NEW ZEALAND GRAPEFRUIT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 122, 24 October 1941, Unnumbered Page

NEW ZEALAND GRAPEFRUIT

(Written for "The Listener" by

DR.

MURIEL

BELL

, Nutritionist

to the Dept. of Health)

WONDER whether we often stop to count the blessings of this long, thin stretch of land in which we liveextending as it does from a latitude of 35 degrees to 47 degrees. Our transport difficulties arise from the peculiar length and configuration of our islands, but there are also advantages conferred by that very length. A land which, though only 103,000 square miles in area, is able to grow sub-tropical plants in the north°and oats in the south, has a wide range of potential production. In some ways, the North needs an introduction to the South, and vice versa. Those of you who live in the North have the advantage of being able to grow citrus fruits, including New Zealand grapefruit, oranges and lemons. Last year, I discovered that many folk in the South were unacquainted with the New Zealand grapefruit, and, as it is such a pleasant and valuable fruit, I should like to popularise it. Justification for describing it as valuable lies in its possessing a large amount of Vitamin C-students at the Otago Medical School have tested grapefruit out in their bio-chemistry classes for two years now, and find that they are rich in this vitamin. This means that their juice can be used as a substitute for orange juice for babies, and that the health attributes of Vitamin C can be made use of for adults also. Victims of Scurvy While everyone is aware of the value of Vitamin C in preventing scurvy, it is probable that few know that scurvy is not without its victims in New Zealand. Spongy gums that readily bleed occur among Maori school children, and not infrequently among babies who are artificially fed, especially those who are fed on dried milk preparations if the mother has not noticed all the instructions on the tin. There are likewise few who know of the value of Vitamin C in helping us to prevent or overcome infections. We have been schooled until now in the frank evidences of food deficiencies-but a new concept is becoming apparent among nutritional workers-the idea of optimal nutrition. For example, nowadays we are not satisfied with the idea that we must merely prevent scurvy-we wish to have enough vitamin C to confer a greater measure of resistance to disease. Try Them Now! The citrus fruits, tomatoes, and raw fresh green vegetables stand out as being the richest contributors of Vitamin C. Now whereas we New Zealanders could do with developing our taste for green salads, it will be an easier matter to cultivate here and now the taste for grapefruit; for it is such a luscious fruit, full of juice, so full that it is guaranteed to squirt you in the eye or spray the tablecloth or the lapel’ of your coat, if you are not careful when you dig into it with a spoon! If, until now, you have not tried them, if you have maligned them by thinking of them merely as the poorman orange,

try them now. They are a more mature version of’ their younger brethren, the poorman orange, jucier than many of the imported grapefruit, and often better liked once you have acquired the taste. Moreover, when they are plentiful, they are cheap to buy by the case, a fact which is of great importance in a country where citrus fruits are notoriously dear. (Next week: "Rhubarb and the Human Body;" by Dr, H. B, Turbott.)