ADVICE ON DIET.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5064, 13 December 1926, Page 3

ADVICE ON DIET.

SECRETS OF GOOD HEiALTHI

SIR W. ARBUTHNOT LANE’S VIEWS

More interest is being taken in. the subject of nutrition every year, as is shown by the frequent publication in the daily Press of information ahput what we shall eat (says Sir. Arbuthnot Lane in the Daily Mail). We are constantly told that we eat too much, and that we do not choose the right kinds of ’food. The discoveries during the past 20 years of the elusive “vitamines” have opened up new vistas, and the general public havq become fascinated by the curious intricacy of the presence or absence of the several vitamines in\ the various foodstuffs.

A haphazard choice of food may mean the omission of some healthgiving substance. Individual likes and dislikes arq not a reliable guide as* to which foods to eat, and which to avoid. The ptoper choice of food cannot be made without a little special knowledge. Hence the, justification for health education. \ Manufactured, over-refined, and preserved foods have led the people away during the l a tst fifty years from the fresh and natural foods which are the basis of good health. No reader. ne,ed be afraid that the teaching necessary to counteract this evil of our civilisation is beyond the understanding cfl the laym'ajn. The right foods' must contain the three vitamines A, B, and C, also certain mineral salts and the good types of protein.

•If a dietary is to be satisfactory it must include many kinds, of food material. In other words, balanced meals are essential. What we require is “a square meal.” - Much more about floods and their effects upon growth and health has still to be found out. How is the subject dealt with at our "universities and medical schools ? At present the subject of nutrition comes within the province of both the psysiologist and the bio-chemist. iQply aj few of these teachers are really interested in the modern aspects of the subject. As far as the. medical student is concerned there is. no special training in dietetics beyond the few lectures he receives from teachers- of other subjects. As a consequence find nowadays that the, layman knows more about foods than the medical practitioner. The latter, in spite of his ignorance, gaily prescribes, curious diets for which he can give no more, adequate reason than that they are the usual custom.

Why is boiled white fish with white sauce and white rice pudding such a common .diet in our nursing homes and in convalescence ? All these floods are grouped among those we ought not to eat by the expert workers on nutrition. It, is high time that, alteration be ■ma ( de.. Much more thought, time, and endeavour are given to the ‘feeding of animals. There are two large animal nutrition stations in this Country, but, there -is no chair of nutrition in any university or medical school. The feeding ot man is just important as the feeding of animals. • The universities have n<*t at, present the ‘funds for departments o'f nutrition, *so> a founder of a chair of dietetics or nutrition is awaited. In the United States there are several university departments demoted to foods and nutrition, as ,well as Numerous agricultural stations in which, animal nutrition is specially studied. We ought to have at least, dne university chair, o'f nutrition. It is a curious thing that no pioneer work is done in this country, and. that its importance is not realised here. Other countries see the importance of it and start special departments to follow it, up and advance it. We cannot be expected to keep pace with other countries if our pioneers can give only part time to the subject. It would be an honour to them if their subject were raised to the full status of a separate department

Food, or rather the right food, is of such concern to the general public that it is a wonder that they have not clamoured before now for many depatrments where nutrition could be studied ‘for itself. The public want full information abolit every food we eat and its effect upon the body. It cannot be got, without special departments devoted 'to the teaching of food values and research upon every article o>f food.