RED HERRINGS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 369, 19 July 1946, Page 18

RED HERRINGS

(Written for "The Listener" by DR.

MURIEL

BELL.

Nutritionist to the Health Department)

HE title, appropriately enough, has nothing to do with the nutritional value of herrings, or with pigments in ,»nature-though either would make good subjects for nutritional articles. The particular red herrings that are being trailed to which one would here wish to draw attention are connected with the value of milk as a food, and the allegations made against the processes used to make it a safe food. We are continually hearing erroneous and exaggerated statements about the effect of pasteurisation; it is falsely implied that gross losses in nutritional value occur on pasteurisation. This somehow tied up with the idea that it is sinful to alter a natural food, though why should we not extend the idea and insist on eating our beef raw? Or take a leaf out of the book of the African Masai and drink the warm blood of cattle? Taking each constituent of milk in turn, there is no loss of protein, vitamin A, or riboflavin when milk is pasteurised. These are three of the most important factors in milk. Another most important factor, the calcium, is not diminished in quantity, though some of it is in a different form after pasteurisation, causing the process of making junket to be a little slower. It is however still as good a source of calcium as unheated milk. The loss in vitamin B1 is only one-twentieth to one-tenth of the

total-indeed, there is far greater natural variation in vitamin Bl, the cow at the beginning of lactation supplying milk of a higher vitamin Bl content than she does at the later stages. The subject of vitamin C in milk deserves elaboration. A pint of milk drawn straight from the cow is capable of supplying about 12 milligrams of vitamin C-about as much as would be contained in a medium-sized tomato. Milk may be pasteurised without any loss of vitamin C during pasteurisation, it is more to be attributed to the previous exposure of the milk to light and oxygen. The effect of light on milk is severalfold. It destroys a large part of the riboflavin (and a pint of unspoilt milk contributes about half our daily requirement of this member of the group of B vitamins.) The substance so formed accelerates the effect of oxygen on vitamin C. When the vitamin C is destroyed there is no remaining bulwark against the oxidation of the fats, and a rancid taste develops. Is it any wonder that the careless handling and distribution of milk brings this important food into disfavour? For, above all, the taste of food is the most important point in inducing us to consume it. Therefore, to those who cry out against the pasteurisation, we may say, with David, "An unwise man doth not well consider this and a fool doth not understand it," or with Job, "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without Knowledge."