FOOD AND BRAINS

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 March 1926, Page 5

FOOD AND BRAINS

A DOCTOR’S WARNING. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.! LONDON, Alarch-3. Doctor Fenwick, of Harley Street, entered an original plea on behalf of the school dunce at the conference of the Institute of Hygiene'. He said that inability to learn was not always the fault of the head. It might be due to the body as the result of malnutrition, or to an idiosyncrasy whereby poison was absorbed into the general circulation, thus exerting a specific influence on the brain, and causing drowsiness. Nearly 18 per cent, of the middleage indigestion, he said, had its origin in school life. , For instance, the statutory cold tub might induce a digestive disturbance, and it should be limited to those for whom it was suited. Somnolence and yawning was particularly apt to occur on the days when the scholars were given pea soup, custard or suit pudding. Hiccoughing and stomach cough were often due to hasty eating. Alany children, said Dr. Fenwick, had food idiosyncrasies as tjie result of the monotonous repetition of nursery fare.