Health Notes

Hutt News, Volume 17, Issue 24, 17 November 1943, Page 2

Health Notes

Bj£ H. K. & D. W. Adamson, (Osteopaths).,

As every one knows, or should know, vitamin "D" is one of the essential 4 factors for the making of strong bones and somid teeth. Calcium and phosphorus are also members of the bone making family, but whereas they constitute the main material used in the process, it is the vitamin "D" which brings about the transformation. In other words, vitamin "D" acts as the skilled tradesman in the manuiaeture of the finished product. Now, notwithstanding, the fact that there never has been a lack ol the highest g'rade bone-making material or foods (including vitamin "D") in this country, it is no exaggeration to say that we, as a community, exhibit more evidence of a lack of these food constituents than we do of any others. Our teeth art. generally admitted to be amongst the world's worst, whilst the bone formation of the average youth of to-day falls far short of what it should be, to say the least. If this is the present position, arising as it does from the eating habits of the pre-war days, when we had an abundance of the very best of the, bone making foods available, including the various fish oils, milk, cream and butter, what chance have we of maintaining this already low standard now that most of these

foods are in such short supply? Tht. answer is obvious, and, ominous, unless some special effort is made to make good the enforced deficiency. Well, there ies at least one item available which so far has escaped official restriction, and that is sunlight. Sunlight scarcely comes within the definition of a food, but it is the creator of vitamin "D," an essential food factor. Sunlight is not only responsible for the vitamin "D" content of the fopds we consume, but it also produces this vitamin in the surface tissues of our bodies, providing we expose them to the sun's rays. That the ampunt capable of being produced in thiE manner is by no means inconsiderable has been proved by investigations made by the United States Nutrition Bureau for Children, which disclosed the interesting fact that one-third of our entire vitamin "D" requirements can be produced by regular exposure of the skin of the body to sunlight. Perhaps these figures will give one a better appreciation of the value of sunlight in this connection. One day's ration of butter will provide about one-ninth of our daily requirement. A pint of milk will provide about one-fifth. Regular exposure of the surface tissues of the body to sunlight will prov;ido about ONE-THIRD of our requirements. Sunlight, therefore, is just as essential a nutrtional factor as the oxygen in the air we breathe, and, like the oxygen, it is there for the taking.