HEALTH NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20870, 9 November 1929, Page 24

HEALTH NOTES.

Written tor the Otago Daily Times. By R. J. Terey, A number of ray correspondents and readers are puzzled in regard to food acids, especially the acids of fruits. This is not to be wondered at when so many people with just a little knowledge write and speak incorrectly on this subject. It is quite common for those who have paid a little attention to dieting to inform their friends that the acids of fruits are converted into alkalies. According to them, one may eat any number of lemons and not suffer from acidity, or cat any quantity of fruit and not suffer any illeffects. Others again will say that the saliva counteracts the acid of fruits, even that of lemons. This is nearer the truth, for, if a formal healthy person sucked a lemon slowly the saliva would counteract the effect of the lemon. The saliva, however, does not secrete its alkali from outside the body, but from the blood. It is only reasonable that if large quantities of acid food and very little alkali or alkali-forming food were being taken the time would come when the blood would have an excess of acid and a lack of alkali. Such being the case the saliva could not be charged with alkali as in the case of a healthy person who thinks of a lemon or other acid fruits. Let us just pause a moment to consider how wonderful is the action of the saliva. One thinks of a lemon and the mouth starts to water, or, in other words, the flow of saliva is increased. Most people know that, but there is a still more wonderful .action than that. By analysis it has been found that the saliva before the thought of the lemon and the saliva a minute after the thought of the lemon differ in composition. It is to be remembered that the normal healthy person only is being discussed. \Vhen a healthy person is not thinking of foods the saliva acts as an antiseptic, keeping the mouth sweet. Thus a child ee 10 or , £our years of age might sleep * or ji? ®°? rs t ' an 4 healthy, its mouth and breath is clean and sweet when it waken b, yet if you were to closely inspect the mouth you might find minute pieces of meat, vegetable, cake, or Die and possibly traces of lollies. If you were to place these specks of food, etc., at'thnt'of f? 2 a . n . t ?, ke . c P the temperature at that of the child, mst at 100 degrees, with the inside of the box slightly moist, when you were to open the box at the end of 12 hours, it would be decidedly unpleasant; but not more so than the mouth would be if it were not £o - tlle , Ba Lva, and when the he°aUhv 1S U r£ e tv ant the . Per » unneaitny. In this case it is aenerallv thought that the stomach is out of order 18 P artl y correct. The smell does not come from the tke stomach has been poisonan ? not giving to the blood those constituents wanted by healthv T , There£ore the stomach is to or I™?: r | al ?j nß , on ™hy wholesome aoicf to thl H n d / ?l i doea contribute acid to the blood is because it is oxidised as a food substance. The chief food acids are citric acid, found in citrous fruits such as oranges, lemons, grape fruit, and limes, and in lesser quantities in certain fl rait berries malic acid, found in apples and other 1 fruits related to the apple; tartaric acid, in abundance in grapes; lactic acid, found in certain original or natural foods, but commonly taken in sour milk or butter. Another source of lactic acid, though not used in this country to any extent, is sauer kraut, which is fermented cabbage. These acids are known as organic acids ns they do not contain mineral elements! but are composed of organic elements — hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon. Strange as it seem to the average reader, these elements are the same as those which compose the fats and sugars of foods and which are oxidised or burned to supply heat and energy, just as the fruit acids do in a less degree when they are oxidised or burned. I am sorry to have to contradict the prevailing idea, but fruit acids do not correct acidity of the blood. Neither is the fruit acid turned into an alkali by some mysterious power as some claim. What really happens is that, as most acid fruits have a good supply of alkalies, after the fruit acid has been burned or oxidised the alkalies remain. Apart from these acids which might be termed wholesome acids, other acids are found in foods. One of these is oxalic acid, which is found rather abundantly in rhubarb. Rhubarb is closely allied to the dock plant, which contains even more acid. Fortunately there is more oxalic acid in the leaves of the rhubarb than in the stems. Oxalic acid is poisonous. Amongst other of its uses is the cleaning of brass, because it eats away a thin film of the metal, and therefore leaves a new surface. When oxalic acid is manufactured in our bodies, in the process of digestion, it is killed or rendered neutral by an alkali, especially lime, and if the blood does not contain sufficient to kill this and other acids then the bones and the teeth suffer. Linie tends fo kill or render neutral this acid. In many cases, owing to the eating of wrong foods over an extended period, there is such an accumulation of dead acid and dead lime that the veins and arteries are affected, with resulting high blood pressure, or the blood endeavours to deposit the waste matter in any little crevice, or in the joints, and so there is developed rheumatism or arthritis. The processes of digestion consist of exposing the foods to ferments and alkalies and acids. The saliva in its normal condition is slightly alkaline, the gastric juices are quite strongly acid, and the intestinal juices are strongly alkaline, or should be. Unfortunately, in a very large percentage of civfljeed humans, the intestinal juices are acid; hence disease. The blood of a normal healthy person is slightly alkaline. If the blood begins to lose alkalinity there is a condition known as acidosis, which is a very serious business if it continues. The general health of the body, its resistance to disease, is greatly affected by this matter of the relative proportion of acid and alkaline elements. “ Southland ” writes me a very interesting letter. In about five months he hopes to be a father, and he recognises that, in the future, life will be very strenuous, and be wishes to give his prospective child a good start in life. His wife, although in apparent good health, comes from a family in which consumption is prevalent. He would be very grateful for advice. It is as follows: —“You need not trouble because members of your wife’s family died of consumption. If your wife does not suffer from the trouble and you will see that she diets herself, she never will. Further, every child is born free of consumption, but if it comes from a family of consumptives it is predisposed to the disease. Mineral salts which are contained in food in a form which is easily assimilated practically render one immune from consumption, provided the system contains sufficient amount of it. As you are living in the country it should be an easy matter for you to obtain milk from a cow which is not in calf. If you cannot do this, procure milk from a cow which is not advanced in calf. Now, this is very important. as I want the mineral salts in the milk, and a cow cannot feed or grow her own calf, make good the waste of her own tissues, and give you an abundance of frame-forming material from her milk at the same time. With the milk that your wife drinks, add lime water. As you are not near a town you may make it yourself. You cannot go wrong, as water will not take up more than a certain quantity of lime. So just stir some freshly-burned lime in water, and when it_ is settled and clear, pour it off and mix it_ with the milk. In addition, let her drink bran water —that is, water in which bran has been soaked for six houia. If she does this, and also eats a fair amount of fresh vegetables, which have been boiled, steamed, or baked, and, if they have been boiled, drinks the water in which they have been boiled, there is a possibility of a Jack Dempsey.”