Doctors Condemn NX’s High Milk Consumption

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28425, 4 November 1957, Page 12

Doctors Condemn NX’s High Milk Consumption

(New Zealand Press Associations WELLINGTON, November 3. Three New Zealand doctors have delivered a joint statement against over-consumption of milk by New Zealanders. They object to the common belief that “milk is a first-class food and the more consumed the better.”

“We think the whole community has become obsessed with the idea that ‘milk is health’ and we question its accuracy,” they write.

The three critics are Dr. R. H. Bettington, Dr. B. H. R. Hill and Dr. E. A. Morris, all of Napier. Their joint criticism on New Zealand habits of milk consumption appears as a special article in the October issue of the “New Zealand Medical Journal.”

“The general public has long be-n exhorted to drink more milk,” states the article. “This propaganda has been sponsored by the Health Department, and ably reiterated by itinerant nurses, both Plunket and district health nurses, and by four-colour posters, newspaper advertisements and radio talks.

“Children are obliged to drink milk at school unless the parents have expressed a wish to the contrary.

“The operation of subsidies has made milk and allied products both plentiful and cheap. A modem dietary in New Zealand, therefore, contains much dairy produce—milk. butter, cheese, cream and ice cream.

“Ingestion of milk in large quantities well into adult life is an unnatural state of affairs not encountered elsewhere in the animal kingdom. “Few domestic animals have access to milk after weaning at the age of a few months, and they do not appear to suffer from rickets, which is. of course, a disease due to deficiency of vitamin D, not of calcium. If animals are given extra milk for long periods, it is solely for the purpose of fattening. Ailments Increasing

“Certain pathological conditions appear to be increasing in frequency and occurring earlier in life than was the case a generation ago. Excessive consumption of milk products could be the cause of this, but a controlled experiment to prove this has not yet been attempted. “The following are some such conditions: (1) Upper respiratory tract infections. <2) Obesity (which is especially troublesome to the obstetrician).

(3) Renal calculus. (4) Coronary sclerosis in men. (5) Gallstones in women. “Much investigation has yet to be done before the final word is spoken. But it could be, that one day we will all eat margarine in preference to butter, and not because it is cheaper. “As for dental caries, there is much confusion in many minds,

both lay and learned, concerning the role played by calcium in the tooth. Enamel is an inert hard shell for the tooth and is quite lifeless. It is devoid of a blood supply and is isolated from the calcium elsewhere in the body. It is therefore not possible for the calcium in the diet to be utilised by the tooth to make good the damage caused by decay. Milk and Teeth ‘‘Decay is essentially an external erosion of the enamel. The most widely-held view of its cause is that the presence of acid debris in the inter-dental space acts chemically on the enamel to dissolve it.

“Milk, because it may lodge in a dental space and form lactic acid, could conceivably be a cause of dental caries. ‘‘The New Zealand scene, in which one sees the highest per capita consumption of milk products in the world at the same time as one sees the highest caries rate in the world, surely proves than milk plays no part in the physiology of healthy teeth. ‘‘lndeed, the evidence is such that the contrary view could be held—that such a high intake of milk could be a cause of caries. It could do this by lactic acid erosion.

“There is no doubt that subacute upper respiratory infection is on the increase in children. Medical training 35 years ago said : that sinusitis did not occur under seven to eight years of age—why are these (present-day) infections taking place? ‘‘Many children from one and a half to three years are brought by their parents because of stuffy running noses. On inquiry it is found in many cases that, there is excessive milk in the diet. Moderating that intake and establishing a proper breathing habit is usually all that is required. “The pushing of milk in the diet has become an obsession in this country, and while no-one will suggest that milk is not a good food, it has only a small place in a balanced diet after infancy. ‘‘Clinical manifestations to milk allergy may be of many different kinds. Lassitude, irritability and pallor are common findings in the 5-10 year-old child with infective and allergic rhinitis, asthma or atopic eczema. One frequently finds that the child has a pint or more of raw milk a day to drink, together with the usual half-pint at school. The child will often have a history of recurrent abdominal pains—and is frequently diagnosed as chronic appendicitis or abdominal lymphadenitis. Pressure of Publicity “The pressure of producer groups, politicians and the Department of Health, by daily advertising publicity, posters, and campaigns to go on forcing cow’s milk down the throats of our infants and adolescents is perpetuating a proven scientific evil. ‘‘George Bernard Shaw certainly did us a deal of harm when he advocated to the great humanitarian Prime Minister, Mr M. J. Savage, and his victorious Labour Party in the mid-thirties that free milk in schools would be a powerful factor in building up from our ‘‘undernourished and povertystricken, ill-fed” New Zealand children into a master race.

‘‘The effects of this today are only too evident to the allergist, internist, and ear, nose and throat surgeon, in the throng of sickly, wet-nosed, wheezing and unhappy children dragged into our consulting rooms by harassed mothers. ‘‘The matter is tied up with large commercial interests which are intent on forcing milk and milk products on the public. We think they would be better employed in selling the idea and their wares to the under-nourished Asiatics.”