HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXII, Issue 254, 25 September 1942, Page 2

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

YOUR SYSTEM NEEDS IRON (By (lie Health Department.)

Are you getting enough iron into your system, or are you drilling towards a possible condition of anaemia, a complaint which alfcets far too Lug a proportion of our womenfolk at present? Anaemia is largely a nutritional disorder which can be prevented by eating the proper foods. Iron is essenbaJ to tin, maintenance of a healthy and vigorous bloodstream, and a certain amount in required by the body each day. '1 he red colls which give the blood iu colour arc manufactured in (be bone msj row. and there are certain materials that are specifically needed for blood cell formation. One of these is iron. Of our daily foods the steadiest source of iiom aro tho unrefined cereal foods, such as natural oatmeal and wholemeal bread. Green vegetables, particularly the thinleaved variety, and the yolks of eggs are rich in iron. Meat is a good somefc and here there arc distinct ions. Muscle meat is good, but liver and kidney metit are excellent. Liver contains iron in large quantities, -and it also contains what is known as tho anti-pernicious-anaemia factor. Of the rest of our ordinary foodstuffs, potatoes, oranges, apples and cocoa contribute their share, bur tbs amounts are very small. Though liver is tiie finest source, tho average- person would get tired of having it every day. apart from the fact that supplies are limited. Cereals, ■ however, can "be taken every day, atul in most famfy diet* usually are. Therefore wholemeal bread and oatmeal rank first aa the most valuable and the most acceptable sources of our natural supply of iron, ami the greater use of these two commodities in our daily food ration would be of untold benefit,