Beef extract is the expressed juices of beef. Beef tea is the expressed juices of beef diluted with water. Both are composed of water, fat, mineral matter, albuminous juices, and extractives (which give color and flavor). Extractives include creatin, creatinin, and allied compounds (sometimes called meat bases), which closely resemble the thein in tea and the caffein in coffee and have a similar effect upon the nervous system. It is to these compounds that the value of beef extract and beef tea is largely attributable. While they contain a small amount of soluble albumen, the food value is so slight, they must be considered as stimulants rather than nutrients.
Beef tea may be used to advantage.
1. To give variety to a liquid diet.
2. When much water is to be ingested.
3. On account of the warmth that it gives.
4. In cases of weakened digestion.
It stimulates appetite.
Meat extractives are the greatest known stimulants to gastric juice.
Beef extract, being concentrated, may be retained often, if taken in small quantities at frequent intervals, where beef tea could not be borne; on the other hand, beef tea may be taken in larger quantities with satisfying effects, where beef extract would prove insufficient.
Many preparations made from beef are on the market in the form of liquids, powders, meals, or pastes. To some of these a considerable amount of fat is added, which increases their nutritive value; still others are useful only for the flavor and color they impart, and would find better place in the kitchen to be used in the making of soups and sauces than in the sick-room.
Home-made beef tea, if carefully prepared, is usually liked better by a patient, costs much less, and, as a rule, is more nutritious than the manufactured article. It will keep without decomposition, however, but a short time.
Physicians frequently order the preparations on the market, to give variety, and to try, if possible, to please
