HEALTH OF CHILDREN

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 42, 13 November 1920, Page 10

HEALTH OF CHILDREN

' -4 nturr an important food (Published under Authority of Education Department.) It is commonly assumed that fruit is flu unnecessary adjunct (o llie diet. On tho contrary, it is an important food,. ' find It may bo generally said that a. child whoso daily diet does not includo a certain amount of fruit is not being adequately fed. The value of acid fruit in cleansing the teeth' after • awls and counteracting decay alouo would givo fruit an Important placo in our. list.of foods. But tliero are other ways in which iruit contributes to health. Fruit Ti rich in certain vitamines, or vila.l dements of nutrition}, wliloh nro osscntial to health and bodily growth. Insufficiency of certain vitamines is froMiieiilly a serious fault In tho diet of children, consisting, 118 it often does, almost wholly of artificially refined foods. 1 The fresh juico of oranges and lemons had saved battalions of troops from contracting that.dread dieeftse, scurvy.' Fruit has .1 stimulating—one might almost say a disinfecting—power upon the digestive tract. It helps to prevent stagnation, to promote normal activity of' the digestive organs, and to maintain' tho lining momliraue in a healthy condition. It is becoming increasingly _rt cognised in the treatment of certain diseasos of children that to restore the digestive lining of tho stomach and bowels to a healthy stnto it.is essential to include in, tho diet a good proportion of food requiring rigorous mastication and a certain amount of fresh raw food, such as fruit.. In alt cases of artificially fed infanta, it is important (o givo « littlo orange or apple juico daily, commencing'with about 10- drops anv limo alter (ho first month, ■ and increasing very; gradually. At this ago it should be given in the interval between meals-. After a year old a little, baked applo may lie.given at J>o end of a meal, and at 18 months the average child should gradually learn'to; nibble a little raw applo. Unless there is somo roason to tho contrary, a small p mo ot raw applo or orange should bo given at the end of each meal, and this shnild bo n general rule from two years, unwnrds. In tho case of oranges, the juice onlv should bo takon. The reason why stone fruits, such as pluius, sometimes cause digostive trouble is that they aro often eaten with their skins unwashed. As such fruit ol'.ers'a great attruotion to flies it is frequently in a very unclean condition. It ehuld invariably be washed, and for joung. children tho skin should be peeled off. Tho most gonorallv useful fruit is tho apple. A greator demand would result in cheaper apples, and judioiovit.lv used tlioy would cffcct an enormous reduction in dontal disease and an incalculable increase in health. There are sciontitio grounds for tho old adage "An opplo a day keops the doctor away."