WHOLEMEAL OR WHITE BREAD

Shannon News, 18 October 1927, Page 2

WHOLEMEAL OR WHITE BREAD

WHEN DOCTORS DISAGREE.

A piquant controversy has arisen between Sir Thomas Horder, the wellknown physician, and Dr. B. P. Allinson, the president of the London Vegetarian Society, as to the respective merits of meat juices and fruit juices. In his Macalister lecture on "Diet," Sir Thomas Horder declared that he had nursed back to health by beef tea and raw meat juices, a medical exponent of the view 'that the proper diet wherewith to % combat all the ills that flesh is heir to is raw fruit and raw vegetables." "The answer to Sir Thomas Horder," Dr. Allinson told an interviewer, "is that an enormous number of people treated by similar fortifying methods no longer live to give "their experiences of the . treatment. I am satisfied that injudicious feeding in acute disease is far more liable to delay recovery than a sparing diet-approaching the .fast. Beef tea would be liable to bring about the return of the very conditions which helped the disease to appear, and to load the system with unnecessary waste. stimulating effect 'af~irfoTeTn m extractive matters such as beef tea and meat juices, but because t they stimulate is no reasonable argument for their use. Stimulation in disease is rarely advisable, and if advisable can be brought about by less objectionable means. Vegetarianism has proved a refuge for millions of people to stand the wear and tear of modern life, and has enabled many to continue their normal work in a way which would have been impossible if they had retained a meat diet. The feats of vegetarian athletes in recent years, particularly cyclists, proves that it is possible to maintain vigorous health and stamina on a meatless diet. Sir Thomas Horder also defends the use of white bread in preference to brown. Without entering into points he raises. I can only affirm that many have proved the value of brown bread both in health and disease. Will Sir Thomas Horder submit his claims to an acid test. I challenge him to live exclusively on white bread and water for a month and still be Sir Thomas Horder. If he will accept it, I will keep him company on a diet of wholemeal bread and water, and then write his epitaph."