NEW ZEALAND FOOD

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 117, 19 May 1937, Page 10

NEW ZEALAND FOOD

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —I have just had brought to my notice a letter signed "Provocateur" contained in "The Post" of May 5, on the subject of "New, Zealand Food— a Perfect Diet?"' Perhaps it is not too late to reply. Unfortunately "Provocateur" has some right on his side, so one can't really warm up to the fight to which his signature challenges one.

Vitamin Ccan certainly be obtained from home-grown foods, as the list appended proves. But.these foods' must be used freely and in the right way. Before cities and crowded areas with their rush and bustle of so-called civilisation came to New Zealand, the.early settlers did live healthy lives; but only for the following reasons:— (a). Most of ,, them had been born and brought upin other countries and adults immigrating here would not be affected by adverse conditions to the same extent as children brought up'in this country. . .

(b^ They grew their foods oh virgin soils from imported seeds. (c) Their foods were untouched by machines and were cooked sensibly; breads were wholemeal, white flour being for- the most part unobtainable. Sugars were unrefined and grains unpolished, and potatoes were cooked in their skins.' This last is the most important difference from the- point of view.of vitamin C, which is often lost when potatoes or kumeras are peeled before cooking. I am afraid that this argument of "Provocateur" will not hold -water. Our food-habits' are not the same as those of the' early settlers, wen in the last forty years they have changed for the worse. , Your correspondent ■ 'quotes the Maoris as being fine examples of people living healthy lives on the natural supply of foods in this country. I always understood, however, that they brought kumeras and pthers. of their favourite foods here with'j them. And, of course, their methods of cooking were sensible. ■'.... j

"Provocateur" also assumes that the foods grown here will provide adequate minerals. But they can contain only what the soil supplies, and if we export thousands iof tons of food annually, as well as allowing our sewage to escape into the sea instead of being put back into the land, we are living on an impoverished country, and both our plants and ourselves are suffering from mineral deficiencies. Closely bound up with this is the deficiency of vitamin D, perhaps the most serious fault in New Zealand diet. This vitamin is '^manufactured in the body by the action of the sun on the ergosterol. in the skin. But too little sunshine is available under, modern conditions, and there is a possibility that the' ergosterol also is missing. As lime and phosphorus cannot be used by our bodies without vitamin D, the danger of a lack of these is apparent. The sea .could supply our needs herer-shellfish, sea 'weeds, and oily fish, abound around the New Zealand coasts. Why. are they so little used?

Here.is a list of the foods required to provide the minimum daily allowance of vitamin C. Does "Provocateur" maintain that every New Zealand eats daily one of the following—2oz lemon or poorman orange juice; 1 small tomato; 3 apples; 3 passion fruit; J-cup raw cabbage; i-cup lettuce (freshly picked) or watercress; lib potatoes or kumeras cooked in their skins. Dandelion, clover, lucerne, many other fresh-ly-picked greens would supply the need but oranges have these great advantages:—(a) They alone are really suitable for infants; (b) they will keep for a certain time without losing all their vitamin C; (c) they are perhaps the most pleasant to eat of all fruits. —I am, etc.,

GUY B. CHAPMAN, D.D.S. (Perm.), L.D.S., R.C.S. (Edin.) Auckland, May 17.