DIET AND NUTRITION

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLI, Issue 20442, 12 June 1936, Page 11

DIET AND NUTRITION

To the Editor ot “ The Timaru Herald ” Sir, —My denunciation of institutional dietetics has produced a gratifying reaction; negative of course, at this stage, on the part of those responsible;' but the public would hardly expect them to plead guilty. They could not. They have the same confidence in their beliefs as the sponsors of orthodox religion or economics. To read the indignant replies, one would suppose that the public had never lived in boarding houses, schools, or hotels, or existed upon hospital diet; or that they were all ignorant of the essentials of right freding. Perusal of some of my mail might prove a shock to complacency. The actual quality of goods supplied, or of standard of preparation, defective as these often are, are not the main points at issue. The danger lies in the almost invariable excess of denatured, acid-forming goods, such as meat, starch, and sugar; and the grave deficiency of vitamins and mineral salts. Destructive sooner or later as is the conventional diet for those still comparatively healthy, it may become fatal to the sick; large numbers of whom can be cured by fasting and right use of goods. One doctor is reported as saying "modern medical opinion is that the ordinary mixed diet as served in hospitals, hotels, and homes, is quite satisfactory.” He has committed himself, anyway; and so have the matrons and schoolmasters who agree with him. The same doctor says, “as far as fasting is concerned, the body needs more food than the normal amount in prolonged fevers.” This is an astonishing admission of ignorance of the significance of nature’s cleansing efforts, that may be countered by a reminder that the usual reason or fevers being prolonged is that man is the only animal who hasn’t enough sense to step eating when he is sick. Moreover, if he fed as he should there would not be any fevers. One schoolboy, knowing as little of dietetics as those who approached him for an opinion, claims that "the value of the meals we receive '3 borne out. by the general splendid physique of the boys.” It is. Even school doctors, though they do not yet recognise that the majority of unhealthy conditions in the boys, are mainly dietetic in origin, have furnished disquieting reports of the extent of the evidence of malnutrition in schools. Much

disease is in the nature of a degenerative process; and one of the most prolific causes is faulty employment of food. So many people are becoming conscious of this truth that the indignant official disclaimers are likely to be completely unconvincing. They are, in fact, strangely reminiscent of the pitiful wail raised by orthodox finance j (without avail), on the eve of the last i election. It may be convenient to ignore me; and still prove embarrass- I Ing and Impossible to hold back the truth. With which are my detractors concerned—with discrediting me; or with making certain of the truth? Is there a conspiracy to prevent the truth from becoming generally realised, that a tremendous amount of disease is dietetic in origin, and that the conventional diet is to blame? No. Those responsible simply are not aware of it. That’s all. And that is why I speak.— I am, etc., ULRIC WILLIAMS. Wanganui, June 3.