TEA V. ALCOHOL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume xxix, Issue 7241, 29 July 1907, Page 1

TEA V. ALCOHOL.

SOME MEDICAL VIEWS. The Hospital, a well-known medical publication, which some years ago made ! a special investigation touching the i nutritive properties of New Zealand moat and pronounced strongly in its favour, has undertaken a fresh investigation. The subject is the respective ! merits of tea and alcohol. [ The report of the commission is, on tho,'whole, highly favourable to the use of light wine- as a beverage, and to the use of the French wines in particular. Careful experiments have shown that these wines, taken in moderate quantities with food, have a favourable effect on digestion. The wines examined included French,. German, Australian, Californian, Spanish and Italian. The report says.that the Australian, Californian, Spanish aand Italian wines are hardly to be considered as light wines on account of the relatively high percentage of alcohol which they contain, and it declares that while they are undoubtedly useful as tonic beverages, they raust.be considered on the basis of port, sherry and madeira and' used as such. The German wines are not so reliable as the French, as they are more liable to adulteration, and even when they arc not adulterated are often the result of a second or third fermentation. The- purchaser of light French wines, the commission declares, ,is extremely unlikely to,get anything but.-pure wine. The proper quantity to be taken at a meal is rather more than a quarter and rather less than a half bottle. The wine should be diluted with about an equal quantity of water to obtain the, best digestive results, but it is immaterial whether this dilution takes place inside or outside the stomach. The wine should be sipped slowly, so that it may be thoroughly mixed with the foods. Champagne, on account of the carbon dioxide it contains, is a powerful stimulant to gastric digestion-, and. is exceedingly useful to persons suffering from certain , forms of dyspepsia. Further, the commission declares- j that "it cannot too emphatically be in- | sisted on that light wine is essentially i a temperance beverage,' and that its alcoholic content is in many cases a character of secondary importance. One can only get sufficient alcohof from wine to produce its full action of making one drunk by taking sufficient extract to make one ill; wine is not the drink of the dipsomaniac, but of the i viveur." . ■ The popular cup of tea is ruthlessly condemned. When the milk and sugar contained in it are eliminated, the commission says, there is no nutritive vahuj left, and the alkaloid.in it is essentially a stimulant capable of only unlocking, but not supplying, energy. The tannin and its derivatives exercise a particularly unfavourable influence on digestion, .as they,hot only form insoluble compounds;,with the proteid elements\ of food, bu_ they also precipitate the 1 enzymes which render the food soluble and capable of being absorbed. Tea, however, seems to have no unfavourable effect when taken- with bread and butter and sweet things. Gingorbeer, which was also examined, is neither good nor bad so far as digestion ia concerned.