Health Anomalles

Hutt News, Volume 15, Issue 15, 10 September 1941, Page 8

Health Anomalles

;' -Y i t%t H. K. 4». Ada*r*» * i{ '? (Osteopathia 1

.. , * , "#**"' t f J * ft 1 * 1 there f t atiii , M ja communication recently 1 % youngster of 77, This 1 gerajleman, is not only' hate and 1 but he ia still in harness ' affe/ an eventful }tfe of "Bailor," 1 ; wh#*ot," to , use j owo;:i®dsjt' ; H4coE||t>sses i , MbwrfVer, ' -'3 tjJ-!t«|y Jiegejtji is at • indues in iafede HTrtking, and (dilgfaif to 'the fajrden. Although he hasralway? - well and strong, latterly Be > h&a been bothefed somewhat with catarrh and some degree of constipation, and he wants to know "if there is.anything wrong with my r ' For a man of hiß age, we re;- ' ga£d hiß diet to be BufßclGtotly out - ;the o|3itfary to Md a place in this column. frirst of all, he. greets the day at 7.30 or thereabouts with a cup of ' t<|a. For. breakfast he takes the .conventional bacon &hd egg alOhg With a small piece of brown bread or toast. At 10 a.m. he takes time off for a cup of coffee and a couple of cakes or a buttered scoiie. Luncheon consists of another cup of coffee and three cakes, three but,t&red half scones and three small sandwiches, but he e*pl&tns this , abstemiousness by adding that he" takes a decent meal when the weather is cold. At 3.30 p.m. a change is made to tea and sometimes a couple of cakes and a scone. By 6 p.m. he finds he 'is ready fof a decent meal, which consists of a chop or, its-equivalent in other meat; three vegetables, brown bread, cheese and a little jam. The end of a perfect day comes: at 9.30 p.m. along with a cup of tea and another piece of cake. Now remember, this man is 77, and he is consuming almost sufficient food to sustain a vigorous and, hard-working navvy. In 1 he is taking into his system the* equivalent to half a dozen medicinal doses of caffene dally from the tea and coffee consumed!' plus about half as much tannic' acidarfii: a very considerable ak&Uht of, oxalic acid as well. He state's 1 that he takes no fruit, and all the vegetables are cooked, nevertheless he is living and maintaining a .high degree of health and vigour, oh a diet Iwhich is definitely deficient in mineral elements and vitamins. How thep, does he'do it? How ie it that he has escaped rheumatism,' neuritis or any one of the numer-t oua' deficiency diseases for which such a diet is responsible in so many people? Can it he that the dietitians are all wrong and "Time" presents this, 77- i yep-;old youngster to prove them sot

A decade or two ago a grfcat deal of patient investigation was tindertaken by Professor of America, in order to un'raVel ' the

apparent mystery surrounding just such a case as presented by 7 7-year-old friend. Like many other, butj far less informed, people than himself, Professor McCollum was, to & certain extent, puzzled for a satis factory explanation of such cases. He was not satisiied by merely] writing off such people as "exceptions." He set out to discover why] they were exceptions, and after some years of p&tient and intensive experimental work on living animals, he arrived at the solution. Amongst other discoveries, and ini common with other investigators, hel found that one life cycle, or one life time, was far too short an experimental period to provide reliable information regarding the ill. effects produced by wrdtig living habits. It was early discovered that, so long as fully grown animals were healthy and vigorous to start With, little or no difference whatever could be discovered in their physical condition when fed on' vitamin and mineral deficient foods as. compared with other animal of the ,>ame species, but which were fed oi'.« iully adequate diets. If, howevei, the animals were in pbbr cdridiUo./ at the beginning of the experitnehts,' then those which were fed the fully adequate diets developed in & normni | manner and left the mineral and vitamin deficient groups far behind physically. The latter groups Actually deteriorated from the condition they Were in at the cbmmencemerit of the experiments. To secure unassailable evidence bf the effects of mal-nutHtlott, the experiments were continued over a sufficiently long period to Include several generations of the same animals. It might be Mentioned that although mice, rats,; gulliea pigs and rabbits are the mflst favoured animals, for theße experiments, because they mature-gjiickly; and breed again In a ||i^t i>eriod, makes it what effects, if any, ' taken Place from one genemftfii: to an Other. Other animaifsi tii Eluding t'tfe apes, have also belli these experiments, ft that Professor McCollfim that if the animals. and fully grown, little or ;i»0„„out; ward in effects in condition could be noted, eybn after prolonged periods on diet* tfeit were deficient in certain bf theittmineral elements mSiB. . But. he made the in testing »aiu«l« possessed •

J 'r <md ifrnt: the>phy»iftaJ dirt&s i# * tito becaine #o complete tliatfur- ,» f isr reproduction became imp6s- '.» sijrie. Needless to say, the succeeding gcineratioiiß of the animals ■>rnich had bees ;tfst on fully, adequate dlejs y as only antmala htiiDan £j tfetngi) can thriye when fed |rb- fe | pearly. ■ •' This, then, explains our friend of 77. He comeß of stock. ( dHldren (if any) ■« to compare unfavourably WTth film' 9elf and a further deterioration will be found in the grand-children (if any), providing, of course, that the sprite vitamin and mineral deficient dietary had been provided throughout.