ALCOHOL AS A FOOD.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1288, 17 November 1911, Page 6

ALCOHOL AS A FOOD.

SOME SCIENTIFIC FACTS. CONCERNING A COMMON BEVERAGE. It is a remarkable fact that very fen nations do not use alcohol in some fora or other, and those who pride themsclvc: in not doing so arc the most backwarc and demoralised. Thero was a ruli among the Jews that their young pcopli should not drink wino until the age o manhood and womanhood, and they an probably- among tho soberest—most temperate,'that is—users of alcohol on thi faco of the earth. In New Zealand wi have passed a law declaring it to be illc gal for young men under twenty-oni years of age to bo served with alcoholii liquors. Tho idea among tho Jews ant ourselves is that if wo train our youni peoplo up to years of discretion to to abstainers, their habits aro practicall; formed, and it is their own fault if the; abuso any of tho good gifts with which i wise Creator has surrounded them an< placed within their reach. There is i further reason. The spirit of youth i strong, and tho growing youth, unles sickly and weak, requires no strength cuing stimulant to rapidly upbuild am develop him, and so tho law-makers with the consent of tho parents ani guardians of our young, have passed thi law and it is respected. ■ How differeu is the respect for legislation that inter feres, with the rights of manhood am womanhood, and places obstacles in til way of grown men and women usini without abusing the "liquids of th grains!" And contempt of law is tho firs step towards criminality. But. if tin law makes criminal that, which is not i crime then the contempt for such law i justifiable. Now (hero is a good deal of what : Wellington ditinv ouco . described af cheap science talked about alcohol being i poison, and that if it were a poisoi there was no sacrifice in abstaining fron it. Tt was contended that this was sail seventeen years ago, and that it was no fair to hold a man to an opinion express cd so long ago. Tho reply to this i: tbat alcohol has not changed since thi beginning of the world, and if a mai has one conviction about its nature to day and another to-morrow, that ina; demonstrate the changeableiioss of humai individual opinion; but it does no change or in any way affect the naturi of the commodity itself. So alcohol re mains the kudo while men aj'guo am debate about its properties. However the more (ho subject is discussed thi inovo light is shed upon it, and wo fine tiliat among tho most recent scientific facts about the effects of using alcohn as a beverage aro stated by Professor W E. Dixon, of Cambridge University, ii tho "XiiK'teenth Century and After." JT completely disposes of tho extreme prohi bitionist idea that alcohol, even in mod eration, is deleterious lo tho human sys tem. I'rom experiments, of which ■ thi most notable wero those conducted bj the American doctors, Atwnter and Bone diet, for a committee inquiring into Ihi question of alcoholic drinks, it has beet proved that alcohol up to 2joz. a day that is to say, to tho extent of a botlle of claret, or six tablespoonfuls of whisky, may bo sutetituted as a food for equivalent quantities of starch, sugar, or fat In short, alcohol is a sparer of fat and carbonhydralo in the animal economy, Au ounce of it is roughly equivalent; it Joss, of fat, or liioz. of starch and sugar, Alcohol also protects tho body proteins, Heceiil research has considerably modified tho views held 25 years ago, when it was customary to disparage tho uso ol alcohol as an aliment. "It was once assorted," remarks Professor Dison, "that alcohol was not burnt, but excreted unchanged; later that it was burnt, but burnt immediately, like a wet Mjiiib, and much too rapidly to Ijo of any real eorvice lo the body; then Hint it did not supply the, body with heat, since the liberated energy was lost by heat radiation. It was also stated that alcohol had not tho power to economise tho body's fat and proteins. All these assertions, which wero formerly accepted, aro now completely disproved." Alcohol is readily produced in tho body during the chemical processes of cell nutrition. Then the Atwatcr-lienediet experiments have shown that, in moderate quantities, it is certainly not; a "poison." It is a poison in narcotic but not, in physiological desago. Excessive quantities aro unquestionably injurious, and the point is to find the happy mean which constitutes desirable moderation. This varies with individuals, but a fair -average estimate is that of Dr. Anstie, which is now used by many of the largest life insurance companies in America. It allows ljoz. of absolute alcohol a day. This would represent about four t.-iblospoonfiils of whisky, three winogla&ns of sherry or port, a pint of claret; or champagne, or from four to six lumblcrfula of lightbeer. In moderation, alcohol is not so far as at present known, injurious to the healthy; whilo for the sick it may often supply a food substance, requiring no preliminary digestion, rapidly absorbed into tho circulation, and easily oxidised in tho tissues, thus affording a. valuable tourco of energy. Tims (ho latest discoveries demonstrate the truth of what ;ho Wellington divine said seventeen years ago; and if there arc any who hold to the idea that alcohol is not a food iheir notions niiwt bo more antiquated ilran t.lio Flood. If they would bo up-:o-dato and preserve t!io rinhl (o use ileoholin bevora-tes, they must strike out he bottom lines on their ballot papers uul demonstrate to the world that New &>a hinders know as well as tho peoplo of Uaine how lo defeat prohibition and tho files of its 'advocates.* :