W.C.T.U.

Evening Star, Issue 19520, 30 March 1927, Page 11

W.C.T.U.

At the March meeting of the South Dunedin W.C.T.U. it was decided that, as the date of the April meeting would fall on the Thursday before Good Friday, it should lie omitted, and that members .should attend the CV-Crnl i W.C.T.U. held in Hanover Street Hall. , The following scientific fact was brought before the notice of members in a short address by Mrs Macartney:— “Food value of alcohol: Attempts have been made to claim a definite food value ; for intoxicating beverages. Everything I turns upon the definition of a food. In this connection the British Govcrnjnent Snscial Advisory Committee states on page 6 of their report: ‘ A food in the first place is something which we eat or drink, which is useful for the normal life of the body, and its constituent parts.’ On page 12 the committee says; ‘No one has the right to quote us as making tho statement that alcohol is a food unless he defines, ns we do, tho exact sense in which the word is used and the limits within which tho statement is true. The committee’s definitions show that alcohol can only he regarded as a food in an extraordinarily limited sense—i.e.. as furnishing energy by combustion without rebuilding tissue. On page 14 it again points out that alcohol, like ether, has a drug action, and it states: ‘We have good reason, indeed, for deeming this tho most important of the actions of alcohol ns taken by the majority of those who use it.’ As a matter of fact,” said the speaker, “ the food value contained in such drinks as ale, beer, and stout is derived from the grain and > sugar used in their manufacture. This value is so small as to bo negligible—that is to say, beer may have about 4 per cent, of nutritive material in it. A pennyworth of bread will have ranch more nourishment in it than a gallon of beer.”