FOOD PRESERVATIVES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 5 November 1925, Page 8

FOOD PRESERVATIVES.

BORON IN BUITI’ I:

SURGEON’S ENLIGHTENED STATEMENT.

It appears that from correspondence in the British daily papers that the scientific point of view with regard to the prohibition of boron in butter and other food has not by any means been freely presented. A Harley street surgeon, Dr. Fruiik Kidd, . M.Uli.j F.R.C.S., now enters the lists and gives certain information which would appear to have a serious bearing on the subject. . - 1 As a surgeon working particular i\ at the problem of keeping the urinary organs in a healthy state,” he writes in a letter to the Times: “I have learnt that only when urine can be kept- acid during the process of healing will such wounds close without trouble or danger. I have tried, therefore, in turn one by one and not in combination a number of acids, which, given by the mouth are excreted f as such in tlie urine. “I have found that the drug which most rapidly turns an alkaline into an acid urine is boric acid. Five grains of boric acid given every six hours by the mouth will render a urine acid that is, at the start of the observation, alkaline, as tlie result of bacterial putrefaction, and will enable a healthy healing process to be initiated in a wound which before was a danger to the life of the patient. There is no other acid that T have tried that, mil bring about the process in so rapid and satisfactory a manner. I have noted that boric' acid in these doses is well tolerated by the majority of patients, but that in some there i s an idiosyncrasy to the drug, which may cause loss of appetite, vomiting, and skin eruptions. Even in such patients the drug can be used beneficially by giving it for 24 hours and then'withholding it for some days. For other less sensitive patients the drug can be taken in such doses for a week at a time, and must then be withheld for two or three weeks. Exhibited in this way it can o-etierallv be used indefinitely, and I u*e it in this manner in many patients where it is desired to get rid of phosphates from the body in their most soluble form.

BORON ACTS BENEFICIALLY. “Many persons nowadays became infected as regards their kidneys with the colon group of bacteria. My impression is that these bacteria are taken into the body in a virulent form in food that has been kept too long, particularly in milk and in frozen meat. A small dose of boric acid added to kept foods would, therefore, seem to a urinary surgeon to act beneficially in two ways- In the first place it is likely to prevent the formation in the food of bacteria of excessive virulence, in the second place it will be excreted by the kidneys, and will help to increase the acidity of the urine and its antiseptic power. By these actions it is likely to prevent infections of the kidneys, whilst the bacteria absorbed from the food are fiHering through the kidneys. The question, therefore, resolves itself into one of dosage. A dose of 20 grains in the day i s large, and one that is only needed in the emergencies of surgery. Even such doses do not upset the majority of persons, and only cause a temporary upset in those who. are sensitive to the drug. It is hard to believe that the small quantities of boric acid at present added to butter, milk, and cream can do any harm to the individuals imbibing them. Milk in particular is a potent factor in causing colon bacillus infectious, being the only common food still taken uncooked. VERY VALUABLE DRUG.

“I believe, judging by clinical experiences. that if boric acid is forbidden as a food preservative we shall soon see a large increase in cases of food-poisoning and colon baeillu s infections. T cannot believe tha t the small doses of boric acid at present taken by the population with their food can do anything hut good. I believe that thereby they take a daily small close of a very valuable drug, one which tends to keep the urine acid in a state to resist bacterial infections, and which can do no harm in small doses to the alimentary canal. ‘ The subject is one of such grave practical importance to British food producers that I feel .it is time for a surgeon to express his views drawn from a prolonged observation of the use of boric acid in human beings, and to state that it appears to be, in small doses, a drug of value for health and one that does not lead to the alarming results which have been hypothecated against it.”

EXCESS OF SAT/T. Another correspondent, who is a Fellow of the Institute of Chemists, asks whether the alternative of "boron—namely, salt—would not he equally injurious. ‘‘Though, of course, in no sense a ‘poison.’ ” he writes, “excess of salt is prettv generally deprecated, by dietitians, especially for the elderly. - it having been shown that the bodily need of ohWides. is amply supplied by the mixed food that most of us live on, and that the added salt in savouries that we were brought up to as children is not really essential, but ha-ve become by habit a practical necessity as a, relish to our victuals. Tt is surely more than doubtful whether the augmentation of salt in the national diet which the reversion to it in butter would necessitate would not be more prejudicial to health than the small, tasteless and douhtfullv-harmful addition of the preservatives at present in nse. Moreover, we should certainly become a thirstier nation, which might have far-reaching and undesirable results.”

FULL INQUIRY IMPERATIVE. “It'is useless to make assertions,” writes Professor Henry E. Armstrong. Professor of Chemistry at the City and Giii.ldfj College. South Kensington. “Digestion, in its earlier stage, is known to be an acid process; in its later, the acid is all hilt, if not entirely, neutralised by a natural change The possible ‘preservatives’ are weak acids. Some few sensitive individuals may be affected bv them; I have friends who assert they are. On the other hand. T know of people who cannot tolerate any form of shell fish, and some to whom even eggs are poison. The masses at large have long eaten food containing preservatives and continue to digest ; the public health was never better, on the average. What we need is facts. [ have made many more experiments, and what T am now in search of is proof that boric acid can act harmfully, rather than that it is harmless. The proper attitude to adopt is that of entire suspension of judgment until a full scientific inquiry has been made. The economic issues at stake are so great that this must he undertaken and without delay.”