WOMEN CITIZENS’ ASSOCIATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 3513, 12 July 1921, Page 21

WOMEN CITIZENS’ ASSOCIATION.

SANE, PUNGENT CRITICISM. CHILDREN IN CENTRAL OTAGO. Dr Mecredy, school medical inspector, delivered an address on the sth inet. in the Y.M.C.A. assembly room on “The Diet of School Children and the Urgent Need of Reform.” The lecture was given under the auspices of the Women’s Citizens’ Association. _ Mrs Spence Clark, president of the association, occupied the chair. The lecturer said that there was a very great need for organisation in order that their children might grow up healthier than they had grown up. He said that Ins lecture that night entirely dealt with children. Continuing, the lecturer said that what was good enough for their fathers was no longer good enough for them. Their forefathers probably followed a healthier and saner diet, but the era of food refinement which came in during the Victorian period put an end to this. His indictment of the diet of to-day was as follows: —(1) It was responsible directly or indirectly for dental caries—the almost universal disease of today ; (2) constipation—the forerunner of so many dangerous complaints—was directly due to it; (3) neurasthenia, or nerve weakness, coukl iu a great majority of cases be traced to a faulty diet; (4) gastritis, or inflammation of the stomach, was another of the shortcomings of their diet; (5) in certain cases a. definite inability to gain in weight and strength was found they called this condition malnutrition. These five conditions certainly prepared the soil of the body for tho infection of the more deadly diseases, such as pulmonary tuberculosis, pneumonia, and the acuter infectious diseases. Dental caries was generally admitted by the dental authorities and physiologists to be caused by (1) feeding soft, pappy food to children during their earlier years; (2) giving foods which were deficient in natural salts and vitamiues. Dental caries and rrialdevelopment of the jaws were the rule rather than the exception amongst the children of New Zealand. A perfect' set of teeth in a perfectly-shaped jaw would soon be as rare as the moa. Amongst a round 500 children examined during a recent. tour- of Central Otago only 3 per cent, were found to have perfect teeth, and only a few of this number had properly-shaped jaws. As regarded constipation, it was directly due to a defective diet. Neurasthenia was generally admitted to be due to prolonged absorption of toxic products from the bowl, as in constipation; or from the mouth and stomach, as in dental caries. He thought there was no doubt, moreover, that a considerable amount of irritability and nervousness which they saw in their children at times was due to the excessive use of tea. Gastritis was the first penalty for dietary indiscretions. The lecturer then dealt, with the subject of malnutrition, and summed up by quoting the conclusions which the majority of dietitic experts had reached : (1) White bread was not the staff of life, but the direct cause of disease. (2) Sugar between meals or in excessively largo quantities at meals was bad for the teeth and the stomach. (3) Leafy vegetables were necessary both because they were laxative and because they contained abundance of minerals and vilamines. (4) Milk in moderate quantities was necessary throughout life to counteract, the deficiencies of other foods. (5) Fruit, especially acid

fruit, was laxative, and if eaten at the end of meals protected the teeth from decay by its cleansing action. It also contained an abundance of minerals and a smaller amount of vitamines than vegetables. (6) Tea was not a good beverage to give to children. It was a stimulant, and growing bodies needed no artificial stimulation of this nature. (7) Refined, unbalanced foods required to be supplemented by foods rich in minerals and vitamines if health was to be maintained. Sago, tapioca, polished rice, cakes, and bread made from white flour were all examples of this type of food. (8) Meat was not by any means a necessity for the growing child. Eggs and cheese were both better foods, containing as they did a higher proportion of the vitamines and minerals. (9) If dental decay was to be avoided a return to a coarser, harder diet was imperative; oatcake, wheatrneal bread, and fruit must, all play a larger part in the diet. (10) A diet which an adult could apparently five on comfortably would often not support grow th in the young. Children were far move susceptible than adults to deficiencies in their diet. What was the condition of affairs as regarded diet to-day. His experience in New Zealand had been short, but he had made it his business in the schools to discover, as fav as possible, I how the children were fed. fn uhe country districts the diet appeared to be limited in variety far more than in Dunedin. Wheat meal bread was practically unobtainable. Green vegetables were eelSom seen. Milk was almost never taken as a beverage. It was, of course, taken with porridge and tea and in puddings. Tea was universally drunk by school children at least twice a day. Meat was frequently taken twice a day in fairly large quantities. In tome cases he had found children of six years of ago indulging in chops for breakfast.. The children seldom got cheese or eggs. Porridge was not such a favourite for breakfast as it deserved to bo. Fruit appeared to be eaten in quantity while in season, but was seldom obtainable out of season. He had recently come from a. country where fruit and vegetables were obtainable all tho year round, and the fact which liad struck him most about the diet up country hove was its appalling monotony, both for adult and child. The preparation of food was reduced to the absolute elements of cookery. He did not think that even in Ireland —and tlie wild west at that —he had ever seen people living in such a primitive . fashion as regards food or on such a defective diet. In ail his tour of the Central Otago schools he had found only four children who might be said to be physically perfect. Two of these had been brought up on the lines laid down by tho Piunket > Society. The conclusion which had been borne in on him was the low average of physique- amt health of the children as a whole. The outlook for these children would be tho same as theirs in later life. Over iO per cent would die of cancer; over 13 per cent, of heart disease; over 5 per cent, of pulmonary tuberculosis, and less than 10 per cent, would die of old age. . Other diseases would carry off the remainder*. Ho was not an alarmist in this. The New Zealand Official Year Book for 1920 gave him the figures. The lecturer concluded by stating that the department of school hygiene was conducting a campaign -prii niiu'iiy directed towards educating tho j children in the simpler facts of diet and j general hygiene. i In answer to a- large number of questions, j Dr Mecredy said that while he was in CenI tral Otago he did not suppose that he had ! had green vegetables more than half a i dozen times—lie did not mean, however, I that he had not got carrots, potatoes, or ! turnips. He complained about the monotony 1 of the diet in tho Central. Roast beef, 1 roast mutton, boiled beef, boiled mutton, ! chops for breakfast, and so on. He was absolutely staggered at. the monotony of it, being, as he had been, used to a variety of foods. Fruit was very seldom served in the hotels at anyrate. He thought that the people of Otago were lazy Jn regard to the growing of vegetables. They were « one of the most essential parts of a diet, and meat was not. One of the first things that struck a visitor from the Old Country was the extraordinary amount ot meat oatqa in New Zealand and the extraordinary quantity of tea drunk. He thought that tiireo meals a day were sufficient for a child. The child should have its last meal two hours before it went to bed, otherwise it would oe subject to nightmare, especially if the food was rich at the last meal. The less meat a child had tho better for it. About 2oz a day might be given to it between the ages of six years and ten years. Eggs and cheese were a better food than meat. As regards whole wheat bread, if the people set up a demand for in tiie bakers would supply them with it. He proposed to interview the bakers in regard to meeting the department in the supply of brown bread. White bread would kiill anyone that lived on it alone. It had been proved that any animal fed on white bread and water would die quicker than if it were starved. Brown bread alone would not- kill anybody. Jn New Zealand the people consumed in 1920 an average of 1601 b per head per annum of sugar, or about a third of a pound a day. This quantity was double the amount consumed in tho Old j Country, and half as.much again as in the j United States, which was the next highest j consumer of sugar to New Zealand. New 1 Zealand led the world in the consumption • of refined sugar, and was rapidly going to ; lead the world in the number of bad teeth in its children. Refined sugar caused deI cay of tho teeth. Parents should try to prevent their children getting the taste for lollies. Olive oil was a good substitute for butter where children could digest it. more easily than butter, but most children could digest butter easier. He did not think the eating of fruit between meals resulted in any harm. Steaming vegetables was very much better than boiling them. By boiling 50 per cent, of the mineral salts were lost. These were required to build up bone and form blood. He did not think that tile children of Central Otago had got as much colour as they ought to have, i hey would find the pale-faced children in any school in the Central, and a lot, of this was caused through the lack of iron, calcium, and phosphorus. r l hey required more vegetables and brown bread instead of white. Practically none of them drank milk. That was an absolutely astonishing thing. Uiey. drank tea instead. Tt was a hopeless eon- : dition of affairs. Whole wheatrneal made ’ an excellent porridge —ho thought- better ; than oatmeal. The value of milk was ! diminished 1 y cooking it. It should not be cooked to any great extent, and therefore it was better to simply pasteurise it. On the motion of Mrs Pels, a hearty ! yote of thanks was passed to Dr Mecredy.

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