WHAT TO DRINK.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11126, 27 July 1907, Page 3 (Supplement)

WHAT TO DRINK.

VALUE OF WINE AS AN AID TO DIGESTION. EXPERT'SREPORT. "" A special report of the commission appointed six months ago by the "Hospital!' to investigate the chemical composition and dietetic effects of light wines published m that journal. The report of _ie commission is, on the whole, highly favorable to the use of light wine as a beverage, and to the use of the French wines m particular.! Careful experiments have, shown that these wines, taken m moderate quantities with food, have a favourable effect on. digestion. / The wines examined included French, German, Australian, Californian, .Spanish; and Italian wines; The coirimission reports tliat the Australian, Californian, Spanish, and Italia- wines are hardly -to be considered a4 light wines on acoount of tiie relatively high percentage of alcohol wliich they contain, and -it declares that while they are undoubtedly useful as tonic beverages, they must be considered on the basis of port, sherry, and Madeira, arid used as such. ' "

'.-- The.: German wines, it declares, are not so reliable as the French, as they axe more liable to adulteration, and even when they are not adulterated, are 'often the result of a second or third fermentation of tlie pomace and skins of the grapees. * PURE FRENCH WINES.

•-The •purchaser- of light French wines, the commission declares, is extremely unlikely to get anything; _ut pure wine. The proper quantity to be taken at a meal is about ten ounces, or rather more than a quarter and rather less than a half bottle. It is advisable that the wine should be diluted with about an f-oual quantity of water. to obtain the best digestive results; but it is immaterial wbether this dilution takes place inside or outside the stomach. The wine should be sipped slowly, so that it may be th- loughly mixed with the food. Champagne, on account of the carbon dii'X:ile>it contains, is a powerful stiuiu-i'-mt to' g-.stric digestion, and _ is.exceeding useful to persons suffering' from certain forms of dyspepsia. Regarding its general conclusions, the Commission declares that "it cannot too emphatically be insisted on that light wine is essentially a temperance beverage, and that its alcoholic content is m many- cases a character of secondary importance.. One can only get sufficient alcohol from wine to produce its full action of making one drunk by taking sufficient extract to make one- ill ; wine it not the drink of the dipsomaniac, but of the viveur." ' THE DANGER OF TEA. The popular cup of tea is ruthlessly condemned. When the milk and sugar contained m it are eliminated, the commission says, "there is no nutritive value left, and the alkaloid m it is. essentially a stimulant capable of only "unlocking, but riot supplying, energy. The tannin and its derivatives exercise a particularly unfavorable influence on' digestion, as they not only form insoluble compounds with the proteid elements of food, but they also precipitate the enzymes which render food soluble and capaple of being absorbed. Tea, however, seems to have no unfavorable effect when taken with bread and butter and sweet things. .Ginger beer, which was also examined, is neither good nor bad as far as digestion is concerned.