Wairarapa Daily Times (Established Over 60 Years.) THURSDAY, 8th OCTOBER, 1936. FOODS AND HEALTH.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 8 October 1936, Page 6

Wairarapa Daily Times (Established Over 60 Years.) THURSDAY, Bth OCTOBER, 1936. FOODS AND HEALTH.

The rapid advance in the science of nutrition in' recent years has shown that diet has a profound influence on health and physique. It has been proved that much illhealth can be attributed to deficiencies in diet. Public interest has been aroused, and the knowledge of the laboratory is being applied to everyday life. A great contribution has recently been made by Sir John Boyd Orr, head of the RoAvett Research Institute, Aberdeen. His survey of the adequacy of diet in relation to income has revealed facts which have aroused Avorld-wide interest. Statesmen have declared that if Sir John Orr’s contentions are accepted thy Avill do much to solve modern trade problems. Dr. Orr states, in his report, that the British nation spends on food roughly £1,075,000,000 a year, of about 9s a head a Aveek. The national income is £3,750,000,000, or about 30s a head a Aveek. The most important items of expenditure are meat £294,000,000, fruit £119,000,000, and milk, including condensed milk and cream, £106,000,000. A century ago it Avas estimated that the income per head of the United Kingdom Avas £l6 to £l7 a year, and the expenditure on food £B. Corresponding figures to-day are £7B and £2B 3s. The rise in income in the last 100 years has been ac T companied by a decrease in the percentage spent on food. In 1835, the average consumption of flour and bread Avas 80 per cent greater than to-day. The consumption of sugar Avas 201 b. per head. Noav it is five times as

great. With the exception of wheat, flour and potatoes, there has been a substantial increase in the consumption of most of the principal foods, such as fruit, fresh vegetables, butter and eggs, since the war. The investigator states that it is probable that the most effective line of attack on tuberculosis is by the improvement of diet. The Registrar-Gen-eral’s report of 1927 shows that the mortality rate from tuberculosis among occupied males was nearly three times as high for unskilled labour as for the higher ranks of business and professional life. Another result of malnutrition is anaemia, which is more frequent in women than in children and men. To make the diet of the poorer groups the same as that of the groups whose diet is adequate for full, health, would involve increases in consumption of a number of the more expensive foodstuffs —milk, eggs, butter, fruit, vegetables and meat, varying from 12 to 25 per cent. Sir John Orr concludes: .‘‘.This new knowledge of nutrition, which shows that there can be an enormous improvement in the health and physique of the nation, coming at the same time as the greatly increased powers of producing food, has created an entirely new situation, which demands economic statesmanship. The prominence given to this new social problem at the last Assembly of the .League of Nations shows that it is occupying the attention of all civilised countries. It is gratifying ,that the lead in this movement was taken by the British Empire.