DIET AND HEALTH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 238, 7 October 1936, Page 12

DIET AND HEALTH.

I deplore with Mr. P. H. Menli the apathy of the public regarding the allimportant matter of diets. As in England, so also in Australia and New Zealand the average diet lacks in all organic minerals and vitamins, whilst it contains fats, proteins and carbohydrates in excess of requirement*. The white man's diet builds up quantity at the expense of quality both of "body and brain. It should be our ambition in New Zealand, with the healthiest climate in the world, to endow each one of the coming generation with a "mens sana in corpore sano" second to none in the world. To assist in bringing this matter prominently and continuously before the public I beg to propose respectfully:—(l) That the Education Department of New Zealand be approached to introduce a simple text book on the rudiments of anatomy, physiology, diet, et-c., into all New Zealand schools, as suggested by Mr. P. H. Meuli and others. (2) That the Government of New Zealand be approached to utilise its existing research institutes and staff to carry out analyses of the food values of the diets of typical groups of society in New Zealand and the results submitted for publication in the leading newspapers—as was recently done in Great Britain by the Rowett Research Institute of Aberdeen, Scotland. THOMAS A. F. STONE.