TWO TYPES OF BREAD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19744, 17 September 1927, Page 11

TWO TYPES OF BREAD.

DIETARY VALUE TESTED.

RATS THRIVE ON WHOLEMEAL.

(Received September 16, 5.10 p.m.) Snn. LONDON, Sept. 15.

For the purpose of proving a contention that wholemeal bread is better than white bread, the Daily Mail invited Drs. R. P. Rowlands aud Ethel Browning to experiment on 20 rats. Half these rodents were fed on wholemeal bread and the remaining half on white bread. The diet was varied with casein, cod liver oil, dried blood, fish and meal. Dr. Browning undertook the feeding, and did not allow the food hoppers to be emptied. The rats fed on white bread always finished eating wanting more. They consumed 199 ounces in 34 days. Those fed ou wholemeal bread never finished their supplies. TStey consumed 72 ounces.

The latter at the opening of the experiment weighed 840 grammes and at the close 1316 grammes. The white bread consumers at first weighed 952 grammes, compared with 1176 grammes at the end of the test. The former were sleek and healthy. One of the rats fed on white bread died, and the remainder were listless. losing their hair and apparently dying.

A further experiment with rats fed on a deficiency diet showed that when they were sinking they refused to cat white bread, but ate wholemeal bread avidly.