DIET

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 1 April 1927, Page 7

DIET

PROCESS OF DIGESTION. VALUE OF GLAND ANALYSIS. ROYAL INSTITUTE LECTURE. I lut' annual curistmus lectures loi me umiuien or a’Cuohs oi rue jxoyai iiisLimnon arc eageriy at/tenueU oy as many auuits as can wangle a tic net, says trie Loiuion correspondent or a -v.z,. metiopot-ttan journal. i’or it is isj listening to tae aUuiesse* or unit lainous institution wincli lias none so luudi lor tne popularisation of science, Unit tne old rogey can Keep pace to some extent witn t-lie younger, generation, lo wnom tne marvels of modern science are being explained m words 01 one syllable, i'liss year's scries devoted to physiology was long overdue, for not since the war, at least, has this subject • been touched. moreover Heart; frankly set now on stripping medical science ol its secrets, ana more and more boldly setting before- us the ideal ol the prevention ol disease by ioreltuowledge. As a student 1 learned physiology loom text books and text books alone, and it was, Lo me, one.of the most startling evidences 01 how far we have travelled since - then to see the ltoyal Restitution lecturer show, by use ot the film and X-rays, the actual course of food throughout lhe digestive track. Gone are the-days wnen doctors groped in the dark as Lo what exac-Lly was happening inside our fleshy casing. The eye can actually see the food in the stomach being acted upon by the gastric juices, and can have ocular evidence tliat certain foods digest more easily than others.

As part of the campaign for popularising the main facts of physiology, we welcome Professor V. ±l. Mottram’s (Nisbet and Co., Ltd), for this scientest who is Professor of physiology in London University, has a very clear style by means of which lie can make clear the most complicated scientific facts.

it is well illustrated and shows indeed a' shadow picture of the stomach during digestion of a meal when it has been rendered opoque to X-rays by the administration of bismuth. Professor Mottram is no extremist, as his summary of the essentials in diet show clearly, for his enumeration is:— (1) That proteins are essential in any diet; (‘2) that an exclusive dietary of one single protein may be dangerous to health; (3) that vegetarianism is physiologically unsound, and (4) tliat. logically, lor the utmost economy in digestion one should be a cannibal. The latter, however, in addition to the displeasure of the law it would invoke. ha s the disadvantage that human flesh tastes unpleasantly salt. ■ Since tne vegetarian cult is still fairly strong, it is perhaps well to quote his dictum on this question"‘The grand mistake of vegetarians is that they assume that because peas and beans contain protein they are as valuable us meat in human dietary This is not true as regards growth and building material. Animal proteins are more, like human proteins than are vegetable proteins, and so far a seasonable dietary our protein intake should contain at" least enough animal protein to balance the loss of protein to the body due to wear and tear. There can be no doubt of the superior value of meat, fish, eggs and milk proteins in growth and repair of tissues over those oi wheat, beans, and maize, and so a safe rule is that approximately one-third of the proteins snouid lie of animal origin. This means aboutl 1-14 to 1 1-6 ounces a day, which will be found in 4j ounces of cheese, 54oss kippers, oloz lean beef, 7oz lamb. V'ioz fresh herrings, 7foz mutton and lean ham, Boz pork. i,4foz eggs, IGoz cod and 1.65 pints of milk, it will be seen that most people of the upper and middle classes "ill not suffer from lack of animal protein. The remainder of the 3ioz protein may be made up from vegetable source.’ In fact Rroferror Mottram endorses the late Sir William Rayliss’s maxim, “lane care of the calories, and the pioteins w ill take care oi themselves. ’ T he question of vitamins is, of course dealt with, and white the explanation is quite clear .and explanatory of the \ Ramins A, !), and U and their allies, there is no over-stressing of the need for vitamins. Professor Mottram coneuldes that “our food contains many potentialities tor good and evil, it is a rash proceeding to restrict the nature of food unless we have a fairly wide and deep knowledge, oi the results oi resource into the effects of the dittereut foodstulis of the body. For tiie average person a mixed diet is essential, and it should be based on milk and its products, eggs, meat, lresh fruit and vegetables, and bread. With such a diet it is unlikeiy tliat. any physiological needs of the body should be overlooked. •‘AI around us we see restriction ol dietary practised—among the poor because variety costs money, among tlie middle classes because of servant difficulties. Less and less do we know what has happened to our foods before we get them. Probably our milk lias been pasteurised: the flour from wnich our oread is made, chemically oleaclicd; our lncaL treated with' sulpmtcs or nitre. Mow much harm may have been none to them we as yet can only guess. The best we can uo is to see that individually we get as varied a diet oi fiesn loods as we can afford. So onl.v will the physiological piocesse.s of the roily be enabled to continue at their best.’’

une turns with special interest to the cnapter <>n inteinal secretion, lor the importance ol those endocrine organs or glands i» becoming increasingly known. Thus the autnor describes tue islets ol Langerhams in the pancreas which create insulin, tnc pituitary gland at the base 01 the main which is a favourable seat lor the giowth ol tumours, and the thyroid. Or the last-named rite author says the function is now becoming clear, and lie adds that: “The value of research on the thytoid to medicine lias been great. We now know that cretins ii caught young can, by means of feeding with thyroid glands, be made normal anti useful members oi society, and that adults, wnose thyroids are not functioning enough, can be restored to normality by a similar treatment. But the treatment unfortunately, must not be interrupted. There are many members of society who, but for their daily' dose of thyroid, would degenerate into stuterns. If is generally believed that a trace of iodine in our foodstuffs will prevent thyroids troubles, and the use. of iodised salt is compulsoryjin, Bavaria, where disturbances of the thyroid are common. Confirmatory evidence lias accrued from from Switzerland and the United States. lodised salt is now easily procurable in this country, and should be used for all normal purposes. “Of the parathyroids we can say that their function is to regulate the calcium metabolism of the body. Without an exact regulation of the calcium in the body, blood does not clot, muscles behave abnormally, and nerve conduction is upset. It is a pretty theory

that .since our invertebrate ancestors were marine animals, and learnt to bring about the chemical play and in-ter-play of material that we name metabolism in a medium which contained iodine, calcium, potassium and sodium in definite proportions, we have to carry about with tis glands whose function is, as it were, to delude our protoplasm into -the belief that it is still in the .sea. Certain it is that iodine is invaluable to us, as the facts given above show, and certain it is that the relation of calcium, sodium and potasium in our blood is as that in the sea.” When we add that Professor Mottram lias also written for this series a book on “Food and the Family,” written in the clearest of language, we make it plain that his contribution to the campaign to enlighten the general public on medical subjects is important.