Infant Feeding: Sugar of Milk. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2721, 9 May 1906, Page 49

Infant Feeding : Sugar of Milk. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, — In" reply to inquiries received concerning the nature, properties, and uses of sugar of milk, I shall be glad if you will publish the following information : — Sugar of milk, or lactose, forms an essential part of the food of infants. It constitutes nearly a-half of the nutrient material of human milk. No other substance can be given as a' substitute without impairing the nutrition and vitality of children, besides markedly increasing the death rate. Mainly on the ground of cheapness, cane sugar up to the present time has been generally used for infant feeding throughout the colony. ' The prioe of milk-sugar, as purchasable from chemists, varies from 2s to half a crown a pound in cities, and from 3s to 8s in country places. Milk-sugar stands in quite a peculiar relationship to the nutrition of humanity, since it is practically the only simple substance which is indispensable, and yet derivable from but a single source. Bread and meat are not indispensable for adults in the same sen&e that milk-sugar is indispen'iable for infants, because the adult humans being can fall back upon other cerea's than wheat and other animal subttanoes than meat. Lactose ought to be sold as a foodstuff at about Is a pound, and at this price mothers would soon come to use it in lieu of cane sugar almost universally. If there is one foodstuff that ought to be safeguarded from " cornering " in the interests of humanity it is sugar of milk. Artificial feeding will continue to be resorted to by a considerable- number of mothers, for many years to come, in spite of its injurious effects. Therefore, lactose mu3t be regarded as an essential food element for the rising generation, and every factor which tends to keep up prohibitive prices should be summarily dealt with. It is true that at the present time a comparatively large demand for sugar of milk has arisen in our midst owing to the fact that public attention has been repeatedly directed of late to the dietetic requirements of infants. In the course of a year the consumption in Otago has increased twenty-fold, a ton of lactose being now used where formerly a hundredweight satisfied the demands ; but this represents only a fraction of what the infants are entitled to if their mothers fail to nurture them themselves. There are probably from eight to ten thousand children in the colony at the present moment who "are being artificially reared, and if tlie supplementary amount of lactose which should be added to cow's milk were given -to them, ther« would be an annual consumption of about 100 tons in New Zealand, taking into account the considerable demand which is arising in connection with the needs of invalids. If the demand throughout the colony at present prices could be supplied, it would certainly not exceed five tons per anTrum, or one-twentieth of what should be used under existing circumstances. The first and most obvious step in the direction of getting a reduction in price would be the remission of the customs duty of 15 per cent, now ieyied on eugar-of-milk as a "druggist sundry." The 'second would be to get the public to realise that lactose is an absolutely essential foodstuff for infants. Increased demand would caU3e all groceis to stock it, as they do cane svgar — in other words, to look upon lactose as an ordinary focd. and not as a drug. The third essential would be to, induce some enterprising cheese factories to extract the sugar of milk contained in the whey, which is now being turned into streams in many parts of the country. Assuming the value of Is a lb for pure sugar of milk, a small factory could supply some £20 worth of this eub*tance per diem throughout move than half the year. In many cases fafmers do not find it worth while to cart away more than a small proportion of the whey produced, and even the quantity which they do use is almost valueless because, after incurring the expense of carting home a solution of which some 93 per cent, is water, the dry milk-sugar contained is not worth more than id as a food for pigs, compared with Is a lb for the same substance whpn regarded from the standpoint of the needs of infants. The «ugar of milk which can be extracted from a gallon of new milk is actually more valuable than the butter fat, and yet we virtually make no use of it. There is no apparent reason why the process of extracting lactose from whey ehould necessarily be any more expensive than the process of extracting ordinary sugar from the juice of cane or beet.

The following extract from a recent authoritative book, " The Nutrition of the Infant." by Dr Ralph Vincent, conveys a. clear idea as to the position which milksugar occupies in relation to child life: —

" Lactose is the only form of carbohydrate present in milk, and is therefore the only form suitable for the infant. Other forms of sugar (cane sugar, maltose, glucose, etc.) -are very largely used in place of lactose, and give rise to a great deal of intestinal disturbance. The chemical properties of milk-sugar are peculiar to itself. It plays an essential and important part in the production of lactic acid; without it the lactic acid bacilli cannot act. and th« normal processes of intestinal digestion are altogether perverted. Butyric acid fermentation may take plaoe in the case of etarch, dextrins, cane-sugar, etc. Lactosedoes not undergo this change. Cane-sugar undergoes alcoholic fermentation, but yeast has no action on milk-sugar. Cane-sugar, maltose, etc., favour putrefactive changes, with decomposition and fermentation of the intestinal contents. Lactose is incapable of these reactions, and by its cooperation with tho hygienic bacilli pos6ees€s a function directly antagonistic to putrefactive changes." — I am, etc.. F. Tbcby Kix<3. Seacliff, April 30, 1906.