THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN

Gisborne Times, Volume LIII, Issue 5666, 21 December 1920, Page 3

THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN

FRUIT AS AN ADJUNCT TO DIET. (Published under the authority of the Education Department.) It is commonly assumed that fruit is an unnecessary adjunct to the diet. On the contrary it is an important food, and it may be generally said that a child whose daily diet does not include a certain amount of fruit is not being adequately fed. The value of acid fruit in cleansing the teeth after meals and counteracting decay alone would give fruit an important place in our list of foods. But there are other ways in which fruit contributes to health. Emit is rich in’kcertain vitamines or vital elements of nutrition which are essential to health and bodily growth. Insufficiency of certain vitamines is frequently a serious fault in the diet of children, consisting as it often does almost, wholly of artificially refined foods. The fresh juice of oranges and lemons has saved battalions of troops from contracting that dread disease, scurvy. Fruit has a stimulating—one might almost say, a disinfecting—power upon the digestive tract. It helps to prevent stagnation, to promote normal activity of the digestive organs, and to maintain the lining membrane in a healthy condition., It is becoming increasingly recognised in the treatment of certain diseases of children that to restore the digestive lining of the stomach and • bowels to a healthy state it is essential to include in the diet, a good proportion of food requiring vigorous mastication and a certain amount of fresh raw food, such as fruit. In all cases of artificially fed infants, it is important to give a little orange or apple juice daily, commencing with about 10 drops any time after the first month, and increasing very gradually. At this age it should be given in the interval between meals. After a year old a little baked apple may be given at the end of a meal, and at IS months the average child, should gradually learn to nibble a little raw apple. Unless there is some reason to the contrary, a small piece of raw apple or orange should be given at the end of each meal, and this should be a general rule from two years onwards. In the case of oranges the juice only should be taken. The reason why stone fruits, such as plums, sometimes cause digestive trouble is that they are often eaten with their skins unwashed. As such fruit offers a great attraction ,to flies, it is frequently in. a very uiicledn'condition. It should: invariably be washed, and for,, young children the skin should be peeled off. The most generally useful fruit is the apple. A greater demand would result in cheaper apples, and judiciously used they would effect an enormous reduction in dental disease and an incalculable increase in health. There are scientific grounds for the old adage “An apple a day keeps the dcctoi 'away.’’