Rice as a Food.

The power of endurance which was exhibited by Japanese soldiers in their late war with Russia, was almost incredible, especially when we consider that they subsisted almost entirely upon rice. Chemical analysis shows that rice meal contains at least twelve and one-half per cent of the albuminoids, and four and one-half per cent of phosphoric acid.

This rice meal, however, is not eaten by Americans. This is composed of the rice grain and husk also. Our white rice is deprived of its husk entirely and passes through what is called the polishing process, which deprives it of very much of the nutritional principle. The Japanese do not polish the grain for their own use, but eat it in a form not known to either Americans or Europeans.

White polished rice is a pure carbohydrate and not a muscle builder. When eaten as the Japanese eat rice, it is one of the strongest of foods. It sustains the muscular structure, builds up the body and builds up the physical and nervous energies as well. The albuminoid principle is the essential constituent for this purpose. There is no doubt that the so-called civilized nations could follow the plan of the Japanese, and could exclude meats entirely from the diet, and by so doing would improve their physical condition.

Ellingwood's Therapeutist, Vol. 2, 1908, was edited by Finley Ellingwood M.D.