HEALTH LECTURES. DIET AND DYSPEPSIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2467, 26 June 1901, Page 55

HEALTH LECTURES. DIET AND DYSPEPSIA.

Dr Marshall Macdonald, in hi? lecture oi Tuesday o\ ening under the au=pice» of the Y.W.C.A.. said his leason for lecturing on po tute a subjpft a- "Diet and Eyspep»ia" was the- increasing pre\aleneo of dyspep-ia, amo'ig'-t all fiasco-, and espeeiall> among young people of both cxc:- That wa« due to the fact that, in spitr of the increasing facilities for knowledge, people ueglected to follow out the simple dietetic niles they were taught. Simply put. the* - rules related to (1) choice of food, (2) method of preparing it, (3) method of eating it. The rules for eating wore simple and weU known They were: Eat slowly, chew food well, rest after a meal, allow » decent mtowl between meals, md take plenty of excuse. With regard' to the preparation of food, much could be learned. Meat required f. good deal of roasting, but if it were roamed beyond a certain stage it was rendered indigestible. One of the commonest mistake- of colonial people was to roast their meet to a cinder They afterwards made matte's wov*e by using hot sauces. Roast beef, m fact, should be rather underdone: a little longer time than ordinary ghen when bulling meat did not matter, however. The lecturer proceeded then to give a few general rules concerning the choice of foods. He diwoed them into four c'a-ses— -tarchy (including bread, rice, potatoes, etc.) ; meat foods which took in meat 8 , milk, eg«>. el eese. peas, lentil-., beens, etc., fats, and «ilt- and water". There were other substance* not really foods, but accessories, thiu played an important part, however. These accessories comprised a inegar, spice? , curry, tea, coffee, cocoa, and alcohol. After a brief sketc h of the physiology of digestion, Dr Macdonald gave the results of a series of experiments made for the purpose of testing the digestibility of certain foods It was proved that tea stopped the first stage of digestion. This tea was infused for two minutes and for 30. It was a popular fallacy that tea infused for a very si ort time did not interfere with digestion As a matter of fact, tannin was one of the mo=t soluble substances, and it was in.j.o-sible to get tea without tn-nnin, though it was better, of .couise, to take weak tea containing less tannin. The practical lesson to be learned from this result was that if potatoes, bread, and other starchy foods could noi be digested, tea should not be taken with meals, but after. Too much or too stiong tea taken with meat was bad for digestion. Coffee had little or no effect npo- starchy foods, and was the best drink for those making their breakfast of starchy foods. For persons of weak digestion, however, cocoa was the best, but in no ease should much fluid be taken. One of the chief causes of indigestion was the excessive use of vinegar, pickles, Fauces, anc l other condiment*. Young people who did not use these in moderation generally paid the penalty after a lapse of a few years. Acid, wines, sherry, 8-nd port interfered with digestion, and* beef tea. soups, anj broths also hindered digestion. Soup 3, etc., however, by making digestion slower, also made it more effective, and there was a good scientific reason for taking «oups at the beginning of a dinner. Summed up, it might be said that almost all accessory foods gave no assistance towards digestion ; they had rather an opposite effect. One c rcption he might mention, and that was aerated waters. There was, however, reason in taking accessory foods to hinder digestion. As man became civilised and learned to cook, a shorter time required for digestion than once. It was to prevent the fuel of food burning uj) too quickly that man instinctively had adopted such accessories. But of course there were limitations to the use of these aecesories. JBoys and girls should certainly not be allowed to take strong tea with their meals, or to use, except sparingly, sauces and vinegar: As they" grew up they should also take care not' to peroist in the habit common to youngpeople of eating freely. Growjng children should be allowed food between meals, if not too close to the regular meal During the prime of life accessories could be more freely used, but as people got btyond this stage they should lessen the use of them, and eat more digestible food ard less fat and meat. The lecturer again reverted^ to tea, and said people of weak digestion should not take it, but rather cocoa, water, and aerated water. He condemned the- practice of mothers giving babies tea as they drank their own, of young ladies indulging in the beverage several times a day. ant* of backblock individuals not ringing the c ranges by using coffee and cocoa oftener. The lecturer having briefly recapitulated the rules laid down in his address, inadt a few remarks concerning the selection of diet. He said that the countries in- the van of civilisation were those whose inhabitants were meat-eaters. English people were in proportion the greatest consumers of meat, and of English people those who had attained to eminence were high livers and meat-eaters. There were exceptions, but very rare ones, and the result of it all showed that meat had a hand in mental development. During the last 100 years tho consumptio i of tea had increased enormously in England, and tea had become a necessity in these days of high tension by reason of its' nerve-stimu-lating and brain-feeding qualities. As in digestion tea had its limitations, so also had it its limitations as a brain food. By its use much had been gained, bu f . also much had been sacrificed, while the people are making great strides in the diiection of preciseness and exactness, the inr aginative faculties were falling into aVeym cc. Advance was being made in the direction of criticism and research, but the creative faculty was being replaced by the critical faculty. It would be idle to suggest that this was the direct result of tea-drinking, but it was the result of the direction taken by the intellectual development, of the nineteenth century, and that devek i rtent was only made possible by the free use of brain foods. The English-speaking races •were at the head of this development, and their national brain food was tea.

Dr Macdonald was awarded a hearty vote of thanks, on the motion of the Chairman, who in his turn was thanked by tL» meeting for presiding.