MARCH OF SCIENCE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 74, 28 March 1930, Page 11

MARCH OF SCIENCE

THE CAUSE OF RICKETS FOODS FOR GOOD TEETH (From "The Post's" Representative) LONDON, 13th February. Professor E. Mellanby discovered that rickets were caused by the absence of vitamin D, which has a tremendous influence on bone production. Mrs. Mellanby has made a remarkable discovery which may prove to be a decisive factor in the conquest of diseases arising from bad teeth. In a long series of patient experiments, extending over eleven year's, she has established the following ' principles:—Good teeth depend on the presence, in sufficient quantities and at the right time, of vitamin D in the diet. By means of apparently small changes in diet, any degree of imperfection in the teeth, jaws, and related tissues can ultimately be produced at will. Perfect teeth and jaws may be deliberately produced in men, especially by suitable diets during the period of their development, and when the teeth are grown they can be made more able to resist infection a similar diet. | Mrs. Mellanby's researches on "Diet and the Teeth" fall into three sections, I the first of which, dealing with her experiments on dogs., is published by the Medical Research Council. The second section will describe her experiments on other animals—rats and rabbits—and the third is concerned with human teeth. Her work has been undertaken as a natural development of the researches of her husband. j In spite of all the publicity which .the tooth brush and dentifrices have [been given, says' Mrs. Mellanby, in j spite of mouth washes, acid fruits, and food with "so-called tooth-cleaning properties," dental disease is "so wideI spread that it is undoubtedly one of [the outstanding problems of tho day. Some people with neglected mouths have teeth freo from caries, whereas others who take great care in matters |of oral hygiene have extensive caries. The present investigations," she con- | tinues, "demonstrate that the minute I structure of the developing tooh and structure of tho developing tooth and the reaction of the developed tooth • to caries are influenced by tho chemical nature of dietetic ingredients which, (after being digested and absorbed, are carried in the blood-stream to the tissues of the body, and / thus to the [teeth." In the first section of her report, Mrs. Mellanby describes how various litters of retriever and terrier puppies were brought up in controlled conditions of environment and diet, and their teeth afterwards subjected to roiscroseopical and other tests. Whenever the diet was deficient in food containing vitamin D their teeth and jaws showed degrees of imperfection, and improvement of the diet in this respect caused corresponding improvements in the condition of the teeth and jaws. The problem was one of calcification, and variations in the amount of vitamin D permitted wide differences in the amount of calcium and phosphorous required. The basic diet, to which vitamin D was added, consisted of cooked cereals, separated milk powder, raw lean meat, a little oil or fat, orange juice, brewers' yeast, and salt. Touching on her investigations of the effect of diet on human teeth, to be fully analysed in section 111, not yet published, Mrs. Mellanby says: "Children in an institution were divided into groups, and were fed on diets which, while-similar in respect of most ingredients, differed as regards those properties which had been found in animal experiments to play an important part in the calcification of tho teeth and jaws. Great differences in the rate of development and spread of caries resulted." Vitamin D ranks first in importance in calcifying processes. But the foods containing it are few in number, and, in general, expensive. "Egg yolk and iish fats, including cod-liver oil, arc its richest known sources, but it is also associated with milk, butter, cheese, and animal fats (other than lard and bacon, which contain a variable but usually comparatively small quantity). "If the experiments described have any significance for the human subject it would seem likely that the ordinary diet, especially of the poorer classes, in this country will tend to produce imperfect teeth, since vitamin D is either absent from or deficient in such articles of diet as bread, rice, oatmeal, barley, sugar, fruits, jam, most vegetables, lean meat of various descriptions, white fish, etc., which form tho bulk of the food eaten."