DIET AND NUTRITIONAL VALUES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 141, 16 June 1936, Page 14

DIET AND NUTRITIONAL VALUES.

With keen interest I read the last letter in your te§ue of the Bth by Dr. Williams. I fear his is a voice crying in the wilderness. "He is certain, there is not a conspiracy to keep the truth from the public," and says a laclc of knowledge of dietetics is the reason. T hope he is right, for, with the thousands of scientific works published and easily obtainable, it seems incredible that any medico could not be aware of the truth. This day's news should bring a bright ray of-hope to Dr. Williams, for I see the Geneva Committee suggest that medical students in future be taught nutritional values. . Now here's a big step forward. I -wonder if the public would be so happy reading statements made by medicos, whom they assume know the last work on this subject, if they knew that the subject has been neglected in their curriculum; so much so that a committee set up by the League has to suggest its adpotion in future. Auckland Hospital has at last been brought up to date and has a dietitian. If it was found necessary to do this, why is it not necessary *ri boarding schools? Either the hospital and its medical advisers are wrong, or the schools are wrong. I venture to say they have no dietitians in most schools, and unless a diet is supervised by a thoroughly competent person it would be impossible to strike, by luck, a properly balanced series of meals. • This is the most serious question before New Zealand to-day. A healthy people would solve most of our problems. With the knowledge science has put at our disposal. it is possible of solution with no add<"d expense. G. B. CHAPMAN.