Kitchencraft

Southland Times, Issue 23512, 19 May 1938, Page 15

Kitchencraft

THE VALUE OF MILK IN THE DIET By SARAH No doubt you have all heard a great deal about milk, and its beneficial effects during the last few weeks. I think that the consumption of milk is so important that I wish to talk to my readers upon this subject. At the same time I shall give you many recipes containing milk, so that your families do not have to drink large quantities of this food when they prefer some other beverage. In nature the function of milk is to furnish food for the young during the period after birth, when growth is most rapid. Milk must, therefore, supply sufficient body-building material combined with energy-building nutrients to keep the young animal warm and finish the energy for muscular activitiy. THE PERFECT FOOD Consider for a moment the babe. /For the first few months of its life it exists on milk and milk alone. What is more it thrives, and gains as much as half a pound in weight in one week. Hence milk has been called the perfect food. Milk contributes more to food nutrition than any other one food. It has no equal as a source of that valuable material, calcium, so necessary for the building of teeth and bone, and is also rich in potassium and phosphorus, two elements essential for life. Again it is one of the cheapest sources of efficient protein. When taken in suitable quantities, milk can easily be considered a dependable source of. calcium, phosphorus, protein, vitamin A,

and vitamin B. Milk also contains appreciable quantities of other vitamins and minerals. Nearly two-thirds of the solids of milk consist of fat and sugar, which are good sources of energy. The solids in milk total nearly 13 per cent., a fact too often lost sight of, because milk is liquid. Many foods that are solid in form contain less solids and more liquid than milk. A few examples will illustrate this point, and I am sure will surprise you. - Carrots, spinach, eggplant, cauliflower and. turnips all contain less solids than milk. The milk proteins coagulate the moment they reach the stomach, and convert the milk into solid. For this reason, and also because of its high food value, milk should be considered as a food rather than a beverage. BASIS OF DIET Because milk reinforces the diet in so many different ways, and especially because it is a cheap and valuable source of protein and calcium, the use of a sufficient amount of milk helps to build wholesome meals for the family. Children’s diets lacking or low in milk are almost always defective unless they have been carefully planned to include other foods that will replace the milk

in nutritive value. This task is an impossible one for ( those who are not trained dietitians, so that the simplest and safest way to provide the child with all the essential elements required for perfect health, is to make milk the basis of the diet. Milk is used to the best advantage when combined with other foods. There is no “perfect food” that alone can fill all the needs of nutrition, and though all the elements of a balanced diet are found in milk, they are not present in ideal proportions. Foi example there is not sufficient iron, and again the fuel or energy value of milk is insufficient. A man would require to take five or six quarts of milk daily to meet all his requirements for energy, and would meantime be taking unnecessarily large quantities of protein. Skimmed or separated milk is a valuable article of diet. So many people fail to recognize this. Perhaps the myth that skimmed milk is useless can be attributed to the fact that many farmers discard their skimmed milk or give it to the pigs. Give it to the pigs by all means; they will thrive on it, but do not discard such a valuable food. Skimmed milk is a fruitful source of protein, calcium, mineral salts, sugar of milk, and vitamins B and G. It is lower in fuel value than whole milk, as the greater portion of fat has been removed, and it is but a poor source of vitamin A compared with whole milk. Still when taken in combination with butter, meat, and green vegetables it makes a perfect food. Protein and calcium are the most costly of all nutrients, and are therefore most difficult to supply adequately when food is scarce. Skimmed milk

supplies an abundant quantity of these in a cheap and useful form, and is at the same time an outstanding source of vitamin G. Skimmed milk should be used for cooking or drinking or both to increase the nutritive value of the diet whenever the supply of whole milk for the family is inadequate. Each child should have a pint and a-half of milk daily, and each adult one pint daily.