"INFANT WELFARE."

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 134, 4 December 1930, Page 5

"INFANT WELFARE."

Reviewing the published reports of the recent Plunket . Conference, we ■would like to add our tribute TO the excellent work accomplished by the society during the past year, and to express our appreciation of the committees and individuals responsible for the results achieved. While we a«siro to detract nothing from the benefits conferred on the mothers and children of the Dominion, or of the work or objects of the society, we. feel, however, ■] that something might be said regarding what has been achieved in the commercial world for the benefit of the children, not only of this Dominion, but of almost the whole world. While in this Dominion the nurses of the Plunket Society are trained in one .method, as the only sound method, ■of feeding the unfortunate infant who is denied his birthright (breast-feed-ing), many other countries employ (and successfully) other methods, including the simple modification of cows' milk and the uso -of large quantities of Dried Milk. Thousands of tons of Dried I .Milk are exported annually from New i Zealand, mainly for use in infant feediiiig, and this under the observations and supervision of prominent infant dietitians. Large quantities of Dried Milk, from other sources are also used for the same purpose in England, and it is to the credit of the New Zealand article (Glaxo) that it can hold its own against all competitors. This is due mainly to the fact that the Glaxo Laboratory numbers among its staff some of the leading scientists of the world, particularly of those having an intimate knowledge of milk and its constituents. It is their duty to watch over the manufacture of Glaxo, and at the same time to" undertake many researches for the improvement of the product, as well as to profit by the knowledge gained by those similarly engaged in all parts of the world. All this work requires a high degree of technical skill, and it is no idle boast to say that research workers in the Glaxo Laboratories have contributed much •to our present state of knowledge of milk itself, and of the vital factors contained in it, now known as "Vitamins." Years ago it was considered that these important factors were destroyed by heating, but in our more advanced knowledge it has been established that the chief destructive agent of Vitamins is oxidisation, and, indeed, the opinion of a few years ago, that tinned meat foods, etc., were devoid of vitamins lias been, entirely exploded. Furthermore, by a method perfected in the Glaxo Laboratories, it lias been found possible to ensure that in milk powder, such as Glaxo, the Vitamin D. content can bo guaranteed regardless of whether the original milk is produced in winter or summer, or whether from cows fed on green pastures, or those which are stall fed on diets deficient in this all important Vitamin. It has been demonstrated that a deficiency of Vitamin X> in the diet undoubtedly leads to such conditions as rickets in infants, but thanks to modern science rickets to-day is not the scourge associated with the hand-fed infant of twenty years ago.. Still another development is au adjustment of the mineral content of the milk which tends to increase the red corpuscles in the blood, and so lessen the incidence of anaemia associated with infants feel on cows' milk. The following extracts from the "Report of Proceedings of the National Conference on Maternity and Child Welfare" will be of interest:— A physician to out-patients of a London children's hospital states: "In this connection one must mention the success attendant upon the use of dried milks. These are given to infants at any rate from three months of age in a strength of one part of the powder to eight of water. Such a preparation corresponds to whole cows' milk. Infants do very well on these dried milks. How is this, if the high proportion of protein present in cows' milk is harmful to them 9 It is duo to the fact that in preparation these milks, especially those prepared by a roller process, undergo an alteration in their physical state which gives rise to a tine euvd formation during digestion." "A Belfast doctor rose to support the protest against the appalling heresy with regard to dried milk. Ever since dried milk has been introduced, babies had been saved from summer diarrhoea. The way to prevent rickets was to supplement the dried milk by giving vitamins. Dried milk did not cause rickets." "In the United States a large amount of dried milk was used with excellent results, and its use was freely advised. There were practically no parts of the country whex'e percentage formulae were used in large scale infant feeding except in the most difficult cases. The infant mortality rate was steadily going clown." The new prescription Glaxo, now known in England as Sunshine Glaxo, is a dried milk manufactured by a roller, process, so modified that when reconstituted ;is directed the excess protein is reduced while the fat and carbo- | hydrate or sugnr are adjusted to the needs of the average infant. Vitamin 33 is added in the form of Ostelin (irradiated ergosterol) as an extra safeguard against rickets, and to ensure to the infant straight limbs, strong bone, and sound teeth.—(Published by arrangoment.)