RATIONAL DIET.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 August 1920, Page 9

RATIONAL DIET.

AND THE PREVENTION OP DENTAL DISEASE. The last publication of this series, drew attention to the great danger to the teeth of growing children, arising from the unrestricted consumption of sugar. The present article will deal with other classes of foods which are injurious to the teeth and -will conclude by indicating those foods which best guarantee the successful preservation of both the temporary and the permanent teeth. For many years those qualified to speak authoratively on this matter have declared dental disease to be easily avoidable, and have proved the magnitude of the trouble in these modern times to, be due largely to errors in diet and the failure to appreciate the fact that certain foods produce a free flow of saliva, which is the natural, and unquestionably the most efficient means of maintaining the mouth in an hygienic condition. White bread, sweet biscuits and cake, .sloppy porridge and puddings, bread and marmalade, bread and jam, sweets, chocolate, cocoa and tea all tend to leave the mouth in a condition favorable to fermentation of particles of food remaining on and between the teeth. Acid is formed from this fermentation with the result that the enamel is decalcified or softened and rapid decay of the tooth substance commences. « It is hoped it will not be long before white bread is banished from the diet of growing children and brown or wholemeal bread substituted. Apart from the question of fermentation, the consumption of bread made from refined flour means the children are not receiving the essential substfinces of the living grain, which are necessary for the nourishment anfl proper growth of their bodies. Those have been extracted during the preparation of the flour. Biscuits, other than the plain wholemeal kind, are easily fermentable in the mouth, and when sweetened are more undesirable on this account. Porridge should be made from oatmeal as stiff as the child caii take it, the idea being to encourage mastication and eliminate the practice of gulping this food, so common with most young children; Chocolate, cocoa and tea taken as beverages all tend to check the flow of saliva, thus aiding the process of fermentation of whatever food remains clinging to the teeth after food. Fortunately there is an easy remedy for conditions of stagnation of the mouth after food. Fresh fruit, especially oranges and apples, will produce an immediate and copious flow of saliva, ar.d as it is recognised that all' foods which are injurious to the teeth cannot be readily banished from the average diet of to-day, parents should make sure that such foods are followed by fresh fruit. Apples are cheap and plentiful in this country and the effect of a piece of this ripe fruit at th# end of a meal is highly beneficial in preventing fermentation and in cleaning the teeth. It is pointed but that the taking of food at all hours, which ; is so common with children in most Families, is very undesirable, and such a practice not only favors fermentation and acid formation in the mouth, but also entails the constant, llow of the digestive juices which become weakened in strength and restricted in quantity. Wholemeal or brown bread, toast, crusts, boiled fish, soup, butter, green vegetables and fresh fruit, are all articles of what may be-termed a hygienic diet, that is, they encourage an adequate supply of healthy saliva. It must be understood that it is advisable that in all cases fresh fruit should finish the meal. Children are very adaptable and a proper regime with regard to the rational consumption of fool is not difficult to establish. All robust children from the time they are in possession of their temporary molars should be restricted to three meals a day. 4 s infant passes from the purely milk diet to the more solid diet the milk should be more anijl more diluted -with water. A dietary Embracing the three daily meals is given below, and the foods selected from those enumerated will ensure adequate nourishment to the growing child, with efficient mastication. It will be understood that variations in the number, kind and quantity of foods ill be observed according to the age of the child. The ages considered range from two to twelve years. Breakfast—Porridge made, (from oatmeal) as stiff as possible, or Granose made in a similar manner, toasted brown bread and butter (never hot buttered toast), well cooked or toasted bacon, milk and water or plain water, fresh fruit as a piece of orange or apple. Dinner. —Vegetable soup from which the boiled vegetables have been removed by straining. If potatoes are used the skin should be included. Meat, boiled fish or boiled poultry, uncooked vegetables sueh as lettuce, cress, radish and celery, cooked vegetables, stale brown bread with crust, milk pudding, milk and water or plain water,, baked apple or fresh fruit as a piece of orange or apple. Tea. —Porridge or Granose (made as above), occasionally pudding, toasted brown bread and butter, stale brown bread and butter, milk and water or plain water, fresh fruit as a piece of orange or apple. Eggs lightly boiled should not be given until after two years of age. tyteat is not considered necessary in the majority of cases up to this age, but may be added. Grated cheese on toast or with other foods is well liked and easily digested by children. Quite recently at a public meeting of three days duration, held at Manchester under the auspices of the Food Education Society of Great Britain, the fact that Jewish children had better teeth than Gentile children was attributed to differences in diet, an important factor being the Jews use oil instead of sugar. Dr. James Wheatley, the County'and School Medical Officer for Shropshire, produced a record of investigations in the elementary schools of that county showing that the restriction of the sugar supply during the war, altered the cjiiiraeter of bread, and the reduced consumption of milk had been accompanied by a remarkable diminution of dental caries. Parallel with the attention to a rational or hvgenic diet, care must be displayed in the choice and preparation of foods in order that those substances which have been found by experiment to be necessary to the proper growth of the body, shall not be either absent or destroyed by heat in over-cooking. This question of the "Vitamines," as these substances aye called, will form the subject of tho next publication in this seriei.