MILK AS A FOOD

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 186, 4 May 1933, Page 11

MILK AS A FOOD

Contains All the Vitamins VALUE FOR CHILDREN Mr. A. E. Hefford presided at a meeting of the Economic Biology Section of tlio Wellington Philosophical Society held iu the Dominion Museum last evening.

Dr. I. J. Cunningham dealt in an interesting manner wltli milk as a food. He described the natural adaptations of the milks of different species to the nutritive requirements of their young, and then went on to treat of the particular advantages of cow’s milk in the human diet.

The proteins of milk occupy ouly a minor place as a protein food iu diets ricli in meat and eggs, but when the diet consists largely of cereals then the proteins of milk are of very real value, said Dr. Cunningham. Milk contains all the known vitamins, and we were told that one quart of milk a day would meet the demands of the adult human for these essential foodstuffs. It was the calcium content of milk that was specially stressed by Dr. Cunningham. This mineral is deficient in meats, tubers, fleshy vegetables, cereals, and legumes, and defective teeth and bone deformities are likely to result when such materials form tiie major part of the diet. An adequate supply of milk is the best means of preventing these deformities, and the speaker urged that everyone make an effort to include one quart iu the daily diet.

The paper was concluded by reference to the results achieved by workers in Great Britain and America from adding milk to the diets of school children. In Britain a 20 per cent, increased growth in both height and weight were obtained by this practice, whereas in America even more striking effects were recorded.

Mr. G. S. Al. Hopkirk delivered a paper on milk-borne diseases originating in the cow. He showed that three diseases might be dangerous, but were in New Zealand actually of very little consequence. These were bovine tuberculosis, undulant fever, and mastitis setting up sore throat epidemics. He concluded by saying that in his opinion raw milk could be drunk in New Zealand without any sense of danger to the consumer, but the public. should demand a milk certified free from tubercle bacilli and any deleterious numbers of other organisms.