MALNUTRITION

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19659, 20 August 1935, Page 4

MALNUTRITION

SOME OF THE CAUSES. ECONOMIC FACTOR NOT ALOttE, FAULTY HEALTH AND FOOD HABITS t “It has been customary 7 for those not familiar with the conditions to , assume offhand that malnutrition is the result of insufficient lood; or, if not that, then of food improperly chosen, prepared or served,” said Mr C. Meachen, secretary to the Wellington Children’s Health Gamp Association, discussing in an interview" With Lhe Dominion what he had found in hie experience to be the causes making treatment of children at the health camp necessary"lf this were true,” he said, “It should be of much more -frequent occurrence among the poor than among the well-to-do or rich. "'The first surprise awaiting the student of malnutrition comes with the discovery that this Is not the case, and that malnutrition does ,not seem to bear special relationship to the economio status of the family 7 . “What, then, have been found to be the causes of this definite and real defect of childhood? Five groups or classes of causes -may fairly be considered as operative, in the sense of being prime factors: Faulty health habits, faulty food habits, family strain, school strain and physical fectsFaulty Health Habits. “Faulty health habits leading to malnutrition are late hours, indulgence in talkies to any hour of the day or night, with its attendant eyestrain, poor ventilation and emotional overstimulation; premature participation in the social whirl, in the form of children’s parties that excite and exhaust. “Then there are faulty food habits. There is the aversion to vegetables; the inability to eat some one particular food; the dislike to food of a certain consistency like that of oatmeal. There is the repulsion to certain tastes; the refusal to take food of a given colour, etc. “So much has been said of late In accusation against the parent that it seems a shame to add another word of reproach here in considering family strain. One of the things that every child is entitled to is a sense of security. There is no better way of letting a child attain this than to have him drink it in unconsciously by seeing and feeling a perfect emotional accord between the two beings who mean the most to ' him —his father and mother. Every visible discord that arises has a tendency to shake this solid foundation of security. Disagreements between his parents, especially those that are concerned with himself, are naturally most upsetting. School Strain and Physloal Defects, “School strain, such as eyestrain, spinal curvature, flabby muscles, poor chest expansion, frequent colds, not to mention . the results' 'of emotional strain, worry, stress of competition, shame, over-eagerness for high marks and the thousand and one things that make the beginning of school life a time of such trial and tribulation for thoughtful, serious-minded parents, has also,to be considered- “ Then there are physical defeots. Whenever we attempt to treat people In the mass we are apt to overlook some of the most important points. If we are to give to these children the best that, present-day science has made available for them we must give each of them a complete medical examination- This implies, of course, the very searching examination that is so all-embracing that no defect, however unimportant It may seem, shall escape the observation of the examiner."