HEALTH NOTES

Southland Times, Issue 20446, 26 March 1928, Page 7

HEALTH NOTES

NUTRITIVE VALUE. (Contributed by the Department of Health). The British Medical Journal editorially states that milk has been held to be the best single food, containing as it does all the ingredients of a balanced diet. It is rich in vitamins, and its high calcium content is in a readily usable form. For sucklings of the same species it furnishes a complete dietary. In the growing child it promotes nutrition, whether consumed by itself or as an ingredient of other foods. For adults, too, it is beneficial, though to a more limited extent. For all ages of life, it has been generally agreed that milk is, in varying degrees, beneficial. A substance so approved by current opinion, has appeared to the Legislature to merit protection and also to demand it. Owing to its composition, it is readily sophisticated; owing to its method of production, it is liable to contamination; and being usually consumed raw, it may easily convey infection. Further, it is difficult for the consumer to check minor variations in quality. A number of safeguarding statutes and regulations dealing either wholly or partly with milk have therefore come into force in the United Kingdom within recent years. RECENT RESEARCH. While all these administrative measures were excellent in promoting the supply of milk of good quality in its natural state, and free from infective germs, it was felt that some basic things had been taken for granted and that questions remained as to the precise influence exercised by milk on growth and nutrition, and as to its value as a supplemental food substance as distinguished from a sole diet. The Scottish Board of Health, recognizing this, and introducing the experimental method into the administrative field, has applied itself to the first principles involved, and has approached the problem of milk consumption at first hand. A series of tests had already been carried out by Dr. Corry Mann in England under the Medical Research Council, in which it had been shown that of two groups of boys, one consuming a basal diet and the other a diet supplemented by pasteurized milk, the latter group grew more rapidly. These findings were put to the proof by the board under a greyer sky and on a different racial strain. They appointed a committee of experts under Sir Leslie Mackenzie to carry out an investigation. Groups of children were selected at the ages of 5 to 6, 8 to 9, and 13 to 14 in seven Scottish towns. In each town four groups were taken, each consisting of 40 to 50 children. Group 1 received an ordinary diet, group 2 a diet supplemented by biscuit, group 3 a diet supplemented by separated milk, and group 4 a diet supplemented by whole milk. The foods were given to the children in school and carefully supervised. The work was continued for seven months ending in June last. Each child was weighed to a quarter of a pound and its height measured to a quarter of an inch. A preliminary report on the work of the committee by Dr. J. Boyd Orr, chairman of the Research Committee, of the Scottish Milk and Health Association, sets forth the results of the inquiry up to the present time. It is being carried on elsewhere on similar lines and a repeat test is being undertaken, the results of which will be announced in due course. INCREASES IN HEIGHT AND WEIGHT.

General tables in Dr. Orr’s report show the average increase in height and weight and the mean increases in height in each group at each age, with the probable error. In the group results, where the milk groups are contrasted with the non-milk groups, the average increase in height of the milk groups for the period of seven months was 1.470 inches, as contrasted with 1.212 inches for the non-milk groups. Since the milk given in schools was an accessory article of diet only, it was necessary to ascertain also the home milk consumption. This was done in 626 households and the total milk figure was arrived at for each child. For the age groups 5 to 6, 8 to 9, and 13 to 14 the increase in height of those whose total milk consumption was over average was 1.68 inches, 1.37 inches, and 1.51 inches, as contrasted with 1.44 inches, 1.19 inches, and 1.21 inches for those whose total milk consumption was under average. The conclusions provisionally drawn by Dr. Orr are to the effect that the addition of the milk to the diet has been accompanied by a rate of growth 20 per cent, greater than that in children not receiving the extra milk; that this increase has been accompanied by an improvement in the general condition of many of the children receiving milk; and that separated milk is of great value for promoting growth. These findings confirm the current opinion as to the value of milk. They bring out in addition the novel result that as an accessory, separated milk is in general as good as whole milk for " producing growth, and sometimes better. Biscuits as a food are. far behind. The inferiority of the cereal as compared with milk finds an interesting commentary in the fact that the aggressive and dominant races of the world have usually been milk consumers, while the docile and subject peoples have principally fed on grain. As already noted, the inquiry is still proceeding, and it would be proper to reserve a final opinion until it is completed. The report, however, though described as preliminary, reaches conclusions which we think will stand. It should revive the consumption of milk in Scotland, where, along with porridge, it was in past days the national food of the people, and should encourage its use in England and other countries to a greater extent than is now the case.