REGULATING THE DIET.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2372, 24 December 1921, Page 2

REGULATING THE DIET.

A MEMORANDUM on diet in relation to normal nutrition, written by Dr. J. W. Hamill, was recently issued by the British Ministry of Health. After a preliminary statement of the existing knowledge regarding the accessory food factors (or vitamines), Dr. Hamill says it is not possible to state with any. exactness where a diet begins to be unsatisfactory in respect of its content of these essential substances. The point of practical importance which has emerged is that milk and green vegetables afford a means of raising any ordinary diet into the plane of safety, and pending further knowledge little fear may be entertained as to the satisfactory nature of any mixed diet into which

milk and green vegetables enter, provided, of course, that the- diet is sufficient in amount to afford the necessary supply of energy. It would appear desirable that during the period of growth, at any rate, the amount of milk in the daily diet should he somewhere in the region of a pint; it might with advantage be even more. A pure and abundant milk supply, readily procurable by all classes, is one of the essential factors in any sound scheme of nutrition. In adult life the need for certain essential constituents (vitamines) is probably less than during the period of growth, so that a diet which is satisfactory during this period is almost certain to be adequate for adult life, assuming that a sufficient energy supply is assured. In order that a dietrv should include all essentials for nutrition, it should be as varied as possible. All available evidence indicates the undesirableness of limiting a diet to a few varieties of food material. When a diet is supplemented with milk and green vegetables, the food materials of which it is composed may quite satisfactorily consist of articles which are easily obtained and relatively cheap. Many of the more expensive and luxurious foods are superior only in regard to aesthetic qualities.