HEALTH COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2505, 26 March 1902, Page 64

HEALTH COLUMN.

| Alcohol and Nutrition. Alcohol, like sugar, starch, and fat, contains no nitrogen, and hence, like them, it cannot build tissue. Like them, it contains a large amount of ldttnt or potential I energy, which becomes active when it is burned in the body. These fuel ingredient? of the food when they aie burned — oxidised jn the body — supply it with heat and muscular power, ;md they alto protect other material, including body tissue, from being burned. The mo^t important mateiial to be piotect_d is the piotein of the body. There is no question that sugar, starch, and lat piotect the fat of the body from consumption and the protein also. It is believed by pidctit.illy all the experimenters who speak with authniity that alcohol protects body fat from consumption, but some have questioned it^ power to pioteu protein. Ju<-t here i<~ the main contention of tho-.e who oppose Ihe doctiine that alcohol has a nutiiUve value. Th y claim that, so far fiom protecting protein from consumption, it tends to increase its oxidation, and hence cannot be legaided as useful for nourishment This view is based upon a comparatively '•mall number of experiments, mostly made in (in many. Its most authoritative exponent foi M>ine time past lias been Dr Ilost'inann. of the Unneisity of (Jreif^wald, some of who^e siudmt> haVv. made expeulncnts which seemed to conoboiatc- it, and he is consequently quoted as one of the chief opponents of the nutritive value of alcohol, although lie has repeatedly ex]>!e=fced in piint his belief that it has <-uch value. The last number of Pfluger"s "Aiehiv fuer Physiologic,'' one of the piincipal physiological journals, has an aiticle by Dr Ro.-emann of about 200 pages on the influence of alcohol upon the metabolism of pi otein. He discusses the experimental inquiry upon the subject, and brings out a numb.r of new expcinm-nts e>f his own, in [ which he ha,s ptiidic-d the matter quite thoroughly. His final conclusion is that alcohol, in moderate doses, protects body protein from consumption, though in some instances it temporarily fails to do so, and it may. indeed, tend to increase tlr amount lof protein consumed. This latter appears to be the case mainly with pfr->ons who are | unaccustomed to the use of alcohol, and k.JU&k.^yitJS fefcff^ to b_uji^ a few djiy_sj^

thereafter the alcohol protects protein from consumption. This view of Rosemann's accords exactly with the conclusions which investigators have derived from later experiments. In cases of illness or disease alcohol has many uses. It does not require digestion, it is easily assimilated, it contains a large amount of energy for supply of heat and muscular power, and thus, from the standpoint of th-e physiological chemist, seems especially fitted to help the body to tide over a time of stress. But it will not do to forget that it is one of those things which may be very useful and also very harmful. The more we learn of the physiological action of alcohol the more we are impressed with the importance of careful regulation of hs use. —London Sun. What a Health Resort Becomes.—Forty years ago tuberculosis was nearly unknown in the Basque district of France, but is now rife there. This is due to the English influx. The Riviera was also free from that disease. I should- now as soon 50 to stay at a lazar-house as at Mentone. —Paris Corlcspondent of Truth. Value of Flesh Food. —Some, encouragiag experiments on food which aie reported ir the Chemical Journal are as to the value of flesh food. *They found that an exclusively flesh diet; yielded<4.B per cent, of the nitrogenous and calorific value when eaten, or, in other words, that three-fourths oj tbc available energy enclosed, let us say, in a beef steak was utilised. Another curious result in the sam series, of investigations is that a lien's egg contains on the avsrage 1.8 milligrammes of iion. This can be increased by feeding the hen on a suitable diet of haemogallol or ferrohaemol, so it is easy to see that eggs for breakfast may become a powerful tonic. A Lesson From Japan.—The £200,000 that has been just devoted in London toa hospital fd victims of tuberculosis can only go a short way. At best, it will be a palliative for a mere handful from among the sufferers. The King and Qmen would do more to stop the spread of the disease by nuking; paper Japanese pocket handkerchiefs fashionable. These pocket handkerchiefs are of soft, tough paper. One may buy a dozen /or about a penny. When a Jap uses one he burns it. and never dreams of sending it to the -wash. The Japanesp lady_ha« a roll of handkerchiefs in one pocket, and those she has used ia another, which, at the first opportunity, she empties into the fire. The Fume Cure for Cons'imptidhT —New cures for consumption are plentiful in th-. United States, but a recent one has possibly more curious features than many that have preceded it. It is claimed that consumption may be cured by the inhaling of the smoke of "a mixture of various kind, of forest leaves. The fumes are said to kill ths bacilli in the lungs. The discovery of this cure is claimed by Dr Peckenpaugh, of Mount Vernon, Indiana, who has been conducting experiments for some time. The results obtained have awakened the interest of the Indiana Board of Health, all the members of which are physicians, and they also have made indcpend.nt experiments on their patients.