| OCR Text |
Show Nutrition and Soil 25 Fertility Not only the quantity but the kind of mineral is essential, is shown by the fact that if certain salt-water fish are placed in a solution having the same common salt concentration as has Death in this case is not due to a sea water the fish soon die. lack of food, since fish placed in distilled water live for some time. If a small quantity of calcium chloride had been added to the first solution the fish would have lived. Moreover, if the heart is removed from the body 'Of some species of cold-blooded ani mals and placed in a salt solution it soon dies, but if small quan tities of calcium salt are present the heart beats normally. During health the tissues of the animal are all bathed in a solution hav ing a balanced composition, but in some disorders the concentra tion is changed, there is an abnormal functioning, or possibly This unbalanced composition of the fluids plays a part death. in many nervous disorders. Hence, normal life is possible only when necessary salts combine with the colloids of' living sub stances in a definite ratio. It is, therefore, of importance that we know the mineral content of the food that we eat and the factors which govern the Let us view some of the more kind and quantity of mineral in it. recent results which have been obtained in a study of these sub stances in wheat, bearing in mind that the more important mineral elements essential to the well-being of man are calcium, magne sium, potassium phosphorus, sulphur, iron, copper, fluorine and as iodine. The mineral content of 'wheat grown in Utah varied 219 The factors governing this variation were soil, variety of wheat, time of planting, and irrigation water applied during The significance of this latter factor is evi the g·rowing season. dent from the following: one thousand pounds of wheat grown with an optimum quantity of irrigation water contained over 7 pounds more mineral than the same quantity and variety of' wheat The mineral grown on adjacent soil without irrigation water. content of 1000 pounds of wheat grown on a dry farm during 1923, a moist season, carried near! y 5 pounds more ash than the per cent." quantity of wheat grown during 1924, a dry season. The than average mineral content of Utah grown wheats are higher same 14 However, those generally reported for the country at large.222 it is not the total quantity of mineral but their composition which It gives tone and Calcium is an essential element. is significant. vigor to the plant. It occurs in greater quantities in the leaves and stems than in the seeds; hence, there is a great tendency for modern civilized man who lives on a diet composed primarily of highly milled grains, muscle meats and carbohydrates to suffer Calcium phosphate and calcium car from a lack of calcium. bonate compose about 40 per cent of the weight of the bone; consequently, when these minerals are deficient in the diet of |
