Health Notes for the Farm

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 65, Issue 6, 15 December 1942, Page 374

Health Notes for the Farm

Do You Get That "Tired Feeling"?

WITH people generally becoming more diet-conscious, the question of food and food values in relation to human welfare has become very important. The discovery of the family of vitamins within comparatively recent years has given science a new approach to the problem of nutrition, and continuous and intensive research in this hitherto unexplored field is revealing facts of incalculable value. And these research workers are never satisfied. As an example of how they probe after facts, a rather curious and interesting experiment was carried out recently by a group of American doctors. Among the vitamins, which are so essential to our physical well-being is an important one labelled B-l. This vitamin B-l is necessary for the proper functioning of our body cells. It is constantly draining away from us, and it has constantly to be renewed if our cells are to work efficiently. .Now, these men decided to see what happened to them when they didn’t get enough vitamin B-l. They went on a diet of a certain quantity of each of the following: • Meat, vegetables, polished rice, macaroni, white bread, butter, honey, and some fruit. That sounds much like an average diet, but it con-

tained no oatmeal and no wheatmeal. In all, they were getting only half the quantity of vitamin B-l necessary to keep them free from symptoms. In a few days they began to feel tired, lose their appetite, get constipated, and suffer from consequences which were of definite medical interest —simply because they were not getting enough vitamin B-l. Common Symptoms These symptoms are of everyday occurrence among New Zealanders, perhaps not to the same degree as was revealed in this experimentbut next time you think of it, just notice how many people' complain of that “tired feeling.” Research in this country has indicated that vitamin B-l is undoubtedly short in our daily food. It is not so short as to make us ill, for where this vitamin is grossly deficient there occurs a type of neuritis that is not common in New Zealand except among those who are heavy drinkers.

An important and palatable source of this vitamin is wholemeal bread. Some people regard wholemeal bread as a fad. It is not a fad. It has certain scientifically-proved health-giving advantages over the refined white bread. In addition to this body building vitamin, wholemeal bread is rich in iron which is needed to make healthy red blood, and also is more easily digested. In the light of recently-discovered truths about diet, changes in food habits must come about. Already these developments have made widespread changes in medical complaints. For instance, one need only point to the total disappearance of green sickness in young women during the last few decades, and to the marked reduction in the number of cases of stone in the bladder and kidneys, since the use of green vegetables and other sources of vitamin A became more prevalent among the poorer classes in England. Vitamin B-l Essential Many experts are convinced that long-continued shortage of the small but important constituent of unrefined —our good friend vitamin B-l—-will lead to a state of sub-optimal health, which keeps you below par, and may lay you open to the risk of a real illness. Vitamin B-l is valuable also for its effect upon the appetite of children. If a mother is having difficulty because of her child’s lack of appetite, she will often find if she gives it a tablespoonful of wheat germ, which is rich in this vitamin, the child’s appetite will improve and its weight increase. If you’re feeling out of sorts, try a heaped tablespoonful of wheat germ as an addition to your dietsprinkle it on fruit or over your porridge.

Contributed by the DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. jiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinin