OUR BABIES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 208, 5 September 1935, Page 2

OUR BABIES

THE PRE-SCHOOL CHILD THE ABUSE OF SUGAR (By “Hygeia”) We arc often asked to explain why we so strongly deprecate the giving of sugar to children, especially in the form of simple, “wholesome” sweets, since sugar is a valuable, and indeed essential, food. In answering this question we do not think we could do better than quote from an article on the subject by Professor Sherman, of Colombia University, published in the Child Health Bulletin. There has been a good deal of com mercial propaganda lately, particularly in America, on behalf of a larger use of sweets as food, and no doubt wc may expect more of it here. Dr. Sherman writes specifically to refute the claims made for the value of auditional suagr in the diet, remarking that it behoves us to take our bearings in the light of our present-day knowledge of nutrition. “•Counting air find water as free,” he says, “there, are five kinds of sub stances which make up the ‘food values’ which we acquire when we buy food. These are: (1) The proteins (chiefly utilised for the growth and repair of tissues) ; (2) the fats (chiefly utilised as fuel); (3) the carbohydrates, which include the sugars and starches (and chiefly provide energy); (4) the mineral elements; and 5) the vitamins (which regulate and co-ordi-nate body processes and growth, and are essential in nutrition). But in general wq do not buy these foodvalue substances separately or as such; we buy articles of food such as bread, meat, milk, fruits and vegetables. Any such articles as we have just mentioned contain several kinds of substances of good value, and so are manysided foods, whereas an article which furnishes only one kind of substance of food value, such as some oils and fats and all pure sugars, are one-sided foods. Professor Sherman continues: “Now a one-sided food is not necessarily to be avoided, but in order that good food habits may be formed and good nutrition may be ensured we must bo careful to keep one sided foods from encroaching upon the proper place of the many sidl'd foods, whether in our eating habits or our food budgets. To aid us in forming our own judgment as to whether there reallv is any ‘desir ability’ (of more extensive use of sugar and sweets on the score of food value), lot us glance briefly at the different types of food materials which make up the bulk of our food budget and the significance of each to our nutrition. “Breads! ulfs and other grain pro ducts (rice is to the Oriental what bread is to us) normally make up the largest and cheapest source of calories (i.e., fuel) and of proti'in. In these two respects they bring us the most of food value for our money; but they are not satisfactory sources of the other two great factors in our nutritional need, the mineral elements and the vitamins. . “The meat foods (flesh, fish and fowl) are rich either in protein or fat, or both, which, together with their flavours and stimulating extractives, gives them the properties which makes them popular. . . But if, is an important. fact that in general , . . the meat

foods show about the same mineral deficiences as do the grains, so that while breads and meats may form pleasing and satisfying combinations, yet nutritionally they can never make a properly balanced diet, and least of all for a growing child. “Fruits and vegetables. . . are in general important sources of some (not all) of the mineral elements and vitamins, of which both the breadstuffs and meat foods are but poor or uncertain sources. Hence the fruits and vegetables (or a>t least many of them) are entitled to M‘Collum’s designation of ’protective foods,’ since they tend to protect us from the mineral and vitamin deficiencies which we incur if we live too largely upon the breadstuffs and meat foods. But . . . the most important of the ‘protective’ foods is milk ... in ensuring the allround adequacy of the diet.” Dr. Sherman goes on to explain the role of eggs and fats in the diet. The fact that eggs blend well with many other foods ami produce variety and pa la lability gives them a value of their own. Some fats are rich sources of vitamins, others are not; but fats as a group stay hunger and have a definite place in nutrition. What Then is the Place of the Sweets? “The fact is that sugar itself contributes nothing to the food value of the diet except calories. Children are growing and ought to get liberal supplies of proteins, vitamins, and mineral elements along with their calories, and it is a sobering thought that sugar, as ii now comes into commerce, is the most, completely devoid of proteins, vitamins, and mineral elements of all the foods which we give our children. “Wc sometimes hear of the natural craving of children for sweets; but wh.at sweets do we find in Nature? Never do we find in Nature either candy or such concentrated and iso lated forms of sugar as are found in the grocery ami confectioners’ shops. In sweet foods which are found in Nature the, sweetness is largely a bait. In Bunge’s words, sugar is not only an ailment, but also a condiment, and easily lends itself, as all such things d<>. to abusc.'

The Danger of Abuse. “The danger of abuse is of more than one kind. Too much sugar may spoil the appetite for other foods of less pronounced flavour but much more pronounced value in nutrition, and it may displace these more important foods in meeting the caloric (or fuel) needs of the body, with the result that while the calorie seed is fully met there may bp a shortage of some essential mineral element or vitamin—a shortage not detected at the time, but detrimental to subsequent growth and health. It is argued that sugar is good for active children because it is a ‘quick fuel,’ and the use of sugar by athletes during endurance tests is cited in support, of this idea. . . But who would consider a Marathon race a suitable exercise for a growing child? And who would seriously claim that the concentration of sugar which can be borne by the fully developed and hardy stomach of an athlete would be equally well suited to the still-develop-ing stomach of the growing child, which always has enough to do tc handle the food which growth requiroi | without subjecting it to any unnece® ‘ sary risk of irritation? “In my judgment . . . the practical lesson to be learned from the newel knowledge of nutrition is the great importance to health (at all ages and especially in childlfood i of giving a 'more prominent place in our eating I habits and in our food budgets to ’the | protective foods' (i.e., to milk, fruit, and vegetables), and that a ‘more tolerant’ attitude towards sweets fur children is not justified.”