t economical food to ship. A POUND OF
ANY FAT GIVES 21/4 TIMES AS MUCH ENERGY AS A POUND OF SUGAR--the reason
for the slogan "Fats Are Fuel for Fighters." Soldiers engaged in the
most strenuous physical activities need fuel for all the energy they
expend. Bacon, butter, all the forms of fat give them the most energy
in the smallest weight of food.
Fats stave off the feeling of hunger longer than other foods because
they pass more slowly from the stomach and delay the passage of foods
eaten with them. A slice of bread and butter will "satisfy" one for a
much longer time than a slice of bread and jelly, even though there is
enough jelly to give exactly the same amount of fuel. In the countries
in which there is a fat shortage, the appetite does not stay satisfied
during the usual period between meals, even when the previous meal
contained the customary amount of calories. The feeling of hunger is
sometimes almost constant.
Certain fats are valuable for an entirely different reason. Milk fat,
either in the milk or as butter, beef fat which is a constituent of
oleomargarine, the fat in the yolk of egg, all contain one of the
vitamines needed by children in order to grow properly, and by grown
people to keep in good health. Lard and the vegetable fats and oils,
like nut or vegetable margarine and cottonseed-oil, do not contain
this substance, but if there is sufficient milk in the diet, there
will be plenty of this "fat-soluble vitamine." In all other respects
the fats are alike from a nutritional standpoint. One fat can replace
another without harm.
Until the war came there was little need of knowing or bothering as
to what kind of fats we ate, or of concerning ourselves with the fact
that many more varieties were available than most of us used. Now it
does make a decided difference. OUR ARMIES AND THOSE OF THE ALLIES
NEED FAT, A GREAT DEAL OF IT, AND WE MUST SHIP THEM THE KIND MOST
SUITED TO THEIR PURPOSES. WE CAN USE WHAT THE ALLIES AND THE ARMY DO
NOT NEED.
THE SITUATION ABROAD
There is a shortage of the animal fats, lard, butter, and
oleomargarine for the same reasons, of course, that cause the meat
shortage. England, particularly recently, has had very little, less
even than the French and Italians, who are not accustomed to using
much.
England was the largest butter importer in the world, getting her
supply mostly from northwestern Europe, Denmark, Russia, Sweden, and
Holland. Russia can no longer sup
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