MILK AND TEETH

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 74, 20 December 1929, Page 8

MILK AND TEETH

IS IT CAUSE AND EFFECT? AN EXPERTS VIEW Frank surprise that New Zealander*, although living in a country famou*' - throughout the world for its dairying- ; productivity, drank so little milk and; / consumed such relatively small quantities.; qf milk products such as ice-cream ana ~ cheese, was expressed by Mr, M. Dana;;, associate editor of the “Oregon Journal, . Portland, United States of America,. in . -, the course of an address from radio stat tion 2YA last evening. Mr. Dana has*-, been touring the dairying districts of New Zealand for the past month, making;;, a close investigation of methods of production, manufacture, and marketing; He / has travelled over,3ooo miles, and has;, made a special point of leaving tourist routes and getting right to the heart of; ; the country. In emphasising the importance of mu.k... as an article of diet he stated that through propaganda and health instruction the per capita consumption of milk in the United States had increased in a few years from 221bs. to 631bs. and they felt they had only just begun. This increased consumption had been accompanied by a marked increase in general health, particularly amongst children. He had been struck by the neglect of miU in the diet of New Zealanders. Equally ho had been struck by the prevalence of, false teeth, even in young people. - felt that while the farmers had learnt how to mineralise their pastures and so increase the production of butterfat for export business, they, and city people, too, were" woefully neglectful of their duty in mineralising the bodies of their children to enable them to build solid bones and teeth. . In discussing milk diet with a group in Hawera he had been told that milk drink-. ing was only a habit; that ice-cream was only a luxury, and a factory manager had told him that they would not even bother trying to sell cheese in New. Zealand. This attitude Mr. Dana felt to be all wrong. Milk was an essential in diet. ; particularly with children, and was vital for the building of teeth. With its tremendous production of milk New Zealand should herself use more milk and in doing so would find the benefit in not only the .present but the future health of th* race. Mr. Dana paid a tribute to the pasture science, the co-operative organisation, the top-dressing, and the herd- test-, ing methods of the <’ *y industry. These in combination had made the .Dominion famous the world oyer for its dairying industry. : Mr. Dana will leave for Australia by the Maunganui to-day. Further investigations into dairying will there be made, and. the whole tour made the subject of a series of newspaper articles. Keen appreciation was expressed of the, courtesy extended to him on all sides in New Zealand, particularly by the Department of. Agriculture, whose farm economist, Mr. Fawcett, accompanied him on his tour.