Why? The Science of Athletics

FOOD, FADS AN:Q FACTS Approximately 5 per cent of the body Importance weight comprises mineral matter, which of Minerals produces but little energy, but is of inestim- able value to health, especially the potash salts and fruit and vegetable acids which lessen the acidity in the blood, as ·was stated in an earlier chapter, when the means whereby the athlete may ward off fatigue was dealt with. It is in fruits and vegetables that the highest per– centage of mineral matter is found. Body Builders The nitrogenous compounds must remain the most important part of any scheme of dietary, since the proteins supply the muscle– forming constituents, such as the . myosin of lean meat, casein in the curd of milk, and albumen ·in the white of egg. Proteins, of lesser value to the athlete, according to some authorities, are present to a high per– centage in cereals ; for example, gluten in wheat, arid to a lesser degree in leguminous vegetables-for instance, legumin in peas and beans. The albuminoids, of inferior body-building quality to the proteins, are present in meat ; they are, however, stimulating and should not be left out of any dietary, if only for their gelatinol.{s value. It ma usefully be added that, although the old-time trainers probably did not know it, the reason their almost sole meat diet for athletes did not entirely break down was becaus·e protein can be used as body-fuel through the circumstances of chemical changes within the body trans– forming proteins into fats and carbohydrates. Had they taken the opposite view to the one they adopted the results would have been disastrous ; because, it being impossible for the fats and carbohydrates to take the place of the proteins, there would have been no building up of muscle and no making good of tissue wastage. B d F l Fats are richer in carbon than any other _:_ftats ue food-stuffs, their two other constituents being oxygen and hydrogen. They supply about rs per cent of body weight and constitute the main