DIETARY FACTS, FADS AND FANCIES

Excerpt

The American dietary has been frequently criticized by students of nutrition as being too low in vitamins and bulk, too high in carbohydrates and concentrates, and deficient in its ratio of alkaline ash-forming foods. It has been generally believed by the laity that successful treatment of many diseases depended on diet. Many physicians, while aware of possible dietary deficiencies, do not believe that the causes, except indirect ones, of many diseases are to be found in faulty diets. They believe that other factors are also of great importance, such as hereditary predisposition to disease, infections and their sequelae, and the tissue changes that inevitably result from wear and tear and lapse of time.

In the prevention of conditions characterized by degenerative changes affecting the heart, arteries and kidneys, prior to the stage of chronic disability, much may be accomplished by proper diet. The changes apparently most necessary in our national