DIET AND HEALTH

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 288, 1 September 1931, Page 2

DIET AND HEALTH

Mistakes in Feeding Babies LECTURE BY MR. R. J. TERRY Lecturing on “Diet in Relation to Health” last evening, Mr. 11. J. Terry, who recently delivered two other lectures on various phases of the same subject, dealt mainly with what he described as mistakes in the feeding of babies, with diet as a means of overcoming skin troubles aud with the effect of diet iu reducing weight. The chief fault in the feeding of babies to-day, Mr. Terry said, lay in overfeeding. Probably this was because mothers had a “sentimental dread of giving their children insufficient food,” with the result that they were inclined to give them a great deal too much. Babies, be asserted, should not be disturbed during the night for feeding purposes. Raiu water, or distilled, or boiled water, should be given them through their bottles more frequently than was the case. Dealing with skin diseases, with particular application to children, Mr. Terry described observations he had made on a recent visit to China and Japau. In Hong-Kong,, he said, be had been amazed to find that Chinese children who lived in congested areas of the town were suffering from terrible skin sores; After investigation he had attributed this to the children being practically starved of proper sunlight and fresh air, .mainly due to their living conditions, and also to the fact that their food was lacking in proper qualities. Nearby were thousands of children whose homes were on small boats and who lived their lives out in the open, Their food, too, came largely from the sea. Among these children skin diseases were practically unknown. On tlie subject of reducing weight the lecturer stressed the danger that lay in people taking drugs, and outlined some of the results that came from drugs in tablet form being taken by inexpert people. In many cases, he said, people -were burning themselves up in their efforts to reduce and were taking years off their lifetime. It was a simple matter to reduce through dieting, he said. Mr. Terry answered numerous questions at the conclusion of his address.