HEALTH NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3861, 13 March 1928, Page 67

HEALTH NOTES.

FOOD. * ■ NEEDS OF nIE BODY. t Contributed by the Department of ’ Health. The body has often been compared to a blacksmith’s forge, the lungs being the bellows and food the coal. The comparison is a good one, for food is actually burned in the body by the aid of the air that we breathe. Most food is capable of being used as body-fuel, and by far the greater part of it is so used. Consequently, food is measured in fuel-units, called calories. Many people eat too much; that is too many calories. Some eat too little, that is, too few calories. In both cases the person is usually unaware of the fact, because he unconseiouslj' measures his food by weight or bulk instead of by its fuel value. Some foods are concentrated, containing many calories of food value in a given bulk; others are bulky, containing few calories in a given bulk. For instance, olive oil is concentrated, and most vegetables are bulky. A third of an ounce of. olive oil contains 100 calories, which is as much as is contained in a pound or more of tomatoes, lettuce, celery, cucumbers, asparagus, or water melon—but a person who has taken a third of an ounce of olive oil does not find it as ‘’filling” as a pound of water melon. Hie ordinarj’ Sedentary man needs about 2500 calories per day. But the larger the person ot the more muscular the work he does, the more food he needs; this assumes that other things are equal, especially the proportions of fatty and muscular tissue. It is a great mistake to eat more than the body needs, and so grow stout. Life insurance experience has clearly shown that weight, especially in relation to age, is an important factor in longevity. Overweight is a very unfavourable condition in its influence on longevity. The average person . becomes overweight after maturity. One’s normal weight is about that weight usually attained at maturity, say, at the age of 25, and ought to be maintained without change, except for a few pounds, thereafter. MODERATION IN DIET. One reason why many people eat great quantities of food without realising it is the common delusion that many articles, such as sweets, fruits, nuts, peanuts, often eaten between meals, “ do not count another common mistake is to overlook accessories such as butter and cream, which may contain more actual food value than all the rest of the meal put together. Ice cream and other desserts also have more food value than is usually realised. The ordinary person takes these extras as Rip Van Winkle took his flagon, after solemnly swearing off, by saying to himself: “I won’t count this one.” But Nature counts every calory very scrupulously. If the number of calories taken in exceeds the number used by the body (or excreted unused) the excess accumulates in fat or tissue.

A person who is not heavj’ enough can usually gain weigflit by following the ; general rules of hygiene, especially in the matter of increasing the fuel or energy foods, but he should not force himself to eat beyond his natural capacity to digest and assimilate, and eaer-fatigue and exhausting physical exerSmi should be carefully avoided. With advancing age, the consumption of meat and all flesh foods should be decreased and that of fruit and vegetables, especially those of bulk character and low food value, such as lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, turnips, watercress, celery, parsnips, cauliflower, and cabbage should be increased. Generally the quantity of food should be slightly decreased during hot weather, when few calories are needed to sustain the heat, of the body. Each individual must decide for himself by actual experience what is the right amount of food to cat. In general, that amount is right which will maintain the most favourable condition of weight. . Each individual should know what his own particular normal weight is and try and maintain it within five pounds. If the weight, endurance, and general feeling of .'wellbeing are maintained, one may assume that sufficient food ia taken.—Abridged from “ How to Live,” authorised by the Hygiene Reference Board of the Life Extension Institute, to whom acknowledge nient is made.