Читать книгу Old Age Deferred. The causes of old age and its postponement by hygienic and therapeutic measures онлайн

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There is one muscle in our body that never takes a rest. It never ceases to work, either day or night, and the better for us, for if it should stop it would mean the end of life. This muscle is the heart. Of course we must feed well such a hard-working organ, and have special care to select such a food that is the most genial for it and can the best promote its activity. As the heart is a muscle we must give the food that is best indicated for muscular activity. Observations have shown that the muscles of our body are doing their work at the expense of a certain sweet stuff (glycogen) contained in them. Experiments also prove this, for it has been found that the heart of animals removed from the body will survive for days the death of their owner if kept in a salt solution, with grape- or fruit-sugar added. The addition of certain mineral salts like lime and carbonate of sodium is also able to prolong the survival of the cut-out heart of dead animals. So there can be no doubt that the same elements must also prove useful to the heart of the living, as is indeed the case.