HEALTH COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2663, 29 March 1905, Page 68

HEALTH COLUMN.

TRIFLES THAT TELL ON HEALTH.

A SEASONABLE ARTICLE FOR THE

ROBUST AND STRONG AS WELL

AS THE WEAKLY.

By Dr J. Robebtson Wallace, M.8., CM.

(Edinburgh Univeisity). — I. — Change of Diet. —

Now that we are approaching the season of fche sere, the yellow leaf, when a great change is about to come over the face cf Nature, we must bestow special attention en the wellbeing of our bodies, which participate to some small extent in those modifications of vitality that affect all highly organised beings at this period of "the mellowing year."

The diet that was suitable and sufficient for the long, fairly wJ.rm days and nighfs of the bummer is by no means well adapted tj the needs of the bodily economy when warm days are ushered in by damp and chilly mornings and end in cold and misty nights. At all costs the bodily heating apparatus must keep the human frame warm during the s+ill watches of the night, and this it cannot do without a good and sufficient supply of fuel in the shape of food. During an average summer there is little call on the bodily heating department to keep the fire of life burning its brightest during the "wee sma' tours," but with tho nipping and eager air of the early autumn frosts, which strike with their icy breath when least expected, there is a cry in the night for more fuel that the bodily temperature may be kept up to its normal 96\6deg Fahr.

If the warming apparatus of the body does not find sufficient fuel (a term I shall use throughout this article as equivalent to food) ready to hand, it will proceed to burn up the tissues (and particularly thoso rich in fat) of the body itself. In this way the balance of nutrition is upset, and the way paved for disorganisation of the normal functions of the body ; in other words, the- door is opened to disease. Thus we liavo one of the many other causes that come to operate injuriously on the system in what the Americans graphically term the- "fall."

I do not think it is one of those things generally known to the laity that errors in living, and more particularly errors in diet, are among the most prolific causes of disease.

— ll. — Errors in Eating and! Drinking. —

It is the trifling, but oft-repeated, errors in eating and drinking, as well as in other spheres of human activity, that ultimately tell on the health of the majority. The analogy of the drops of water wearing away the stone holds good when applied to the case of trifles that tell on health. Some of us may eat a little too much or drink a great deal too much everyday, and the immediate consequences may be in the- one case only what is called a "biliou3 attack," and' in tho other "a, bit of a headache." These results are to be regarded as Nature's danger signals, by which she signifies that we have poisoned tho springs of life. From the frequency of these symptoms it may be judged that there is a considerable number of poisoners about, but, since tihcy only endanger their own lives, they will not do us rrmcli harm.

They require- rather to be piotccted from themselves The blood of tho^e who overeat and over-drink is loaded with an excess of waste matter and superfluous nourishment, since tha organs concerned in getting rid of what I must term the physiological storm-water — ths gutters, drains, and sewers of the body — are not equal to <1:q sudden demands made upon them. And uhere human waste matters accumulate and contaminate the blood there is. danger. Where this debris is, there are the microbes gathered together.

On the other hand, if too little bo eaton, the healt'i ia liable to suffer in a similar way. And here I revert to the subject of change of diet in the autumn. The light and airy menus suitable ior the maintenance ofW:be body and th> production of heat and muscular energy, which is the great object of all food, in the ■summer mibt be reinforced by more solid fare if w© would preserve ourselves from going the way of tho last rose of summer and other less ornamental membeis of the vegetable kingdom.

I have pointed out above how an insufficient diet at this, time of year may be a source of disease and how necessary it is to add to the. dietary or increase those constituents which experience and experimen* have shown to be pre-eminent producers of heat.

That the reader may be enabled fully to grasp this question of chefc, let me first of all point out what food is. As we know to our cost, "Things are seldom what they seem, skimmed milk masquerades as cream," as Gilbert sings. But, leaving aside apt adulteration's artful aid, we may define food as something which eithei (1) builds up or repairs tissues, or (2) supplies material for the production of heat; or mu«cular work. Articles of diet which cannot fulfil either of these functions may have important effects on the body, but cannot be corsidercd foods in the real sense of the word.

—lll.— How Bodily Waste is Made Up.—

In this category are coffee, tea, and meat extracts. The body is built up and repaired by what are called proteids (that is, foods containing nitrogen), water, and mineral matters, like soda and potash, phosphorus, chlorine, sulphur, iron, etc. Fats, carbohydrates (sugar and starch), and albuminoids (gelatine) cannot form tissue. "Without these articles in our food, or any one of them, repair of the waste of the bodily framework that is always going on, and even life itself, would be impossible.

All the constituents of food of organic origin act as sources of heat. They are able to do this because they can be oxidised — that is, burned vp — in the organs and tissues. Proteids, carbohydrates, and albuminoids are all on a level as hcat-pro-dveers, but are not nearly so valuable for thic purpose as fats. These require the greatest amount of oxidation, and are the most potent fuel-food. On this account we find that fats form the staple diet of the inhabitants of cold climates, as, for example, the Esqiiimaux, whose fondness for seals' blubber is woll known, and who are said to regard tallow candles as an admirable addition to the daily menu. Fat, then, being the chief heat producer, it is desirable to add to its amount as the weather becomes colder, and so preventing tho body being reduced to living on its capital, so to speak.

And here the power of the purse must be coi sidered, especially by the man with a" small income and a large family. For fats are comparatively dear — tho fat of meat, cream, butter, and so forth, is only to be bought "at a price." He must seek his heat-piodueers in other material if he is to make his small wage keep the pot boiling equally all round. We find in practice that instinct guides him to the carbohydrates', th© sugar and starch of daily consumption, for these are cheap, and produce a small amount of heat. Amongst the poorer classes this tendency to resort to foods rich in sugar and stareh — such as potatoes, bread, milk puddings, and so forth — is responsible for a good deal of disease in children, because it throws a strain on their assimilating functions, and brings out any latent tendency to diabetes.

But if butter is dear, there is margarine ; and half a pound' of margarine is better than no butter. The only scientific objection to margarine is that it is not perhaps quite so digestible as butter, but as made nowadays it is perfectly wholesome and a great boon to the poor, and much to be preferred to quantities of sugar and starch.

Here is a "wrinkle" for those whose purses do not run to large butchers' bills, and v/ho would nevertheless have their families well-fed and: healthy : Th© less meat enters into the composition of the daily nK-als, tho more should the sugar and starch-containing foods be increased, for ihey make a little- proteid (meat) go a longer way in repairing tissues than do fats.

One of the special perils due to dietetic errors at this period of the year is an attack of (Tioleranostras, or English cholera This may arise from partaking of over-ripe fruit (particularly plums), foul water, and decomposing meat or milk — all of these articles of diet should be carefully examined before used for food. If more care were taken in this respect we should have fewer fatal cases to record every year. The number of deaths from eholeiaio diarrhoea among babies, especially among bottle-fed babi-es, in an average autumn is perfectly appalling.

— IV.— Hand-fed Children.— This mortality results from contamination of tho milk by dirty bottles, indiarubber tubes that cannot bo properly clcar,sed, flies, and road sweepings blown through the open windows in towns. The only mtans of preventing this disastrous mortality amongst hand-fed babies is by the exercise of the most scrupulous cleanliness with regard to the bottles, and by seeing that the milk is delivered and kept covered in a close-1 receptacle and stored in a cool place. Now that municipalities, as at Battersea, hav3 taken in hand thi milk supply for babes, things may improve cousidcrablv in the near future-.

Hardly less important than food to tie wcllbeing of th© body is fresh air .and sunlight, and 1 these are commodities which, in a great town, at all events, are rather scarce, or, at anyrare, are not always available for use. As autumn wanes the sum total of one's Out-of-door exercise grow* sir. all by degrees and beautifully les3. We are not all athletes, and' those of us who are inclined to be sedentary in our habits and inclinations do not find sufficient temptation to go out of doors in leaden and lugubrious skies or rain-swept stieets. W> stop ind-jors, where the invigorating sunlight, such as it is, can only reach us with difficulty, where our muscular systems become relaxed for want of exercise, our cir citations languid for want of stimulating, and our lungs wearied with tho ineffectual breathing of stagnant, poiaone<d, and thoroughly devitalised air. I wish it were more generally appreciated that stagnant ah-, such as all air confined within four walls must be, is only a mild form of &low poison. It is no more fit io breathe than is stagnant water to drink.

— V. — Breathe in Fresh Air. —

Wo are very particular about tho water we drink, and in some houses you will find $, filter — of a sort — in every room ; but as to the air we breathe — an infinitely more vital 10 otter — we do not appear to take much heed, so long as -\\e gel the precious afsortment of strange gases, ammonia, ■volatile poisons, and fine debris of humanity in general that we call air into our longsuffering lungs. For proof that those mo&t in want of

fresh air not only do not value it, but seek to escape its benign influence on every possible occasion, you have only to keep yovir eye on tho city clerk. He looks older than his years (for a man is just ag old as his tissues) ; possibly — nay, probably — ho wears glasses. ; he 13 pale and pasty of aspect, and he fondles a. furtive cigarette which ho is itching to light. He looks air-starved, this young man. There is a slight leakage of gas in the office and a suggestion of sewer-gas in the atmosphere. You imagine he will be thankful to escapee in the open when tho luncheon time comes round ; but, no, ho spends his lunch hour in the smoking room of a popular tea and coffee restaurant, or bunshop.

To the anremio, the consumptive, and the delicate in general I would say: shun the underground luncheon room as you would l'm v plague, and lunch, as you ought to live, in the light of day. Ere autumn merges into winter get every cubic inch of available fresh an- into the lungs.