ORANGE DAILY IN DIET.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19261, 27 August 1924, Page 5

ORANGE DAILY IN DIET.

CAUSES GREATEST GAIN. How eating an orange daily caused certain children in a nutrition class to gain more in weight than any other members of the class is told in a 'report, of an '-viMr-me"* made by Miss Margaret S. Chaney, at Berkeley, California. According to this report, which appeared in a recent number of the American Journal of Diseases of Children, an experiment was made with various foods given as a mid-morning lunch to several groups of under-weight children. This experiment lasted through two test periods of eight weeks each, one during the autumn months and one during the spring. Of the groups of children compared, one group was given an orange of medium size and two Graham biscuits apiece as a midmorning lunch; another group received onehalf pint of milk and two Graham biscuits; a third group received one-half pint of bottled orangeade with two Graham biscuits; and a fourth group, which wai only experimented with during the first test period of the experiment, received one-half pint of milk, one orange of medium size, and two Graham biscuits daily. The results of thj experiment contained a surprise for the investigators, in that the group receiving the orange showed the greatest pain in weight, with the orangeade group ranking second, the milk and orange group third, and the milk gronn fourth. All the children receiving a mid-moming lunch made a greater gain than the children in the check group, who did not receive any lunch at, that time Several reasons were advanced for these results. One point considered is that the under-nourished child frequently has an indifferent annetite, and the ini llc produces a satisfying effect, making the child lose appetite for the regular noon meal. The orange, on the other hand, while it has some food value, is also tonic and appetising, and stimulates the child’s aope<!te for the next meal. It is fully admitted that milk is a verv essenial food for the child, but the children in this experiment were most of them receiving sufficient milk ot home, according to a questionnaire sent to the parent?, and it is, therefore, likely that the orange supplemented the milk in the child’s regular diet and caused more rapid gain.