OUR BABIES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 16913, 9 December 1920, Page 5

OUR BABIES.

(By “Hygeia.”) Published under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children. “It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.” BREAD. The following letter regarding flours and meals used in bread-making has just come to hand. As this question affects every member of the community, our readers are certain to be interested in it. LETTER. Would you be good enough to give mo your advice as to the best flour for use in making home-made bread? I have been experimenting with. SP brand manufactured by James Simpsou, Southhridge, concerning which he writes me:— This flour is specially manufactured so as to contain all the nutritive ingredients of the wiieat, and for brown bread, scones, etc., it cannot.be beaten ; it is not a white flour, neither is it a wheat meal, hut it comes between the two. The SP No. 3 is really a wheat meal, wliile the SP is a flour. I am also trying the whole meal flour manufactured by ■ the Northern Roller Milling Company (Ltd.), of Auckland. A lady, residing in Marion, informs me that she is using a flour termed Semolina, which is manufactured there. In the absence of analytical tests one is unable to come to a really satisfactory decision. In the face of the prevailing deplorable dental troubles, I feel it behoves us all to endeavour, as far as possible, to arrest any deficiencies in diet, and I venture to approach you in the matter with a knowledge of the valuable work you have done in the past in assisting us to establish a correct dietary scale on natural lines. Supposing that Simpson’s process of manufacturing flour is correct, what are the respective values of his “SP” and “SP 3”? REPLY. It would be impossible for anyone to givo you reliable information as to the nature and properties of the several hours or meals you mention. The subject is ono of extreme complexity and difficulty. A more chemical analysis reveals comparatively little as to the biological value of a given flour or meal. 'ihus, a meal which contains a relatively high percentage of protein and fat may have no greater building and energising power than a flour containing considerably less of both those constituents—the explanation being that, in general, more fat and protein tend to remain unabsorbod iu the alimentary canal in the case of the cruder varieties ot flour than where it is brought into a state of finer division.

Further, tho relative powers of digestion and absorption vary considerably with the degree of mastication and with the digestive power and other idiosyncrasies of the individual. However, the arguments for or against wholemeal and white flour of - intermediate grades do not really depend on slight differences in the available proportions of sugar, fat and protein, because the differences in these respects are comparatively small, and a pound of white flour contains more, rather than loss, available nutrient material than any of the other grades. The public is entirely wrong in supposing that white flour is not a highly nutritious and valuable foodstuff. On the other hand, it is no doubt desirable to use a fair proportion of whole meal as well, and probably the health of the community would tend to bo improved if white 'flour were entirely replaced by Standard flpur—in which tho wheat is made to yield 80 per cent, of flour instead of only 70 per cent. IS THE USE OF WHITE FLOUR RESPONSIBLE FOR DECAY OF THE TEETH? A great deal of speculation has been entered into of late as to whether the use of highly-refined white flour is largely responsible for decay of the teeth. My own impression is that tills factor is much exaggerated. If plenty of crusts and baked or toasted bread are used, whether in a tough or a dry, crisp condition, good exercise for tongue, jaws, teeth, and salivary glands will be ensured. A great ovil m this connection is soft or pap-feed-ing and lack of masticatory exorcise. THE ALL IMPORTANT PRE-NATAL PERIOD. We are apt to forget that the first teeth are made before the baby is born —the mother makes them, not tho baby. (See the Society’s booklet “The Story of the Teeth.”) It must lse remembered that the composition and quality of tho mother’s blood and tho mother’s milk (which constitute , respectively the food of tho young being throughout pregnancy and during nursing) depend upon the food and feeding habits of the mother, the quality of the air she lives in and breathes, and her habits as to exercise, rest, sleep, etc. That the habits and feeding of tho mother exert a most important influence over tho quality or her milk is proved by the recent scientific observation that winter butter derived from cows getting little exercise and fed mainly on hay, straw, turnips, mangolds, etc,, has a much lower power of piotecting children from rickets than summer butter made from tho milk of cows getting their food while wandering about tho open farm and feeding on fresh, green, vigorous growing grass which is fully exposed to air and sunlight. It must be recognised that this is a fact of tlie most far-reaching and profound significance. For the baby’s sake expectant and nursing mothers should take more daily exercise, should bo out longer in the open air and sunshine, and should use whole meal and Standard flour, instead of confining greater refinement. AVOID PAP-FEEDING. The fact that the more substitution of whole meal for white flour would not suffice to ensure well-built teeth or to prevent decay of the teeth may be assumed. from the fact that the worst teeth in tho United Kingdom are found in the inhabitants of Scotland amon*£ communities where a main cereal food is oatmeal. The outstanding fault of i.he modern Scotch diet is that all classes tend to use bread with soft crust, scones, puddings, etc. Comparatively little oatmeal is now used in the form of oatcake, and bread with a good crust is so unpopular that Dr. Harry Campbell (one of the highest authorities on foods and feeding) was assured by Scotch bakers that loaves with tho harder crust produced by being near the edges of the oven tended to be unsaleable, and had to ho disposed of at a lower price. Dr. Campbell attributes the notori-

onsly had teeth north of the Tweed largely to “pap-feeding” and the present dislike to any form of hard, dry, or tough food which would ensure adequate exercise. Of course,, he recognises that the primary nutritional defect lies farther back in the pre-natal period and the first year of life. DON’T BECOME ONE-IDEAED. A special advantage claimed for whole-meal and, more or less, for other departures from pure white flour is founded on the presence of more vitamines in the less starchy portion of the wheat. There is something iu this argument, and they may be a good deal; but there is certainly not so much in it as the extreme advocates of whole, meal, etc., lay claim to. People are too apt to become oue-idcacd. Instead of centring all attention on tho bread question, people should bo brought to realise that, whatever bread is used, the highest standard of health and vitality and tho bast state of the teeth, as well as tho most perfect digestion and nutrition, will be established and maintained by the daily use of a fair proportion of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables, especially raw, fruits, such as apples and uncooked vegetables such as lettuce, mustard and cress, etc.— which, in the case of children, can be sandwiched between slices of bread, thus promoting active mastication while supplying abundance of vitamines. Green vegetables are specially valuable even when cooked, and it is a great pity that the best of all—viz., spinach, is so little used in this country. Another highly valuable vegetable food capable of giving children better masticatory exercise than almost any other article of diet, is maize boiled before tho grain is quite matured and gnawed off the cob. In tho North Island everyone with a garden could grow this, and you probably know how intensely most children appreciate food of this kind.

The requirements for ensuring sound, well-built teeth and for preventing tho tendency to decay are part and parcel of the requirements' for ensuring tho proper building, maintenance, and repair of tho whole body.