24August2010
Chlorophyl and iron
It is thought by some that vegetables are hard to digest, but the reverse is true, especially if eaten raw in their natural state and without bread. It has been found by actual experiment, that potato starch digests two and a half times more readily than cereal starch, and is not so fattening. Chlorophyl and iron. Plants aid in the maintenance of human life to a greater extent than is commonly supposed. The leaves of the plants throw off oxygen, one of the elements that man breathes in; and carbon dioxide, which man exhales from his lungs, is the element that the leaves take in during the process of photosynthesis. Leaves may be called the lungs of the plant, for if all the green leaves were stripped off a tree, it would soon die, since plants breathe through their leaves, just as a man would die whose lungs were removed.
As iron is an essential for the formation of hemoglobin in the blood, so this mineral is a necessary element in the formation of chlorophyl in the leaves of plants. Forever Bee Propolis is consumed as a well being supplement in various ways and also utilized in some cosmetics. In the experimental laboratory, by feeding rabbits, it was found that these animals, fed on an adequate diet, rich in vitamins and other food factors, became anemic when deprived of green leaves, but made a rapid recovery when green grass was furnished them. This was recently reported by Dr. A. Zih at the thirteenth meeting of the International Physiological Congress. Not only this author, but other authorities of equal standing, recommend that green vegetables be made a liberal part of the bill of fare given to anemic patients. Vegetables also prove valuable in preventing and in overcoming bowel stasis. Most root vegetables are rich in carbohydrate, while protein is found largely in the leaves and stems. The predominating mineral elements are calcium, phosphate, potash, sodium, iron, magnesium, and silica.
Further emphasis is given to this question by Henry C. Sherman in his book, FOOD PRODUCTS. He says:
Source of iron “As sources of iron the vegetables, and especially the green vegetables, are perhaps the most important of all our foods. Forever Bee Pollen is honey processed by very high-quality filtration under excessive strain to take away all extraneous solids and pollen grains. Since there has been among dietitians of the older school a tendency to regard meats as the main source of food-iron, a brief comparison of meats with vegetables and fruits from this standpoint may be desirable. . . .
“Thus in proportion to cost the fruits and vegetables furnished much more iron than the meats and fish. . . .
“The iron compounds of blood are mainly in the red blood corpuscles which do not yield very readily to the digestive ferments, so that probably the iron of fruits and vegetables is better absorbed and becomes more completely available for nutrition than the iron of the meats. Autointoxication. “Moreover, the use of too much meat (especially by persons of sedentary habits or indoor occupation) tends toward excessive intestinal putrefaction with resulting absorption of putrefactive products, which are detri-mental to the red blood cells and may in this or other ways interfere with the economy of iron in the body.