RAW MEAT AS FOOD.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11645, 24 August 1905, Page 7

RAW MEAT AS FOOD.

There was an interesting article upon this subject by Dr. R. W. Philip, of Edinburgh, in a recent number of the "Practitioner." Zomotherapy, he remarked, consists in the systematic, continued exhibition of raw meat, or raw meat juico, in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis, which is a distinct therapeutic procedure, determined by the needs of the patient, as shown by experimental and clinical observation. In 1900 Haricourt and Richet published their results of experiments performed upon dogs, which were artificially inoculated with tuberculosis, and these experiments showed that whereas these animals lost weight when fed in the ordinary way, and on cooked meat, they actually gained weight when fed on raw meat. Dr. Philip's facts are based upon clinical experience. He finds that his patients, treated in this way, improve in general aspect, that there is a distinct gain in weight, which is accompanied by nrmncss of tissue, and that soft, flabby muscles become firmer, .while myotactic irritability lessens. The pulse becomes slower, vascular tone is increased, and the temperature is steadier. Dyspepsia and flatulence tend to lessen. ' The blood changes are remarkable, there is an. increase in digestive leucocytosis, • and the haemoglobin increases 10 to 20 per' cent. The local lesions improve, active changes diminish, and even become quiescent. It is found that the patient soon develops a liking for the raw meat.

Hericourt and Richet- hold that the raw meat exerts some specific influence on tuberculosis. Dr. Galbraith, in an able article in another number of the Practitioner, shows that, as the result of experimental investigation on patients, the process is probably simply a physiological one; in other words, that it is a direct effect on nitrogenous metabolism. It is a well-known fact that the nutritive value of a diet depends mainly upon the amount of carbon and nitrogen which it contains iv a readily digestible and assimilable form,' 'and in order that nitrogenous equilibrium may be maintained, the intake of nitrogen in the proteid food must at any rate equal the'-outputf as^ estimated by that which occurs in the urine and faeces. If "flesh is to be put on,"' that is, if the muscles are to increase in size and tone, the nitrogen and earbqn intake must be slightly in excess of the output. Muscular wasting is a marked feature in tuberculosis, and this occurs not only in the striped, 'but a^o in the uustriped muscle' of the body. This muscle atrophy is accompanied by an increased irritability, and these changes are probably brought about by a toxin. We may look upon the condition as an increased nitrogenous katabolism brought aboxit by toxins which are circulating in the body.

The conclusions drawn from the experiments of Dr. Galbraith are that the proteid of uncooked meat is more readily dicfeated and absorbed, and that, the contained nitrogen is more readily retained, increasingly retained, by the tissues. Constructive metabolism is therefore more readily brought about, hence the. gain in tone and volume of the muscle tissues. It is -suggesled that the digestive leucocytosis, evidence of increased functional activity of the leucacyte, means the secretion of a body to- combine tha nitrogen more retdily to the tissues.