the ape, at least by preference and in its
natural condition, still adheres to a sweet fruit and
nut diet, men, in civilized countries at least, have
deviated from the same in many ways, and it would
be impossible to return to the same altogether, even if
it were desirable. -
12
Judging, however, from the eminent supremacy
held by those races which follow a mixed diet con-
taining meat, above those who still cling more or less
to the fruit diet of their ancestors, this is not the case.
Indeed, it appears that in order to supply not only
merely the quantitive waste of the system, but also
that peculiar energy indicative of modern civilization,
meat is an indispensable constituent of a proper diet.
In view of this fact, which I think will not be dis-
puted, another school of dietarians proposes a mixed
diet of meat and sweet fruits, excluding all starchy
vegetables and even bread. Doubtless much can be
said in favor of such a diet, but it is by no means
generally applicable, even if it were only for the
question as to what is to become of our grain; and
here, gentlemen, is where I think beer and other
products made with the aid of malt come in for the
greatest share of quiet recognition which they receive
and so well deserve. With meat to furnish the requi-
site nitrogenous constituents of our food, we have
beer to furnish us with the carbohydrates of the cereals
in forms still further advanced in predigestion than
they are in the sweet fruits of the vegetarian. More-
over, it furnishes us with a stimulant which, while it
has the peculiarity to be mourishing in a high degree
(yielding heat and force), is also present in such a
mild form as to be altogether non-intoxicating if taken
in the quantities required. Furthermore, beer fur-
mishes us with the requisite amount of water in a
sterilized condition, an advantage which cannot easily
be overvalued, when we are told that all natural water
in the neighborhood of civilized communities is liable
to be contaminated by germs of disease. Last, but
not least, we have in beer an article which can be
consumed at a comparatively low temperature (but
frequently, and, we think, unnecessarily and improp-
erly, it is kept at tenaperatures still lower) without
harm, thus possessing cooling and mourishing quali-
ties in an admirable combination, the excellency of
which is still heightened by the presence of carbonic
acid gas, the regulating and refreshing properties of
which have been mentioned above.
OTHER MALT PRODUCTS.
What has here been said with reference to beer also
applies to ale and certain kinds of malt extract. Yet,
while all kinds of malt extract are proper articles of
food, it may well be doubted if those altogether un-
fermented malt extracts containing neither alcohol
mor carbonic acid are equal in point of life supporting
and animating qualities to the fermented article,
except in special cases. If the actual demand, the
general craving of human nature and the experience
of centuries account for anything, the comparatively
small percentage of alcohol and carbonic acid in beer
must be considered a valuable and essential constituent
not only of beer if considered as a beverage, but also
in its capacity as a nutriment. As to the constituents
of hops, they are to be considered chiefly as an auxil-
iary in the manufacture, although the slight tonic and
bitter properties imparted to the beer by their presence
are demanded by many and are on the whole doubt-
less desirable attributes.
This position is further strengthened by considera-
tions of an economical and utilitarian character, for
the cost of available and soluble carbohydrates in a
barrel of beer (without taxes) is far less than that of
natural fruit juices of equal nourishing qualities, all
14
of which tends to show the absurdity of the Pro-
hibitionist saying “Good grain made into bad beer,”
and which also receipts in full that portion of the
so-called “national drink bill,” which relates to malt
beverages of any kind whatever.
When I say malt beverages I by no means refer to
products made exclusively of barley malt, for I have
always held, and sometimes in the face of much
adversity, that the malting of grain is only a means
for an end, viz.: to obtain saccharifying power (inci-
dentally also mellowing of the grain); and as malt
contains a surplus of this quality, there is no reason,
in fact it seems desirable that the same be utilized
for the saccharification of starch as contained in
unmalted cereals. As long as beer or any other article
made in this way satisfies the taste of the consumer
no exception can or should be taken against the same
on the ground of dietary or hygienic principles.
These arguments then, I take it, do fully and truly
explain the constant increase in the consumption of
beer. In short, it is the prevailing and also increasing
meat diet which requires beer—if not as the most
palatable, at least as one of the most applicable ad-
juncts to fill the wants of the system of the modern
man as regards carbohydrates at the least expense of
digestive energy.
THE BEER CURE.
After this short, and we think at least suggestive,
if not convincing, review of the qualities which war-
rant the claims of beer as a beverage and a nutriment
of signal import, we will not be charged with pre-
sumption if we shortly consider the prospects of beer
as a curative remedy. At present many of our best
15
physicians incline to dietary treatment, if not as the
Only at least as the chief and most promising remedy
in most ailments, and in acting on this conviction
they should not fail to consider the remarkable advant-
ages which beer offers in this direction, and many of
which have been mentioned above. Principal among
these is the predigested condition in which the carbo-
hydrates are present in beer, owing to which it cannot
fail to be of service in cases where the digestive organs
are derelict in the dissolution of starchy matter. The
nitrogenous constituents of beer, although compara-
tively small in amount, are nevertheless in a state
which fits them for immediate assimilation, and the
phosphates and other essential mineral constituents of
grain, these important factors in rebuilding the human
structure, are also contained in beer in the most
ingestible conditions. Facts like these cannot be
overlooked in the long run, especially if they are forti-
fied by inconvertible statistics demonstrating the
excellent effect of beer on those who are habitual and
generous consumers of this article. This important
and interesting subject has been so exhaustively and
authoritatively treated in the publications of your
literary bureau that it is only necessary to refer to
them here. The immunity of beer drinkers and
brewers against infectious diseases, notably cholera,
has also been noticed frequently, and while I suggested
some years ago that beer would possess these prophy-
lactic properties, and while I accounted for them by
the presence of yeast and acidity, they are doubtless
also in a measure attributable to the ready digesti-
bility and the easy assimilability of beer, which facili-
tates absorption with the least possible nervous strain,
and leaves the system in a condition fit to offer great
resistance to outside agencies and influences. While,
16
of course, nothing in the above should be construed
as advocating or even countenancing the indiscrimi-
nate use of beer, which is equally reprehensible as
excesses in the use of Viands in general, nevertheless
it stands to reason that there is less danger of beer
being used in an intennperate manner than is the case
with other beverages, and, for that matter, even with
edibles. All practical experiences in beer drinking
communities point in this direction. As to the quanti-
ties which it is advisable to use, it is manifestly
impracticable, and it would be presumptuous, to
attempt to give any definite rules; this matter depends
in a great measure on the mode of living and exercise,
and also on individual proclivities. Every healthy
and rational person solicitous for his own well-being
and comfort will generally be able to settle this ques-
tion for himself. As to the sick and invalid, they
must follow the advice of their physician, even if the
latter (preferring to err on the safe side at least) should
happen to be a little too radical in the restrictions he
places on the indulgence in beer. The latter, it is
feared, does not infrequently happen when confirmed
and constitutional habits are interfered with in a
summary manner. Thus it is quite possible that the
effect of beer in certain ailments, notably of a
catarrhal and rheumatic character, is frequently mis-
judged; at any rate, the opinions of physicians differ
greatly as to the causes to which the alleged bad
effects are to be attributable. Some claim that it is
the low temperature at which beer is consumed (fre-
quently much lower than it should be, even for
healthy people) to which the alleged bad effects are
due in catarrhal affections. Others insist that it is
simply the danger of overindulgence, to which the
sick are very susceptible with other commodities and
17
also with beer, that must be guarded against. The
specific constituents of beer appear not to be vitally
concerned in this question, at least not in a qualita-
tive sense. All this is mentioned with much diffi-
dence on the author's part, and only to draw attention
to points which may well deserve further elucidation
on the part of the thoughtful and progressive prac-
titioner. Many other equally suggestive facts might
be quoted, but they are beyond the scope of this
paper; enough has been said to indicate the line for
future research, and to show its promising prospects.
When hands are joined by the chemist, the physiolo-
gist, the bacteriologist, and last, but not least, the
practicing physician and statistician also, to do jus-
tice to our cherished beverage, the time cannot be far
away when even our most bitter antagonists will be
converted to rational views, and when the brewer’s
trade in this country will also everywhere occupy
that exalted position to which it is so much entitled
as a useful and beneficent art, a science and a legiti-
mate and honorable industry withal.

º UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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iii.
3 9015 117.