Eat to Your Health's Content, Program 1
Well, we're pleased to bring you the first program of a new series entitled Eat to Your Health's Content with William Grisham and Dr.
is what you might call a learned man.
He has numerous academic degrees which are designated by an assortment of letters of the alphabet which he's entitled to append to his name, but he's not at all stuffy, far from it.
He's very approachable, friendly, and helpful.
It's a subject which has long been his special field of interest as a scientist and I found him in his book -lined office at Nutrition Dynamics, a company concerned with nutrition education, with which he recently became affiliated and our conversation began something like this.
You know, we have a stack of letters here and a lot of people have been inquiring about protein and I wonder if you'd mind discussing this nutrient.
So you want some information about protein, do you? Let's hear the question.
All right, well one of my correspondents wants to know if it's possible to get all the protein you need when you're obliged to eat less meat.
I take it for granted that your question comes from a woman who is concerned about proper feeding of her family.
Tell her that there should be no problem at all about getting all the protein anyone needs, even when meats are scarce.
Even when there is no meat at all, it can be done.
Informed vegetarians can do all right for themselves.
Informed vegetarian? I think our inquiry is concerned really about the higher costs of most meats.
It's not necessary to do without even when the price of your favorite meat is high.
There are many cheaper cuts which nutritionally are good bargains.
All kinds and cuts of meat, when you consider what you would have after trimming and removing the bone and visible fat as much as possible, may be regarded as almost equally nutritious as far as protein is concerned.
They also provide other nutrients which meats are counted on to supply.
Other nutrients, doctor? Certainly, meats are outstanding dietary sources of protein as everybody seems to know.
They're also important sources of thiamine.
Pork is especially outstanding with respect to this nutrient.
They provide riboflavin, niacin, and iron.
These are five of the eight major nutrients that we need each day.
There are many other nutrients that we call minor, but only in meals with a variety of good foods.
Well, there's thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin.
They're vitamins, aren't they? Yes.
All three are members of the vitamin B group.
They enter into combination with other substances in the body and in these forms participate in the utilization of foodstuffs.
I refer to the oxidation of protein, fat, and carbohydrate to give body heat and to yield the energy that enables the body to work or play or simply live.
The B vitamins are found in meat then and are there other vitamins that are found in foods, vitamins which you know we have to plan for to make sure they're in our meals every day? Yes, indeed.
Vitamins A and C are not found in meat with one outstanding exception, but are found in fruits and vegetables and there is vitamin D which growing children need and usually get insufficient amounts from vitamin D fortified milk.
The importance of meat is as a source of the B vitamins and iron and protein.
Now what about liver? You know, you always read something about that.
I thought that that was especially rich in vitamins and iron.
All kinds of liver are unique because they provide not only what you expect to find in meat, but also vitamins A and C and appreciable amounts.
Liver is the exception then isn't it among meats that you're talking about? But let's get back to our problem.
Our correspondent wants to know, I take it, what foods other than meat supply the protein the body has to have every day for good health.
What should we tell her? Tell her to find out what the cheaper cuts of meat are and how to prepare them for the table.
The butcher is able and willing to help.
Other good foods for protein are chicken and other poultry.
She should not forget fish, any kind, and fresh canned frozen or dried.
Beans and peas are valuable sources of protein, so is peanut butter.
Canned baked beans are a fine source of protein and iron.
Eggs, milk, and milk products except butter, various cheeses, and also nuts also apply protein as well as other nutrients.
Bread and some of the other grain foods cereals are worthy of mention because in the quantities that can be eaten these foods supply significant quantities of protein.
But I'm answering you the way we should answer a person who asks what time it is.
We tell them the time, we don't describe the detailed mechanisms of a clock.
Yet we should elaborate a little upon our answers to questions about foods.
We want to make sure that people understand the reasons for our replies and also put the information to use.
Well I understand doctor and I do want to ask you about the differences in nutritional value of the different sources of protein you've mentioned.
But first let me write some of this down so I can remember this and all of the things that you've been talking about today.
Before I write this report of our discussion with Dr.
B, let me suggest that our listeners should tune in next time for another visit with Dr.
We shall discuss protein quality from the point of view of the food buyer for the family.
Meanwhile, if you have any questions out there concerning foods and nutrition, which you would like us to discuss and answer, please write to this station and address your inquiry to Dr.
B, care of this station and be sure to include your address and your postal zip code number.
Well we're pleased to bring you another chapter of our series Eat to Your Health's Content.
Come with me as I interview Dr.
B on questions concerning foods and health which have been submitted by our listeners.
Today's subject is protein quality as suggested by Mrs.
Grace Butler of Chicago Heights, Illinois.
I was hesitant about entering Dr.
B's office at Nutrition Dynamics for I found him standing with his back turned to me and he was looking out of the window.
He must have heard me for he turned instantly and his his face brightened with a warm smile.
I was just thinking about you.
Come now, I was expecting you.
As a matter of fact, I was watching that little tugboat pushing several barges along the river and thinking about another office I used to have.
I could see from my window there at some distance long freight trains where there are many different kinds of cars and that got me thinking about the subject you mentioned to me, protein quality.
Well in what way, doctor? I don't see the connection.
The long line of different freight cars reminded me of the structure of proteins.
All proteins are composed of different amino acids joined to one another in a string like a bunch of box cars to make a train, although not in a very straight line.
But each amino acid unit is coupled to another and there are about 20 or 22 different kinds of these amino acids.
Well you mean amino acids like Penn Central and Union Pacific and so on? That's exactly right.
Or close to it, isn't it? Well it has somewhat longer names.
Proteins of foods differ because of their different amino acid make -ups.
The proteins eaten are digested in the body.
We can think of this as an uncoupling of the different or I should say amino acids.
These are absorbed and carried by the blood to the liver and other organs and tissues of the body.
Here they are sorted out and reassembled to make a protean that is characteristic of the human body.
The amino acids left over are ultimately burned to yield energy and heat.
But how does that explain protein quality really? Well a little reflection should make the matter clear.
If the protein that is eaten contains all the amino acids needed by the body and in approximately the right relative proportions for its building of body protean, then there are not many food amino acids left over.
But if the protein of the food contains some essential amino acid in very small quantities, it is going to take a lot more of that to meet the body needs and there might be a lot of material left over.
Well what are some of the high quality proteins, Dr.
B.? The white of egg, the protein of milk and cheese, the protein of meat including poultry and the proteins of fish and seafoods.
These are proteins of animal foods which in general are all of the highest nutritional quality.
Well now if somebody were to eat only these foods of high nutritional quality, how much of this high quality protein though let's say would be needed in a day? A good figure to use is 45 grams.
This figure may be said to have been officially recognized by the Federal Food and Drug Administration when it adopted its U .S.
recommended daily allowance for nutritional labeling purposes.
That's about one and a half ounces.
For proteins of high quality such as those of eggs, meat, fish, milk, the allowance is then 45 grams.
You can think of that as a requirement of each day.
For other proteins that are not of such high quality, the allowance is set at 65 grams.
So if a food provided in the quantity eaten 13 grams of protein of fair or good quality, you could say that this was one -fifth I suppose, or 20 percent of the amount you should have for good health.
I like people who can do arithmetic.
Now tell me what the percentage would be if that 13 grams of protein were the highest nutritive quality.
Well let's see that would be about 29 percent.
Is that close enough, Dr.? It's good enough for me.
It's clear that the Food and Drug Administration has made it unnecessary for all nutritionally labeled foods at least to concern ourselves unduly with the question of protein quality.
They require a declaration of the protein in terms of the percentages of the requirements that are supplied.
What we want to get are foods which contribute protein each day to equal 100 percent of our needs.
Well what about foods that are not nutritionally labeled? Don't we have to consider protein quality then? Not very much.
If an adult were to eat about six and a half grams of high quality protein from animal food sauces, then it has been shown that that person is getting all the essential amino acids he needs and he doesn't have to pay any attention to the quality of the remaining protein in the diet or not much attention.
Well can you help our listeners picture six and a half grams of protein, Dr.? I think so, but that'll take a little bit of thought.
Well I want to think about what you've said, Dr.
too, and next time maybe we can take up the matter of protein quantity in some detail.
Well that concludes our visit with Dr.
tomorrow when he'll discuss, and I promise it, the matter of protein quantity for health.
If you have questions of your own that you'd like to have answered, be sure to write to Dr.
We bring you another chapter in the series Eat to Your Health's Content with me, Bill Grisham, and Dr.
Today's question is about the quantity of protein needed for health, with particular reference to protein of high quality.
This question was submitted by a man, this time Mr.
Anthony Zuminski of Waukegan, Illinois.
B.'s pleasant office at Nutrition Dynamics today, I found the good doctor with his head bent over a pad of writing paper on the desk, and this time he was watching for me, it seemed.
He greeted me with unusual warmth.
You're just the man I wanted to see.
What's the trouble? I don't know that I would call it trouble.
My eyes get tired looking at figures, and I'm not too good at arithmetic.
We were discussing protein quantity, weren't we? Well, that's right, doctor.
You had said that about six and a half grams of high quality protein each day was sufficient to take care of the body needs for the amino acids it must get from foods.
About six and a half grams of high quality protein from animal food sources supply the essential amino acids, as they are called, in sufficient quantity so that we do not have to worry about the quality of the proteins of our other foods as a rule.
Now that is an approximate figure.
Many experts would say five or six grams, where I just happened to select six and a half grams, and now I wish that I had selected six grams.
It would have made the arithmetic so much easier.
You've been doing some calculations, haven't you? I see them all over your writing pad.
That's exactly what I've been trying to do.
I wanted to show you the quantities and common measures of a number of foods with high quality protein supplying six and a half grams.
You will see that I have only six grams of high quality protein in one or two of my examples.
Actually, this was suffice for the sake of health.
Suppose I read your list, doctor, and you can mention the number of grams of high quality protein supplied by the food.
I'll start here with one ounce of cheddar cheese.
That will provide about seven grams of protein of excellent quality.
Next, what about two and a half ounces of cream cottage cheese? Yes, that is cottage cheese mixed with a little cream to make the product more acceptable to most persons.
That gives you six and three quarter grams of highest quality protein.
And we have cooked beef here, one ounce.
That isn't much meat, is it? No, it's very little, but it's enough to provide seven grams of protein of the very highest quality.
That gives you eight grams of high quality protein.
One egg weighing about two ounces in the shell.
We allow six grams of excellent quality protein in one egg.
How can I guess six and a half ounces? Well, what if you scrambled it? Splendid, Grishan, we'll scramble our egg with a little added milk.
That will give us seven grams of protein of indubitably high nutritive quality.
Well, I think you may be pulling my leg, but I get the point.
A little milk, huh? Ah, but there is no point, no but either after you scramble an egg.
Seriously, though, I think we can appreciate the value of the protein of animal foods.
I want to call attention to one other matter.
What's that, doctor? Remember when we were talking about vegetarian diets, I said that informed vegetarians can do all right for themselves.
I should mention that the difficulty with pure vegetarian diets is that they are low in vitamin B12, one of the vitamins that ordinarily we don't think about when we plan our meals.
This vitamin is present in meats and other foods of animal origin.
It is present in larger quantities in liver than in other foods.
It is low or absent from most other foods such as those of plant origin.
The body has to get vitamin B12 from foods, even though only minute quantities are needed.
Well, is that why many so -called vegetarians include some milk or eggs in their diet? I don't know the reason, but whatever the reason, it is a good practice.
We have nice long names, incidentally, to describe these mixed types of diets.
One of them is ovolacto -vegetarian diet.
I think you've given all of us much to think about, believe me.
I think I can sum this up by saying that while nutritional quality is a very real thing, we ordinarily need to not concern ourselves with it.
Today we continue our discussion with Dr.
on the amount of protein you should eat and how to get it.
This is another chapter in the series, Eat to your health's content.
Well, you know, it was always a pleasure for me to see Dr.
at the desk in his office at Nutrition Dynamics.
Today he had an open magazine in his hands, one of the many scientific journals on foods and nutrition to which he subscribes.
I see you're wearing a new necktie.
Yes, it always amazes me to note how many articles of the most diverse nature fill our bozing scientific periodicals.
It is all, I would say, very good work, very painstakingly performed.
Well, is there anything new about protein requirements? Well, I think there is always something, though, a fresh approach, a new way of looking at old problems.
That's what makes for progress.
You will be surprised, I think, to hear that there has been some discussion in certain scientific circles about people getting too much protein.
Most of our concern, however, is with persons who may not get enough of this essential food stuff.
Can you tell us how we get enough protein? It's really simple, but pay attention as I give you some figures.
Suppose in a day a person who is an adult in good health consumes two cups of milk, two eggs, three ounces of cooked beef.
That's not out of the ordinary.
That person would receive from the milk 40 percent of the daily allowance of protein, from the eggs 26 percent, from the beef 51 percent.
The sum total would be more than 100 percent.
Actually, I've been adding this, about 117.
This would be more than the amount of protein required, wouldn't it? For an adult man, yes.
And for a woman, still a great deal more than she would need.
The standard 100 percent as developed by the Food and Drug Administration for nutritional labeling purposes was established to allow for those persons with the highest requirements.
Therefore, it takes care of the needs of everyone in the family.
Well, now suppose that the person doesn't eat meat.
Let us hope that they still consume milk and eggs.
Let's say two cups of milk, one egg instead of two, a cup of baked beans, two slices of bread, one ounce of peanut butter.
We would get in percentages of the allowances for the adult from the milk 40 percent, from one egg 13 percent, from baked beans 23 percent, from the bread and peanut butter 18 percent.
Add these figures up and what do you have? Well, the total comes to 94 percent.
Well, that's pretty close to what is needed.
In actual practice, there would be small amounts of protein supplied by other foods.
The total would most certainly be over 100 percent.
Well, suppose we just add two slices more of bread.
Splendid! Each slice provides about two grams of protein, or three percent of the recommended allowance.
Two slices gives us six percent of the allowance.
Add this to our 94 percent, we have 100 percent right on the nose.
Ah, so it isn't difficult at all, even without meat.
Now, you do not have to make all these calculations after a while.
I just use them for illustration.
The important thing is to get milk and eggs in the diet.
So is meat and fish and poultry.
Well, what about some of the unusual types of diets that people follow? I'm sure you've heard about them.
The protein allowance can be met, but it does require some thought in meal selection with many of these diets.
These special or unusual diets are best considered after we have taken up the more conventional types of meals.
When you cut down on meat, you cut down not only on protein, but also on riboflavin, niacin, and iron, and as we have seen on vitamin B12.
When you cut down on milk, you cut down on riboflavin and calcium.
We have to think of the diet as a whole.
Well, I take it that by diet you refer to everything a person eats in a day.
I notice that you have me also using diet in the sense of a pattern of eating.
Most people think of diet as something restrictive, perhaps unpleasant and distasteful.
As you say, it is simply the pattern of our eating.
But perhaps we should talk some more about diet at our next meeting.
I want to mention when time is available, some newer points of view that I get from reading the literature of our science.
Some of the reports are really exciting.
We look forward to our next visit.
Tune in next time for another talk in the series, Eat to Your Health's Content.
Be sure to mail your questions to Dr.
B, care of this station, address, and zip code number.