SECRETS OF GOOD HEALTH

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 60, 4 December 1926, Page 24

SECRETS OF GOOD HEALTH

SIR W. ARBUTHNOT LANE'S ADVICE ON DIET

More interest is being taken in the i subject of nutrition every year, as is shown by the frequent publication in the dailv Press of information about what we shall eat (says Sir Arbuthnot Lane in the “Daily Mail”). We are constantly told that we eat too much, and that we do not choose the right kinds of food. The discoveries during the past 20 years of the elusive “vitamins” have opened up new vistas, and the general public have become fascinated by the curious intricacy of the presence or absence of the several vitamins in the various foodstuffs. A haphazard choice of food may mean the omission of some health-giv-ing substance. Individual likes and dislikes are not a reliable guide as to which foods to eat and which to avoid The proper choice of food cannot be made without a little special knowledge. Hence the justification for health education Manufactured, over-refined, and preserved foods have led the people away during the last fifty years from the fresh and natural foods which are the basis of good health. No reader need be afraid that the teaching necessary to counteract this evil of our civilisation is bevond the understanding of the lavman. The right foods, which will be detailed in a later article, must contain the three vitamins A, B, and C, also certain mineral salts and the good tvpes of protein If a dietary is to be satisfactory it must include tnanv kinds of food material In other words, balanced meals are essential What we require is “a square meal ” Much more about foods and their effects upon growth and health has still to be found out How is the subject dealt with at our universities and medical schools? At present the subject of nutrition comes within the province of both of the physiologist and the biochemist. Ony a few of these teachers are realh interested in the modern aspects of the subject. As far as the medical student is concerned there is no special training in dietetics beyond die few lectures he re-

ceives from teachers of other subjects As a consequence we often find nowadays that the layman knows more about foods than the medical practitioner The latter, in spite of his ignorance, gaily prescribes curious diets for which he can give no more adequate reason than that they are the usual custom. Why is boiled white fish with white sauce and white rice pudding such a common diet in our nursing homes and in convalescence. All these foods are grouped among those we ought not to eat by the expert workers on nutrition. It is high time that alteration be made. Much more thought, time, and endeavour are given to the feeding of animals. There are two large animal nutrition stations in this country, but there is no chair of nutrition in any university ar medical school. The feeding of man is just as important as the feeding of animals. The universities have not at present the funds lor departments of nutrition, so a founder of a chair of dietetics ot nutrition is awaited. In the United States there are several university departments devoted to foods and nutrition, as well as numerous agricultural stations in which animal nutrition is specially studied. We ought to have at least one university chair of nutrition It is a curious tiling that no pioneer work is done in this country and that its importance is not realised here. Other countries see the importance of it and start special departments to follow it up and advance it We cannot be expected to keep pace with other countries if our pioneers can give only part time to the subject It would be an honour to them if then subject were raised to the full status of a separate department . , , . • , Food or rather the right food, is of such concern to the general public that •t i, a wonder that they have not clamoured before now for many departments where nutrition could be studied f OT itself The public want full information about everv food we eat and its effect upon the body It cannot be got without special departments demoted to the teaching of food values and research upon every article of food.