The Daily News MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1927. MORE BUTTER-FAT.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1927, Page 6

The Daily News MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1927. MORE BUTTER-FAT.

Thai science and production go hand in hand can be conclusively demonstrated, particularly in regard to the dietetic value of but-ter-fat as an indispensable element of diet. Among’the various sections' of work which formed the subjects of ■discussion at the I recent meeting of the British As- | sociation, that which will be of i outstanding interest to’the dairyrmen of New Zealand was a paper !.submitted by Dr. AV. Cramer, of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, on “The Requirements of the Population in Milk Fat and the Available Supply.” It was calculated that on the minimal figure of 40-50 grammes a day per head, equivalent to a glassful of milk and an ounce of butter, all the evidence bearing upon the requirement'of milk fat in the diet of the people of the Motherland placed it at the figures named as the minimum. Therefore,' with a. population, of forty-three millions, the' total requirements' amounted to 628-785 million kilogrammes, but the Home production of milk was only 6.327 million kilogrammes. Allowing for imported butter, equal to 268 million kilogrammes, and imported milk fat 227 millions, the total milk fat available was only 480 million kilogrammes, giving only thirty grammes per. person daily, instead of the needed minimum of 40-50 grammes. It is thus evident that Britain’s available milk fat supply is deficient by at least 148.305 million kilogrammes. This, would mean, in face of the wellknown fact that a large part of the population consumes the ideal minimal quota of forty to fifty grammes, it is evident that another large part of the population’ could only have a consumption of about twenty grammes of milk fat, or even less. It has.to be re; membered that only one half of the available milk fat required by Britain is produced there, the remainder comingj from overseas—mainly from New Zealand, Aus-

tralia and Denmark, though other countries are rapidly becoming appreciable suppliers. With regard to Denmark’s supply, Dr. Cramer stated that the export of milk fat froml that country did not represent a surplus, as the Danish people were starving themselves of milk fat in order to export it. Referring to margarine as a. possible competitor with butter, he emphasised that although, margarine can be substituted for butter after the minimum daily requirements of milk fat have been supplied, it is uneconomical, even at half the price of butter, to buy the substitute, as the cost of imperfect development, ill-liealth, and disease have to be placed against the use of the cheaper article. It may interest the Dominion producers of butter-fat to learn that, in the opinion of Dr. Cramer, there is a world shortage in the production of milk, and that if the conditions in Denmark may be taken as a guide, this shortage has been becoming increasingly acute during the last two decades. The problem is one that concerns every uian, woman and child as consumers, as well as the overseas producers. The outstanding fact to be remembered is that there is no substitute for butter. As the result of recent investigations made by Dr. Corry Mann it was found that the addition of one pint of milk and one ounce of butter to the diet of boys produced a striking improvement, not only in, physical but also in mental vigour. It was also found by Gephart, in a study of the dietary of an American public school, that a daily ration of two hundred grammes of fat per boy constituted the ideal quantity, the fat being supplied almost entirely in the form, of milk and butte) 1 . Obviously, if the people of the Old Country are sufficiently impressed with the conclusions arrived at by Dr. Cramer, they will be purchasing more butter, especially if the industrial conditions allow .of greater purchasing power. Parents will make great sacrifices to promote the welfare of their children, and the only direction in which those sacrifice'can be productive of real benefit mimt be a considerably increased demand for butter-fat. It requires no elaborate argument to point to the fact that the Dominions must benefit from any and every increased demand for dairy products. There has been a tendency of late to lay stress -upon the. inereasing keenness of competition in these products, but, in view of the illuminating address given by Dr. Cramer, the producers may take heart of grace, and be prepared for an increased demand for their goods. This fits in with the oft-reiterated cry for greater production. That the present supply for British use is seriously deficient cannot be denied, and now that the eyes of the people have been opened to the unwisdom of using margarine, from a health point of view, as well as the imperative need for'the daily minimum of butter-fat, the outlook for the producers should be distinctly improved.