DIET AND HEALTH

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 97, 5 February 1936, Page 5

DIET AND HEALTH

CONDITIONS IN BRITAIN. NECESSITY FOR IMPROVEMENT. STANDARD OF LIVING OF POOR, (United Press Association —Copyright.) LONDON, February 3. Sir John Orr (Research lecturer in Physiology of Nutrition at Aberdeen University), in a speech to a Farmers’ Club, elaborated bis idea of a. farming boom if the. pool 1 had adequate diet. Ho said that approximately 4,500,000 people were existing on an average ol only four shillings a week each for food and were definitely suffering from deficiency of health-giving substances. Their consumption of meat, eggs, fruit, and vegetables must be increased by from 12 to 25 per cent in order to' bring their diets to the standard required for health. Twice that increase would be required to bring the diet to the standard of the well-to-do classes. There was great national need for increased production of foodstuffs which must be made available to the poor at below existing prices, by means of a subsidy if necessary. Addressing the British Association for the Advancement of Science in September on the, economies of diet. Sir John Orr emphasised the necessity for improving diet throughout Britain, which was interesting in view of the nutrition campaign by Australia. Sir John Orr explained that Britain could spend £200,000,005 more yearly on food. Only families in which the weekly income averaged 20s per capita enjoyed a diet adequate for maintaining health on modern standards. He estimated that where there were twenty millions below that economic level. Raising their diet to the required standard would involve an increase of 10 per cent, in consumption. S’ir John Orr added: Making agriculture prosperous and helping expansion was one of the most profitable methods of increasing national prosperity, as the farmers’ money immediately flowed into the towns. It stimulated industry and reduced unemployment.