NUTRITIVE REQUIREMENTS BASED ON ACCURATE STATISTICAL EVIDENCE

Few questions relating to nutrition and the bearing of the diet on human well-being have aroused more discussion in the last few years than has the subject of the protein requirement of man. Extremes of opinion have been advocated with much vigor. The assumed menace of a diet rich in protein has been pictured in the form of various nutritive dangers, such as the ills of the indefinable "autointoxication," the hypothetic "kidney overwork," arteriosclerosis and arterial hypertension developed by a surplus of nitrogenous waste products, and other equally indefinite factors. Instances of alleged benefit from reduction in the protein intake are often cited to substantiate the statements. Somewhat less aggressive, though by no means wanting in enthusiasm, are the counter claims of those who believe that the welfare of the race is bound up with liberality in the protein factor. Pointing to the parallel occurrence of low protein dietaries and