WHEAT MEAL BREAD.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17221, 11 August 1921, Page 5

WHEAT MEAL BREAD.

STATEMENT BY HEALTH

DEPARTMENT.

In view of the fact that recently opinions have been appearing in the public press on the above subject, differing from those expressed from time to time by the Health Department through the same channel, the following statement is made by the Department, based on the modern opinions of accepted authorities. To the general community bread is a food the nutritive value of which is of tlie greatest importance, forming as it does the ground work of the diet. This is especially so in the case of growing children The nutritional superiority of wheatmeal over white bread is an established scientific fact, proved by. experiments Upon many different species of animals and by the observed effects upon human beings. Professor Hutchison's statement of the composition of white and brown breads has been quoted. This is accepted as far as it goes. As quoted, however, it is misleading, implying as it does that the nature and proportions of the salts in wheatmeal and white flour are practically the same. No account is thus taken of the common salt added in bread-making, the nutritive value of which is very. different from that of the highly-organised phosphates «nd other salts of the genu and outer layers of wheat. At least two-thirds of these natural salts axe removed in the milling of white flour according to Professor Huchison's own table, which is T* 4^ Wheat. White Flour. gaits 1-91 , °'2 „ f While no doubt use mav be made of Professor Hutchisons published statements as in some way, P^P 8 -™,*:?"?" porting the use of wheatmeal bread, nevertheless his present opinion is best shown bv the fact that he is one of the signatories to a recent memorial presented to the British Minister of Health urging the importance to ity, and especially to the children, of a greater -proportion of the wheat grain "being included in bread. , Some of the newspaper correspondents on this subject are evidently not aware that recent biological experiments have shown that mere> chemical analysis fails to give a t™e estimate ot the actual nutritive value of foods. For instance, the Medical Research .Committee's Report on Vitamines gives the vitamKntent of wheatmeal products aTawtained by biological experiment as follows:- | Vitamine. Vitamine. '■ "Wheat germ ** *| x Wheat bran ......... ** * x "Whole wheatmeal ... * * White flour » « u a The number of crosses indicates as accuratelv as it has been/ possible to Sure them the amountsW these essential substances. .^ Experiments in the past have been carried out mostly for the purpose of ascertaining the actual amount of the various and bility. and. having been of short duration; are misleading. In these experiments the presence or absence of the all-essential vitamines is not taken into account. The material absorbed, from white bread during a brief experiment is not of so much consequence when it is' realised that a diet of white bread and water causes.death in an animal in a shorter time than when water alone is given, and that whole wheat bread sustains life and health for a considerably longer period. .■'.■■.' __ . , Again, it has been proved by_exß en : ments recently carried out in England that objections ■to wheatmeal on .the score of its imperfect absorption have been satisfactorily overcome by grinding to a uniform fineness. Reform along these lineß h being urged in an ""organised manner in England at.the present time by Sir James Crichton Browne, Professor Hutchison—-whose figures have been, quoted, above—and other leading medioal and scientific people. It is, of course, possible to , quote medical opinions published six or eight years ago, which may appear to be adverse to the present reform, but critics who do so are referred to the more modern opinions of such authorities as Professor Starling, Professor F. Gotland Hopkins, and Dra. Eddie, Simpson, and Benjamin Moore,, of the research staff of the Biochemical Department of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine one of whom, Professor Hopkins, is briefly quoted:— . "The superior value of whole wheatmeal lies in the fact that it retains certain food substances whose presence allows our systems to make full use of the tissue-building elements of the grain. All my work to date confirms my belief in the superior food value of whole wheat bread. ... The substances of unknown natnre may need to be present in very small amount, but if the necessary minimum is not available, the utilisation of other constituents in tissue growth or repair is infallibly deiicient. ... In the process of converting the wheat grain to fine white flour these elements are lost or destroyed.' It follows that no matter how much nourishment they might otherwise contain, our system cannot 'make the best use of such nourishment, owing to the absence of these elements necessary to their assimilation." In view of the facts as stated, the School Medical and Dental Divisions ot the Health Department are urging this reform, having for its object the .elimination of some at any rate of the disease and suffering which is everywhere associated with, and by leading authorities attributed to the artificial refinement of food and other wrong methods of civilisation. The Department is, moreover, in a position to show thattne people are awakening to the great importance of this matter, and,that there is" a growing demand for bread which may more justly claim the title of the Staff of Life.