Fuel Value

Food:
By fuel value is meant the capacity foods have for yielding heat to the body. The fuel value of the foods we eat daily is so important a factor in life that physicians, dietitians, nurses, and those having the care of institutional cooking acquaint themselves with the relative fuel values of practically all of the important food substances. The life or death of a patient may be determined by the patient's diet, and the working and earning capacity of a father depends largely upon his prosaic three meals. An ounce of fat, whether it is the fat of meat or the fat of olive oil or the fat of any other food, produces in the body two and a quarter times as much heat as an ounce of starch. Of the vegetables, beans provide the greatest nourishment at the least cost, and to a large extent may be substituted for meat. It is not uncommon to find an outdoor laborer consuming one pound of beans per day, and taking meat only on "high days and holidays."

The fuel value of a food is determined by means of the bomb calorimeter. The food substance is put into a chamber A and ignited, and the heat of the burning substance raises the temperature of the water in the surrounding vessel. If 1000 grams of water are in the vessel, and the temperature of the water is raised 2° C., the number of calories produced by the substance would be 2000, and the fuel value would be 2000 calories. From this the fuel value of one quart or one pound of the substance can be determined, and the food substance will be said to furnish the body with that number of heat units, providing all of the pound of food were properly digested.

FIG. - The bomb calorimeter from which the fuel value of food can be estimated.