DISEASE FACTORS

Hokitika Guardian, 5 August 1932, Page 8

DISEASE FACTORS

CO-ORDINATION IN RESEARCH * ' 5?

LORD BLEDISLOE’S LEAD

WELLINGTON, August 2

At a meeting of ‘the New Zealand ■ty’&nch of the British M'edicjii, ciation in March, a resolution was appipved unging thk. luecessity ;'.ffbr - fur* 'thief research' regarding the “fa.c.tors which govern -the incidence goitre, in particular “ its .^feti< JI1 'S‘hip to: the nature of the e-oti/niid - the food of the people,” and recommepdtjftg that • jarrangfirtients 'bo made to-co-ordinate medical research with soil and animal research. ” 'The ]re>solution ito co-ordinate workon soils, • domestic animals and huhrau beings, is undoubtedly, sound. Investi'gations on'these lines-have been carried out in Great Britain in recerit years. The .greatest obst.acla to .progress is the difficulty of determining ■ with ‘Ppcurary the amounts of iodine present in soils and foodstuffs. A - committee of the Medical 'Research 'Council;./W.ith tfC assistance of 'Sir Robert- Robertson, of the Government Chemical Laboratory, ,is at present trying to evolve a method which will give trustworthy data and can b© used as a standard method throughout the world. ' If such a method be found, the rdvnhce in our knowletige'-will - cer|.»inly be along the .dines. suggested by l+hn ’ New Zealand-/ Medical, Conference. Tt is probable that through the imperial Agvicu'tural Bureaux, thi P^dini 1 : Research Council. the / public •health departments, and the Agriculjtnrai • v Research ' Council,./; ■' co-operative research not only between ' medica’. V«»t«r- : nPTy and agricultural research workers, but. also between institutions different parts of the Empire may be arranged. It ,is by co-opera-tive work that tb e , goitrd/'prob’em ■. is most likely .to he solved.N/ OTHER MATTERS-

That such co-operation.should hot be limited. to the' qv:es|ibk.;;q : f goitre is, emphasised by a Bledisloe,, to the New Zealand•! Medical Lord Bledi'ioe ■ has, for iariy years, shown* a deep 1 interest in thte veterinary and, .... agricultural re- , aarch and in his message he directs attention ito '/ the, •’ ifitei-re-atUm .°f /human ( land animal food deficiency diseases'. He Refers., specially to dis- • eases ‘traceable to i]a<k of iron, calcium, . iodine;; phosphates, vitamins, or other essential food -,ft.factors,’ aud ppiiits out. Uiat these diseases, \yhich. .lav'd a common aetiology ~.in - both human beings and farm animals, require further investigation. , 4. number of- deficiency disease', /‘ for 'example, VVaihi ,aisCa->e. in cattje, ; du©. to -, phosphorus deficiency, bush i sioKuess to iron deficiency, goitre be-. 1 lieved to be associated- . With fod ne deficiency, and several' diseases in ch:.ep winch may ne dug-, to lack ol either caicium or phosphoru", oiyboth, are already , being successfully ,' in .sow, .Z'-adand,'. denge that simiJar mineral. deficiencies • oepur under certain, conditions ..iii " thp •food of human beings, and there; -is na. doubt fiffiat lack of.. the vitamins ,is of common oceurt&hfceV >m. larg© sections :of the worlds population. .

The wealth of knowledge which research .in nutrition ihas . aocumu’.at"•d .in the past few years, perhaps on account of its very newness, has not yet been , f ally .-applied ito -J the ".prevention of disease, in human beings - and domestic animals. The lead given by Lord -Bledisi-oe for the: combination of medical, veterinary, and agricultural /research resources for an. attack o-Qn diseases, the incidence of which is in- ; fluenced directly or indireotly by nutrition, is therefore timelytl-' ■ '