OUR BABIES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20361, 19 July 1934, Page 7

OUR BABIES.

(By

HYGEIA.)

Published under the auspices of the Roj'al New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). “ It is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.” THE DULL DAYS. Last week we discussed the question of comfort and colour in connection with children in winter time. This week let us go on to consider the question of diet, with special reference to coldweather conditions. Healthy, active children tend to be well and hungry in cold weather, and should be able to take with advantage rather more food, and especially rather more fat in the diet, than is necessary or good in hot weather. One reason for this is that fat produces heat, but the more important reason is that certain fats are the principal sources of two of the vitamins so specially necessary for growing children. Vitamins A and D. One of these, vitamin D, is produced by some of the properties of sunlight acting on our bodies, either directly by shining on the skin or indirectly through the food we eat. Naturally, when direct sunshine is at a minimum during short winter days an additional supply of the sunlight factor in food is required, because, as some people know nowadays, insufficiency of this factor predisposes a child to rickets, decay of the teeth and other conditions of ill-health.

But that is not all. There is another vitamin known as A. which is a very important factor in the diet of children, especially during winter. Vitamin A is concerned with resistance to infection, and deficiency of this factor in the food causes increased susceptibilty• to all sorts of infections, including •colds and chest trouble. Therefore it is advisable to supplement the diet in winter with food or foods especially rich in both vitamins A and D. Butter, cream and eggs contain both, but are apt to be poor in these factors in winter—just when they are wanted most. , Also, one cannot increase the allowance of these foods beyond a certain point without causing indigestion. Cod Liver Oil. Cod liver oil is our “royal standby" in this connection. It is an extremely rich and reliable source of both vitamins A and D. Strange as it seems, green plants are the primary source of the vitamins, even iu cod liver oil. In the springtime there is a great growth in the seas of minute green vegetation m which is concentrated the wonderful properties of the sun’s rays. The plants form the food of tiny floating animals, which, in turn, are eaten by small fish, and these again by larger iisli, such as the cod. The vitamin from the green plants is transferred from the smallei to the larger fish in the process o digestion, and finally becomes concentrated in the liver of the cod. Therefore cod liver oil contains the vitamin collected and concentrated from an enormous quantity of green plants. Not without reason has it been described as •* bottled sunshine.” However pure cod liver oil as such is unpalatable, and. though some children take it well in this form, it is best given in the form of an emulsion, which should be finely homogenised so as to place no tax on the digestive organs. Many of our mothers have been in the habit of giving Plunket Emulsion (which is specially prepared for baby feeding) to the older children. There was no objection to this; but in order to meet the need,a of older children in the direction indicated, and to place within the reach of mothers at a strictly moderate price an entirely reliable food product having the special qualities required, the Karitane Products Society prepares a special emulsion for older children. It consists of specially selected fats and oil,s and a certain proportion of malt extract an i ether sugars. The fats are mostly cod liver oil and hone marrow. The latter has some nutritionpromoting qualities which make it a highly desirable complement to the cod liver oil. The emulsion is verv finely homogenised—in fact the fat particles "re not more than a hundredth part of th«' size of the fat particle,-; in cow's milk. * r’ood, Not Medicine. It must be clearly understood that we rvommend this emulsion definitely simnly and solely as a food to supplement the ordinary diet of the child, particularly in winter and'early spring, and not in any wav or at any time as a medicine. We have nothing to do with the advocacy of drugs or medicines. Our province is the promotion of good nutrition and growth by natural, simple means. It must not be thought, however, that the giving of a few teaspoonfuls of cod oil emulsion every day will make ur/ for all or anv radical errors or deficiencies in the child’s ordinary diet. It

certainly will not do anything of the kind. Hood, wholesome meals, including daily some brown lmead (wholemeal). milk, butter, vegetables and fruit (raw and cooked), with eggs or fish «n moderation—these the basic requirements. Cod liver oil. in whatever form it is gp-pn. is valuable to supplement such a. diet in certain directions, but it cannot take the place of any of the basic ingredients.

Next week we will eoneli.rte tillnrtiele l,y Klvine mim surcestions f,„ the tilanniiiT of actual meals, the «mt preations bein'- hn-aed oh practical expert ence with children.