HEALTH A DUTY

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 123, 26 May 1928, Page 9

HEALTH A DUTY

HOW TO BE WELL AM INDIVIDUAL MATTER DOCTOR POINTS THE WAY (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 24th March. Sir George Newman (Chief Medical Officer of Health) delivered an important lecture on "The Fundamentals of .Health'" boforo the- British Medical Association. Disease lie described as but''a disturbance of the harmony of the body. It was "dis-case," or "disharmony.". '' "In "a. civilised State," Sir George Newman submitted, "it.is tho nature and nurture of the individual and the communal organisation ,oi! opportunity which are tho foundations of national health. Tho organisation of health, which is the organisation of life, is tho primary, though not the supremo, business of Government, of statecraft, whe- , ther contral or local." j' Comparing the conditions prevailing in England in 1832,' when the British Medical Association was founded, with those of to-day, Sir Gcorgo said that a century ago tho majority of Englishmen dwelt in mean streets. Since then there had been air amazing transformation in.the health of. the people, for whom life was wider, better, and longer, and death more remote. "Though 4he population has more than doubled, the general'death rate for England and Wales has been halved sineo 1838; tho child mortality under five for London is now about one-third of what it was; the cumber of deaths under DO years of age is now 38 per cent., as compared with1 71 per cent, in 1838; and the expectation of life at birth has been extended by as much as twelve years for boys and fourteen years for girls.'" , '•■ WHAT IS DISEASE? People must give up tho idea that health was comprised in sewerage, disinfection, the suppression of nuisances, the burial of "dead, notification and registration of disease, fever hospitals, and endless restrictive bylaws and regulations. Health sprang from the domestic, social, and1 personal life of the people. There was not yet found the full answer to the question, "What'is disease?" But people knew t!iat disease j was duo' always to definite causes; that it was not an external entity or agent —a sort'of b'aok dragon outside our-'j selves which wo had to slay or extor- I minate. It was something within the living .organism. Disease was the reaction of the human body to irregularities or agencies in its environment, to which it had no,t become habituated, and which, if prolonged, might lead to an actuali alteration or degeneration in i (ho tissues'of which the body was constructedT It • was the disturbance of the harmony of the body which lyas "dis-ease." It had been described by Mdtchnikoff as "disharmony." - The fundamental problem of health was the wise and scientific nurture of the body—the healthy body itself fos- j tared defensive properties and resistant potentialities. The elements of.-iuitri : tion for the body were food, fresh air and sunlight, exerciso, warmth, cleanliness, and rest. Ignorance of a sensible dietary was the cause of much preventable disease, ihirt people suffered from eating much rather than little. Man's diet should be mixed and varied; should be sound in quality and sufficient in quantity; should be consumed at regular intervals; and should be appetising and digestible. ■ It should contain some proteins such as occur in moat, fish, milk, bread, cheese, • eggs, peas, beans, lentils; some fats, as in cream, butter, suet, lard, dripping, olivo oil; some carbohydrate, as in sugar, bread, potatoes, rice, and starchy foods. The body also required mineral salts contained in milk, cheese, eggs, green vegetables, and fruit, the last two furnishing a • considerable bulk of iibrous material valuable in stimulating alimentary movement.'. Also there were certain substances essential for growth' and nutrition as vitamins present in extremely minute quantity in various foods. BACON, BEER, AND PICKLES. "But morely to deviso ideal dietaries is not enough," added Sir George. "If a chemically ideal and model food bo prepared in tho laboratory with the proper amounts of each essential con- ' stitueut, and then.it bo sterilised, dried, or otherwise 'preserved,' it will bo deprived of i some or all of its vital and natural principles. "Kxed" foods becomo auxiliary only, for they are deprived in somo measure of their vital elements.of appetite, of taste and disposition, and of variety of composition. When we turn to the dietetic conditions of the great mass of the workers we find a tale of ham and beef, or beer and bread, of tea and pickles, of tinned meat and proprietary foods, or a weary round of bacon and licrring and cheese —and of an unstable digestive system and an impaired physique.." Some food rules which it is expedient to adopt were sot forth as follow: —_ Strict and persistent moderation in diet tends to longevity, and excess tends to early ■ mortality. Naturo has provided that food should bo masticated, should reach tho stomach slowly, and not too frequently. The number of meals take? daily is a matter of individual practice and custom, but for persons over 40 years of age they aro usually too frequent. No food should be taken between ' such regular meals, as eating promiscuously gives tho body no test. A small quantity of boverago with the meal is desirable, but there should be no excoss of alcohol —alcohol is not in ordinary circumstances necessary to liealth; there should be, as, a rule, no alcohol before meals or between meals, and none for children. There should be.no active exercise immediately after a meal. '■ "ALL LIVER AND NO LEGS." Presh air was. almost as valuable to' health as food, Every school should bo an, open-air school, and every homo an open-air home. But physical exercises must -not bo overdolic, or any system allowed to bocomo a thraldom or fetish; wo should not bo specially violent in exercise on Saturday and negligent of it for the remainder of the week. Motoring had its advantages, but wo must beware of bocoming "all liver and no legs." Speaking generally, most pooplo stood in greater jiocd of rest than movement. "Our American cousins and ourselves arc getting much too restless for good lioalth, or. oven .mental capacity and balance. There ia an excess of noiso, clatter, chattering, and monningless activities which have no valuo or virtue in themselves, and for children aro di' rectly harmful." The Greek admonition, "Know tnyself and be moderate," was quoted with approval by Sir George. Two subtle dangers in these days of public oducation in hoalth wore "stunts"'and "panaceas." Nature was too varied, and tho world too wjdo for ultimato truth to lie among that road. On the other hand, perverse or ignorant unwillingness to accept tho' establishes findings of seienco was likely to do-, privo us of valuable aids in tho strugglo for lifo and tho survival of tho bost. "Germs of disease" were important, but wo must not go germ-mad. "Sanitary and medical exports have their place, but health ia every man's duty. Progress depends moro upon personal, social, and moral evolution than tho advance of sanitary science, moro iipon. wisdom than. knowledge.