HEALTH NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3277, 3 January 1917, Page 55

HEALTH NOTES.

THE POWER OF REACTION. Most of tho measures of sound personal hygiene consist in training and increasing the bodv's elasticity or capacity to react when exposed to varying- conditions. Iho more elastic in this way the several parts of our bodv become the better are we able to resist disease and all those forms of shocks, which are the prelude to disease. Almost the whole of athletic and gymnastic training consists in the educative process, and the best-trained body is that which most readily reacts and adapts itself to extremes, of' exertion both sudden and lonscontinued, to extremes of heat and cold and to mental catastrophes of every kind. Such a result rarely comes by simple process of Nature, it is, at any rate, in civilised man an artificial product of human thought, ingenuity, and persistence. Step by step the body and the mind have to be taught to react to steadily-increasing degrees of divergence from what wo may call the normal. Wise 1 raining, therefore, includes as one of its most essential features a gradual hardening. The plant or animal, even though belonging to a species normally hardy and vigorous, which has spout its entire life in the sheltered conditions of a house is at a hopeless disadvantage if suddenly exposed to the variations involved in an open-air existence. Ho it is with a child or grown person. Yet it would be rash to jump to the conclusion., as many do, that reactive power and hardiness can be acquired bv a sudden breach with long-con-tinued habit and unprepared exposure to extreme conditions. These things have to be done by steps, often by very small steps; and this is true in matters of clothing, of food, of exercise, and of mental activity, alike.

DIABETES. Several readers have asked me to write a short note on the treatment of diabetes. Whilst I must point out that diabetes is much too serious a disease to be treated except by a doctor actually watching the particular case, there are certain general rules, especially in the matter of diet, which I may here state. The disease is a variable one both in its incidents and course, and for the layman there is little in common between the acute diabetes which generally occurs in people under middle age, and the chronic diabetes of elderly people. The former is not only more rapid in its course, but infinitely more serious in its outlook. The most noticeable characteristic of both forms is the passace of considerable quantities of sugar in the urine, which itself is very much increased in quantity. The acute form of the disease generally proves fatal in less than a year, whilst people suffering from chronic diabetes may live for a large number of years and then die from some other disease. The treatment of this disorder is not very satisfactory, and lately much doubt has been thrown even on the dietetic treatment which has held the field for so long. Still, until knowledge is more definite, it will generally be wise to follow fairly closely the general results of the experience of generations of medical men. The Aim of Diet.— The aim of ihe dietaries usually recommended is the limitation or practical exclusion of starch and sugar. Now, in the ordinary diet of mankind both starch and sugar play a very large part. How great is the customary demand for sugar has but lately been brought home to us by the political exigencies of the moment. But starch plays an even larger part in our ordinary food. Bread, potatoes, (lour, pastry, rice. sago, tapioca, and oatmeal are but a few of the more common foods, the principal nourishing value of which consists m the starch which they contain. The meals of the diabetes patient obviously present a difficult, probli m for ihe nurse or housewife. Meat and fat seem nearly all that is 1< ft. Certain firms have concentrated on the making of various bread substitutes, which are practically starch free. As showing the proportions of the main available foods necessary for a person suffering from diabetes the following skeleton dietary may be helpful :

Breakfast.—Fat bacon, 2oz; eggs, 2; tea or eoll'eo, half a pint; cream, loz: blutcn or almond broad, 3oz; butter, loz. Luncheon. —Cooked meat, 3oz; green vegetables, 3oz; cheese, 2oz; gluten or almond bread, 2oz; butter, loz; water or milk (or 4oz of claret or loz of whisky mav bo taken if the patient is accusotmed in ifl

Tea. —Tea, half a pint: cream, loz; gluten or almond cake or biscuits. Saccharine may bo used if the tea i.s preferred &\veet. Dinner.—Meat soup or beef ten. half a pint; cooked meal, 3oz; green vegetables, 3oz; cheese, loz; butter, loz; gluten or almond bread, 2oz; water or milk (if accustomed to ifc, 6oz claret or loz whisky), coffee, 4oz. Fortunately, milk can be drunk almost ad lib., and a moderate amouut of fruit

may be taken in most cases. Most of the special diabetic foods, owing to the comparative smallncss of the demand, are necessarily very dear; consequently the following recipes may not be without use Almond Cakes for Diabetes. — Beat up four eggs and add lib of ground almonds. Add two tablcspoonfuls of milk and a pinch of salt (or, if preferred, sweet saccharine). Divide into cakes, and bake for three-quarters of an hour in a moderate oven.

Another useful recipe is the following: Three-quarters of a pound each of ground almonds and desiccated cocoanut, six eggs, Mix with half a teaspoonful of milk and divide into calces, bake for half an hour. Saccahrino can always be employed in place of sugar.