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No other science has so much to do with the general welfare of mankind as the study of food and its effects in the human body. When we use the term “dietetics” as representing “the effect of the food in the human body,” we do so in a very broad sense, for the subject is a big one, requiring comprehensive terms to express it.

The problems of nutrition are many. Food alone is no small subject and a still greater one is the utilization of food materials in such a way that the body may gain the greatest value with the least expenditure of vital forces. These problems are discussed in this text and the methods of overcoming them are given in the simplest possible language. For this purpose the subject of nutrition has been divided into groups: (1) a comprehensive study of the sources of food, its composition and nutritive value; (2) the effect of food in the body under normal conditions, as in health; and (3) its behavior and effect when conditions in the body become abnormal, as in disease. In this way much of the non-essential material is eliminated from the course of study and only that included which it is necessary for the nurse to understand and which she will constantly use both in the hospital and later on in the practice of her profession. The simple methods of study presented in this text are given with the idea of avoiding confusion in the mind of the average pupil nurse by fitting in the course with her other studies rather than by making it stand out as a separate subject. In this way she will be able to see at a glance the connection between the body processes and the materials which are used to carry them on. Thus her study of physiology, anatomy and bacteriology go hand in hand with that of dietetics, each bearing a distinct relationship to the others.