THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIV, 12 January 1921, Page 7

THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN

INFERIORITY OF WHITE ■BREAD AS COMPARED WITH 1 WHEAT MEAL ‘ \ (Published under ihe authority of the Education department). From this point of view of nutrition white Hour compares very unfavourably with wheatmeal. It is wholly deficient in. the Substances known as vitamiues which t are so essential for the proper nourishment and growth of the human body, more particularly in the case ol growing children. In the process ol manufacture white Hour has been deprived of those mineral elements necessary for the efficient development of the bones and teeth and for the maintenance of the blood at its normal composition and vital activity. in support of the above statements it is advisable to refer to the published ■writings of eminent physiologists who have devoted much time to research upon this question. The opinions ol Eminent Physiologists. Professor IS taiding, the eminent pliysiologist ot England says : ■‘Animals fed upon demineralised or refined food rapidly show distaste lor such food, become ill and die -sooner than if they received fip food aft ail n is tnereiore evident that the mineral constituents of food, altnough yielding no energy in tnemselves are as _ necessary to tne maintenance of life as the energy-yielding foodstuffs.” Dr TredencK Gowland Hophins, of the Department oi vjnemicai Physiology, University of Cambridge, who is a leading authority and experimenter in nutrition says: ' “The superior value of whole wheatmeal lies in the fact that it retains certain food substances whose presence allows our sys- ■ terns to inalce full use of the 1 tissue-building elements of the giam. These substances _ are removed from the 'tine white flour in the milling.” -Superior vauie of Wheatmeal. “An my work to date,” says 1 Professor Hopkins, “confirms my; 1 belief in the superior food value ; of whole ivheat bread I After de-j finitely proving that young ani-l mals grow with very much great- 1 er rapidity on brown flour than on white flour, 1 have been able , to improve the tissue building rate of the white flour animals by ; adding to their white flour an ; extract made from the brown flour.” ; “to make the best use of any food material, such as the proteins for instance, certain other 1 food substances and possibly a : variety of them must also be present in definite proportions."’ “it one essential food constituent which ought to make up at least 1 per cent of the total food : is present in only half its normal < amount, the body will then only be able to make use of half of 1 the other food elements even if 1 these other food elements make - up the main, bulk of the food. ' "The absolute amount of any ] mineral element employed in ! grow 1 th is very small compared 1 with the other food constituents; 1 but any deficiency in it limits, < growth as surely as a deficiency \ in the more important elements. 1 - “The substances of unknown ua- | tyre (vita-mines) may need to be J present in very, small_ amount, but ' if the necessary minimum is not available the utilization of other < constituents in tissue growth or repair is infallibly deficient. “In the process of converting I the wheat grain to fine white j flour these elements are lost or ; destroyed. It follows that no i matter how much nourishment < they might otherwise contain our - systems cannot make the best use of such nourishment, owing to the absence of those necessary to their assimilation.” Indisputable facts. Er Benjamin Moore, chief of the mo chemical department of the j .Liverpool sciioo’i of Tropical j iVieuicme, says ; I •‘Uroups ol pigeons have been , fed on nne wane bread made irom white flour while Similar ( groups oi pigeons have been , given an ordinary quantity of whole wneat bread. ‘•The white bread pigeons have all speedily developed marked symptoms of malnutrition and serious nerve derangements. Besides losing* weight they sit listless and shivering, lose power m their legs, suggesting nerve paralysis, while many develop convulsions. -i 1 “The whole wheat bread > pigeons, on the other hand, con-, tinue healthy and up to normal weight* . . 1 “in another senes of experiments pigeons which had developed grave nervous symptoms on a white bread diet recovered completely and rapidly when placed on an exclusive whole wheat bread diet.” 1 Prevalent disease due to De- j j fective Nutrition. [ ! The significance of these facts ( is apparent. If the bread in a | child s diet is exclusively white bread, that diet is almost certain to be to a certain extent deficient !in important constituents. The majority of cases it is prac--1 tically certain that the deficiencies of white bread are not completely made good by other foods. These deficiencies in nutrition are reflected in the dental' disease, th© high susceptibility to infection and other defects prevalent in children. So long as parents are satisfied to allow white bread to occupy a prominent place in the diet of children these diseases and the liability to them will almost certainly continue.