THE VALUE OF MILK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20537, 11 April 1930, Page 5

THE VALUE OF MILK.

During (ho last few years ■world wide attention lias boon given to nutritional problems in relation to stock production, .such as tlio mineral content of pastures investigation now proceeding in many Empire countries and centred in the Rowctt Research Institute m Scotland. Such stock investigations are. comparatively simple to carry out, because a group of animals can be easily controlled; treatments can be simply varied and, if necessary, post-mortem examinations can be made. Othei fundamental researches include the all-important work on vitamins. those indefinable accessory factors essential to normal life, both animal and human.

The results of the work on stock have indicated broadly the necessity of a completely balanced ration of flesh-forming and health-producing materials, mainly organic; of frame-building materials, mainly inorganic, and of certain accessory factors in the form of vitamins which arc essential for normal lite and growth. These investigations, which could not have been carried out on numnn beings, have afforded invaluable data for the alleviation of disease and for application to the general problems of improved health in humans.

During certain investigations on the effect of small additions of milk to the ration of pigs and poultry remarkably increased growth and. yields wore * obtained. This gave the Rowett Institute authorities the idea of carrying out a series of tests on the effect of a small daily ration of milk ou the general health, growth and mentality of school children. Largo scale tests organiser) over a period of three years in Scotland and Northern Ireland showed that the addi tion of milk to the diet of children inthe larger towns was followed by an increased rale of growth and general physical improvement.