NATIONAL DIET.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 August 1920, Page 11

NATIONAL DIET.

THE PREVENTION OF DENTAL DISEASE. (Published under the Authority of the Education Department.) 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 '.'i-ses of foods which are injurious to ■.' feeth, and will conclude ly indicatii.jj those foods which best guarantee the successful preservation of both the temporary and the permanent teeth. For many years those qualified to speak authoritatively on this matter have declared dental disease t» be easily avoidable, and have proved the magnitude of the 'trouble in those 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 healthy saliva, which is the natural and unquestionably the mo3t efficient means of maintaining the irtouth in an hygienic condition. White bread, sweet biscuits and cake, sloppy porridge and puddings, bread and marmalnde, bread and jam, sweets, chocolates, 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 that it will not he long be-, fore white bread is banished from the diet of growing children and brown or whole-meal bread substituted, Apart from the question of fermentation, the consumption of bread made from refined flour means the children are hot receiving the essential substances of the living, grain which are necessary for the nourishment and proper growth of their bodies, as these have been extracted during the preparation of the flour. Biscuits other than theplain whole-meal kind are easily fermentable hi the mouth, and when sweetened are still more undesirable on this account. Porridge should be made from oatmeal as stiff as the children can 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 orange and apple, will produce an immediate and copious flow of saliva, and as it is recognised that all foods which are injurious to the teeth cannot be readily banished from the average diet of today, 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 the end of a meal is highly beneficial in preventing fermentation, and in cleansing the teeth. It is pointed out that Hie taking of food at all hours, whiclf is so common with children in most familiies, is very undesirable and such a practice not only favors fermentation and acid formation in the month, but also entails thn constant flow of the digestive juices which become weakened in strength and unrestricted in quantity. Whole-meal or brown bread, toast, crusts, boiled fish, soup, butter, green vegetables and fresh fruit are all articles of what may be termed an 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 end the meal. Children are very adaptable, and a proper regime'with regard to the rational consumption of food 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. As the infant passes from the purely milk to the more solid diet the milk should be more and more diluted with water. A dietary embracing the three daily meals is given below, and the food selected from these enumerated will ensure adequate nourishment to the growing child, with sufficient mastication. It will be' understood that variations in the number, kind and quality of foods will 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, Toas.ti.-d brown broad and butter (never hot buttered toast), well cooked or toasted bacon,' milk and l water or plait) water. Fresh fruit, as a piece of orange or apple. ■DINNER.—Oven-dried brown . bread, with butter, meat, boiled fish, or poultry. Cooked vegetables; uncooked vegetables, :such as lettuce, cress, radish, celery. Milk pudding. Baked apple or fresh fruit as a piece of apple or orange. Soup if given should be vegetable soup by preference. TEA.—Porridge or granose (made as above), or occasionally milk pudding, toasted or oven'-rtrieil brown bread and butter. Milk and water or plain water. Fresh frnil, as a piece of orange or apple. Eggs lightly boiled should he given only very sparingly until after two years of age. Meat is not considered necessary up to two years of age, but may be added later. Grated cheese on toast or witli other foods is easily digested by children. Sugar, jam, and honey should be restricted to a minimum, honey being preferable to the former. Quite recently at a public, meeting of three days' duration at Manchester, under the auspices of the Food "Education Society of Great Britain, the fact that Jewish children had better teeth than Gentile was attributed to differences in diet, an important factor being the Jews' use of oil instead of sugar. Dr. James WheaHey, the county and school medical officer for Shropshire, produced a record of investigations in the elementary schools of that country; showing that the restriction of the sugar supply during the war, the altered character of the bread, and the reduced consumption of milk, had been accompanied by a, re-" markable diminution of dental caries. Parallel with the attention to a rational or hygienic diet, care must be displayed in the choice and preparation of food 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 are called, will form the subject of the next publication in this series.