NEW ZEALAND BUTTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3808, 8 March 1927, Page 10

NEW ZEALAND BUTTER.

VALUABLE EXPERIMENTS, EFFECT ON SCHOOLBOYS’ HEALTH, WELLINGTON, March 1. Experiments conducted by the Medical Research Council of England into the influence of the various systems of diet upon the schoolboy resulted in a striking tribute being paid to the value of New Zealand butter as a diet for the growing youth. The researches were made by Dr H. C. Corry Mann, 0.8. E., who points out than the Dominion-made butter has always maintained a very high standard, but until the results of the present researches had been secured the nutritional quality of our primary product had remained undetected. A . review of the experiments has been received by the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Industrial and -Scientific Research (Dr E. Marsden) from the British Medical Research Council. The report states that in 1921, in a colony of some 500 to 600 boys established 11 miles from London, were inaugurated, under strict medical supervision, a series of researches into the influence of various systems of diet upon the growth of typically English schoolboys, ranging from seven to 11 years of age. The results secured so far bear tribute to the good influence of New Zealand butter in the diet of growing youth.

/’.I he boys,” adds the report, “were divided into seven groups, ranging in numbers from 16 to 61 boys in each. The first group received the common diet in voguo in the village. This formed the basic group for standard and comparison purposes The diet in each of the other groups consisted in this basic diet, plus some additional item, for example, ono pint of castor sugar, in group three one three-quarters of an ounce of New Zealand butter, in group four half to three-quarters of an ounce of New Zealand butter, a-half to three-quarters of an ounce of casein in group six, and one and three-quarter ounces of vegetables margarine in group seven these particular items were selected as being those thought to have an important and, as yet unascertained, influence on diet and growth. The report goes on to state that all the disturbing factors possible were eliminated the boys being grouped together according to ges and to weight. The calorific and vitamines values of the diet were ascertained. A number of records were regularly made, and all the findings submitted to the closest statistical investigation. The boys lived in a series of villa houses, and had ample scope for outdoor activities, but it was found that the boys to whose daily diet was added the one pint of fresh milk gained on the average almost double the weight. Those to whose diet the one three-quarter ounce of New Zealand butter was added came a very close second. The milk diet per annum was 6.981 b, that on dominion-made butter 6.301 b, and that on the standard diet 3.851 b. The observations on the increase in height told the same tale The average increase in height on the diet of New Zealand butter was 2.22 in. The Doirfinion’s butter produced the second best results, results well in advance of those produced by the other diets referred to, and very closly approximated those secured from the ideal diet of fresh r.-.ilk.

In order to obtain a type of butter which would t change during the different seasons of the year it was decided to employ the best quality of grass-fed butter from New Zealand, carrying the guarantee of the Government of the Dominion. “ItH vi|amine value A,” the report stated, “was high. A comparison of the vitamine A vahie of vegetable margarine with New .find butter showed that the margarine was deficient in vitamine A, a 10 per cent, addition being required, or one gram daily in the diet, whereas the New Zealand addition was 0.1 gram daily in the diet.” Dr Corry Mann states that the results are eminently gratifying to all interested in Dominion-made butter, whose quality always has maintained a very high standard, but until the results of these researches had been secured this nutritional

quality of our produce had remained undetected. The flavour, aroma, texture, and spreading quality are of great importance, and could' only, b,e ascertained by long and painstaking research. “The part played by vitamines,” concluded the report, “is yet very imperfectly understood. Some scientits trace a connection between vitamies and certain obscure rays occurring in the sunlight. These rays impart some of their gigantic qualities to the leaves of plants, and herd cows depasturing, as they do in the Dominion throughout the whole year on grass, absorb' these qualities and pass them on in the milk. Where stall feeding on dried food products is resorted to the transmission of vitamines A does not occur. Herein lies the New Zealand dairv farmers’ advantage over many of his competitors who cannot feed their animals outdoors throughout the whole year.