Help Yourself to Health

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 271, 15 December 1939, Page 3 (Supplement)

Help Yourself to Health

By PENROD TERRY, D.D.L., Dietitian.

More About Wholemeal

gpßjS I announced last week, W.V I intended carrying on this series of articles with one dealing with green vegetables this time, but have altered my plan because something has - been brought to my notice, which I feel must be dealt with first. The other day I was idly watching a member of my family mixing a Christmas cake, when the peculiar appearance of the flour attracted my attention; I took a little, ran it through a sieve, made a test and found it was a mixture of white flour and bran only, this latter being in very coarse flakes. Now, a few weeks ago, a country patient sent me a sample of just such a meal, and asked me if it was genuine, which palpably it was not; I suspected the country grocer where it was bought of having run out of stocks and made up the mixture himself, and though I naturally condemned him, it was, in a way, understandable. But this flour I

am talking about was bought in one of Auckland’s leading grocers, right here in Queen Street, and was sold as real wholemeal. Whether the blame lies with the firm, or the milling company supplying it, I do not know, and it is not really important, the point is that the selling of white flour and bran as wholemeal should be illegal, and punishable by law; the harm resulting from its use in some cases can be considerable.

It is true that a few years ago bran was recommended by many for the relief of constipation, and was used extensively. This, by the way, seems very ironic; feed the populace on devitalised, congesting white flour, feed all the farm animals on the valuable other parts of the wheat'(off-', which they'thrive), and then Sdll back the bran at a fancy price to the people to cure their constipation, thus making a double profit! Now, I do not recommend bran as a corrective of constipation, as, while it often has a good effect at first in many cases, it later always brings on. worse trouble. In the beginning, the water absorbing properties, and therefore “bulkiness,” together with the mineral salts, which are laxative, move the bowels very satisfactorily, and the sufferer thinks his troubles are over. But a continuance of its use has detrimental .results, as after a period the excessive roughage causes irritation and soon, instead of constipation, we get obstipation, or obstruction, and this is a far more difficult condition to cure than ordinary constipation.

Properly ground wheatmeal flour, you see, will not bring about this condition, as all the elements in the wheat are balanced, and taken together, give balanced results, and the bran is sufficiently broken down to be non-irritating. In another article, on bread, I explained how most of the loaves sold as wholemeal were a mixture of white flour, bran and pollard, a near approach to the genuine thing, but this substance I am discussing had not .even the pollard, which, of course, is a valuable part of the wheat, as instanced by the way fowls thrive on it as part of their daily ration. The most serious aspect of the question is that those with weak digestions, with intestinal and walls, lacking-- tone, mawf ' ...handle any- ■' " thi white flour P r °f U + ?*feMemea l just doesn t sU it th ‘%-v* they s h im it altoff§ip^r rds ’ ■* *" \

In conclusion, I would like to say, that for a healthy, normal person, the occasional use of bran biscuits, or. muffins, etc., is not contra-indicated, as it is the regular intake of this item that is inimicable to health.

Readers are invited to write to Mr. Terry about any questions of diet. General inquiries will be answered in this column.

QUESTIONS.

B.H. asks : Is a meat eater more prone to Bright’s Disease than a vegetarian ? Not necessarily. A badly balanced vegetarian diet can be very harmful indeed, and 1 have had many patients of that class suffering from hypertension and kidney troubles. It is often advisable to include meat in the diet of these to bring about a quick restoration of certain factors.

And here is another question on a similar line: S.L.H. asks: I have heard that the soy bean is a complete protein, equal to meat'in this respect; do you think it better to use it than meat? —Now this needs a good deal of explanation, so I am devoting an article to the soy bean in the near future.

G.K.: Yes

F.R.P. says: I have been suffering nearly all this year from what I have been told is migraine. I experience a dreadful head-ache, which almost blinds me, and generally at the same time feel sickish in the stomach. I do not suffer from constipation and my digestion is usually good. What would cause this? —Migraine, and I would say that is what you have, is the result practically always, of protein putrefaction in the intestines. The bloodstream becomes poisoned, and the burden of dealing with this toxic state is thrown on the liver. Write to me and I can show you how to avoid it. A cure is the easiest thing in the world. “Mother” asks : I have a nine months old baby, up till now naturally fed, and really a picture of health, but cod-liver oil as well as the Plunket emulsion, seems to upset her. Would sun-bathing be a sufficient source of Vitamin D.? —If properly carried out (about twenty minutes any time before ten a.m. is best, with a hat and sun-goggles) I would say ' yes, but you must avoid “tanning” her, which is very harmful. A concentrate of Vitamins A. and D. sometimes are useful in such cases. S.T. asks : Plow many “calories” does a man doing light gardening work require, and is fruit a good source? —It depends on the size of the man, his temperament, the weather,' and the balance of his diet. Anything from two thousand to two thousand eight hundred, roughly speaking. I have done such work on less than two thousand, without going hungry. The out-moded calorie theory is a very mechanical way of looking at dietetics. Better rely on your appetite as to how much you eat. Fruit yields from two to three hundred calories per pound, that is, the usual fresh fruit such as apples, oranges, pine-apple, passion fruit and so on. Dried fruit, .of course, dates, raisins, figs, as high as sixteen hundred to the pound. ;

J.L.C. asks : What is your opinion of rhubarb?—All right, if one did not have to cook it. The cooking and large amount of sweetening required to make it palatable, puts it well down on the list of desirable items, though analysis shows it to be very high in alkaline elements (to a great extent destroyed by heat). T.P.8.: You have told us that fresh fruit is alkalising. Now are not most fruits acid? Quite, but we must differentiate between acid taste and aidd-forming properties. The point, l or ash and this is alkaline, or £, nlore my in anothfr article U acid and alkaline foods.