SOUL OF THE FOOD

Hokitika Guardian, 3 April 1929, Page 2

SOUL OF THE FOOD

AND THE FOOD OF THE MOTHER

(By Dr. J. Tallarico, in London “Daily Mail”.)

Our life is the result of two kinds of factors—those of heredity and those of environment. Nowadays the science of genetics has the 1 actors of heredity well under control. Alike ni tho vegetable and in the animal kingdoms, it has already achieved successful results; and it' may be expected to be more or less suceesslul in applying to human beings tlie laws of eugenics, though these are not yet well established. The factors of environment arc under better control, on condition that they exercise their influence at the very beginning of life, its most plastic and sensitive stage. Ten factors acting at this stage are more powerful in determining tlie future course of an individual life than hundreds of factors acting later on.

Consequently, it is of capital importance to control the food of a mother from ..the very beginning of her pregnancy, if her offspring are to have greater power of withstanding ordinary diseases. Yet hygiene, and medical science begin with care of the infant. Only in certain eases do they pay heed to the mother, and then ulway in second period of pregnancy. They ignore the first, though it is the more important because the more susceptible to influence. CLIMATE FACTORS. It is at this stage that the factors of climate and especially those of nutrition, can act most successfully. The modern science of nutrition in food takes acouiit of:— Its chemical composition.

Its nutritive ratio—the relation between its plastic components, protein and its energetic material, sugar and fats; The genuineness and completeness of its albumins; The balance of its mineral salts; Its richness in vitamins; and Its harmonic capital (i. 0., the substance which on absorption into the blood influences the action of certain tissues and organs.) Those are fundamental principles. Tint in food we must take account of something else ,that escapes chemical and physical examination, something that bestows upon the food the greater building power which is so important during growth and development. This something is the vitality of the soul of the food. Ily a long series of experiments on small animals I have obtained some results which confirm this idea, and shall dry to set them forth in a lew simple words. These results may he very important and very helpful in determining the- diet proper to the vital period in which development and growth uro most pronounced.

WFKKCT OF COOKING. Fur example. cooking destroys the soul of food because, at a boiling temperature, its vitality is killed. Cooked eggs, milk, vegetables and fruit are less nuriliotis than raw, and less advantageous to growth. Consequently, rooked food should be avoided as much as possible when digestive capacity permits it. Not only does milk lose some of us power at high temperatures, but it is extremely sensitive to exposure to light and oxygen, even periods of time. The milk in the inner fthje mammarian ija.nd is 1 diii'erenV from the milk yiekh'd by tile mammarian gland of a mother, and I exposed even for a few minutes to ! air and lig'lit. Of two twin kids, the I one which is suckled directly bv the i mother grows and develops ' better than the other which is artificially nourished, even by a larger quantity of milk extracted from the same moth-

A brood of chickens led oii a ration of germinated grain put o:i lUpre Hosh. developed more quickly and withstood diseases better than a similar brood fed on an equal quality and quantity of grain that had been devitalised. A litter of mice fed on fertilised eggs showed the same superiority over a litter fed on sterile eggs laid by unfertilised liens. A third litter of mice, brought up on milk from cows which had been fed on 'dried winter bay, made slower progress than a fourth litter brought up on ft ilk from a cow which had fed on' lush, spring

grass. ; ,FERTH. IS ED EG GS B ETTER

This moans that what 1 may, call the inner or intimate milk, germinated grain, fertilised eggs:"and spring milk a.i'(_>'vital substances whose vitality gives them higher power of nutrition.

I have discovered something else, and not less important, in inv researches on food, it may b<> expressed thus:

A food made up of many units is more nourishing than the same quantity of food made up of few units. For instance, a pound of tiny eggs is more nourishing than half a dozen eggs of which the total weight is one pound. A pint of thousands of tiny seeds or grain kernels builds up more flesh than a pint of hundreds of grain kernels.

Young food is more nourishing than old food. Two tissues, of the same weight and chemical composition, of which ono comes from a young animal and the other from the same kind ni animal more advanced in ago. have different nutritive values. 1 lie voting tissue shows greater building activity than the older.

A monophytie (i. 0., one kind) diet is less nutritious than a poly phytic (mixed) diet. A ton of grass or fodder of only one sort wields less flesh and less milk than a ton made up of different varieties and species.

Of three groups of animals led on fresh spring alpha-alpha grass cut in autumn, the first group not only progresses and develops better than the other two, but gives milk of higher tissue-building power. 'lbis means that tho fresh fodder of May has m it the awakening spirit ol the soil, and that the milk of May has m it tho soul of the spring.

SECRET OK TISSUE VITALITY. Taking into account the well-estab-lished laws of the new science of Nutrition, together with these ideas upon food, it would not he difficult to put together a diet suitable tor the period of pregnancy, emphasis being lain on the fact that, at this sensitive stage of the embyro, it is ol extreme importance that food should be rich in activities stimulative ol growth and development. This is the secret of the vitality of tissues.