FOOD PRESERVATIVES

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 101, 26 October 1925, Page 7

FOOD PRESERVATIVES

BORON IN BUTTER

VALUABLE PROTECTION AGAINST DISEASE

SURGEON'S ENLIGHTENING

STATEMENT.

(rnoa. oun own correspondent.)

LONDON, 10th September

It appears from correspondence in the daily papers that the scientific point of view with regard to the prohibition of boron in butter and other foods has not I>j any means been freely presented. A Mavley street surgeon, Dr. Frank Kidd, M.Ch., F.R.C.S., now enters the lists and gives certain information which V.;ould appear to have a, serious bearing on tho subject. "As a surgeon working particularly at the problem of keeping of the urinary organs in a healthy state," he writes in a letter to "Tho Times" : "I have Jeiivnt that only when urine, can be kept acid during the process of healing will such wounds close without trouGle ov danger. I have tried, therefore, in turn one by one and not in combination anumber of acids, which, given by the mouth, are excreted as such in the urine. t "I have, found that tho drug_ which most rapidly turns an alkaline into an. acid urine is boric acid. Five grains of boric acid given every six hours by tilt 1 mouth will render a urine acid thatis at the start of th.c observation alkaline a-i the result of bacterial putrefaction, and ■will enable a healthy healing process to. be initiated in a wound which before was a danger to the life of the patient. There is no other acid that I liavo tried that will bring about theprocess in so rapid and satisfactory a,, manner. I have noted that boric acid, iv these doses, is well tolerated'by the' majority of patients, but that in some' there is an idiosyncrasy, to the drug.., which may cause lass pi appetite, vomit-f ing, and skin reup.ti.ons. Even in such: patients the drug can be used benficially by giving it for twenty-four hours and. then withholding it for some days. For', other less sensitive patients tho drug can be taken in such doses for a. week at a time, and must then be withheld for two or three weeks. Exhibited in this way, it can generally be used indefinitely, and I use it in this mariner in many patients where it is desired tq j;et rid of. phosphates from the body in their most soluble form. BORON ACTS BENEFICIALLY " Many persons nowadays become infected, as regards their kidneys with the colon group of bacteria. My impression is that these bacteria are taken into the body in a virulent fornvin food that has been kept too long, particularly in milk and in frozen meat. A small dose of boric acid added to kept foods would, therefore, seem to a urinary surgeon to act beneficially in two ways. In the first place, it is likely to prevent the formation in the food of bacteria of excessive virulence, in the second place i L •will bo excreted by the kidneys and will help to increase the acidity of the urine and its antiseptic power. By these actions it is likely to prevent infections of the. kidneys, while the bacteria aljsorbed from the food are filtering through the kidneys.' The question, therefore, resolves" itself into . 'one of dosage. A dose of 20 grains in the day is/ large, and one that is drily needed in the emergencies of surgery. Even such doses do not upset the stomach of the majority of persons, and only cause a temporary upset in those who are sensitive to the drug. ■ It is hard to believe that the small quantities of boric acid at present added to butter, milk, and ere/un can da any harm to the individuals imbibing them. Milk in particular is a potent factor in causing colon bacillus infections, being the only common food still taken uncooked. VERY VALUABLE DRUG "I believe, judging by clinical experience, that if boric acid is forbidden as a food preservative we shall soon see a large increase in cases of food poison-, ing and colon bacillus infections. I can,: not believe that the-, small doses of boric acid at present taken by the population with their food can do anything but good. I believe that thereby they take daily a small dqse of a very valuable drug, one which tends to keep the urine acid and in a state to resist bacterial infections, and one which can do no harm in such small doses to the alimentary canal. The subject is one of such grave practical importance to British food producers that I feel it is time for a surgeon to express his views drawn from a prolonged observation of the use oi; boric acid in human beings, and to stale that it appears to be, in small doses a drug of value for health, and one that does not lead to the alarming results which have been hypothecated against it." EXCESS OF SALT Another correspondent, who is a Fellow of the Institute of Chemists,' asks whether the alternative or boron—namely, salt—would not bo equaly injurious. "Though, of course, in no sense a 'poison,' " he writes, "excess of salt is pretty generally deprecated 'by- dietitions, especially for the elderly,'it having been shown that the bodily iiecil of chloride is amply supplied by the mixed food thai, moat of us live on. and thai the added salt in savouries that wo were brought- up on an children is not really essential," but has become by habit a, practical necessity as a. relish to mil 1 victuals. It. is surely more, than doubtful whether the augmentation of salt in .the-national diet which the reversion to it in butter would necessitate would not be more prejudicial to health than the small, tasteless, and doubtfully harmful addition of the preservatives at present in use. Moreover, we should certainly become a thirstier nation, which might, have* far-rccichim,' ;md undesirable results." FULL INQUIRY IMPERATIVE "It is useless to make assertions.' writes Professor Henry E. Armstrong, professor of chemistry at the City arid Guilds College, South Kensington. "Digf.stion, in its earlier stage, is known to be an acid process; in its later the acid is all but, if not entirely, neutralised by a natural change. The possible "preservatives' are weak acids. Some few sensitive individuals may be affected by them; I have friends who assert they ore. On the other hand. I know (if people who cannot lolcralo any form of shellfish, and some to whom even eggs are poison. The masses at large have long eaten food containing preservatives iiml continue to digest; the public health was nover belter on the average. What we need is facts. I have marie innny more experiments, and what I am now in search of is proof that boric acid can act harmfully rather tlism that it is harmless. The proper attitude to adopt is that <* entire suspension of judgment until a full seieniilir; inquiry has been made. The economic issues :it stake are- so great that I his must be undertaken and without delay/ 05, Fleet street. '