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Food Values and Adulterations: Diet

DIETARY STANDARDS Balanced Diet. - A diet is said to be balanced when it contains available proteid, carbohydrate and fat in the right proportions. A great many experiments have been made to determine the ratio which the different classes of nutrients should sustain to one another in human food. In American publications the conclusions of Atwater and Chittenden are most often taken as standards.

The Atwater standard, for a man with light exercise, is 100 parts (by weight) of proteid, 100 parts of fat and 360 parts of carbohydrate. The Chittenden standard is that for every 100 food units about 10 should be proteid, 30 fat, and 60 carbohydrate.

These figures are interesting chiefly as showing that there can be no universal rule of proportion fixed by science. So-called standards are merely attempts to arrive at a general average on the basis of experience. In practice it will be sufficient if each of the principal nutrients are present in the dietary in sufficient quantities and without marked excess or deficiency of either. If this is the case the normal appetite will ordinarily select a well balanced diet.