Part 5 (1/2)

USE FEWER SWEETS OF ANY KIND AND USE SUGAR SUBSt.i.tUTES. Sugar does serve a desirable purpose in making certain of our foods more palatable, but the quant.i.ty necessary for this is small, and for much of it other sweets can be used instead. The household consumption uses by far the largest percentage of the sugar-supply. Its economical use also helps to provide a reserve for preserving surplus fruits. SUCH ”EXTRAS” AS CANDY AND CAKES CAN BE ENTIRELY DISPENSED WITH.

Of course, sugar is a food, as it is burned in the body for fuel.

But there are two good physiological reasons for avoiding excessive amounts. If we eat a large quant.i.ty in candy after already sufficient meals, we are overeating and may suffer from digestive disturbances in consequence. Eating sweets instead of other food is also bad and a cause of undernourishment. Sugar is pure carbohydrate, and although we may eat enough to satisfy the feeling of hunger the body will lack minerals, protein, and other substances absolutely necessary for its well-being. The person may feel satisfied, but he will be undernourished nevertheless.

The conservation of sugar will not only permit a fair distribution to our a.s.sociates in the war, but insure a sufficient amount for our own men. It is especially valuable for them because it burns so rapidly in the body that it gives energy more quickly than other foods.

CHAPTER VII

MILK--FOR THE NATION'S HEALTH

In war-time there is constant danger of letting down the health standard. Food is high in price, demands on incomes are many and insistent, worst of all, life is being expended so freely abroad that we become careless about it at home. But while we are fighting to make the world a decent place to live in, we must keep up our health and vigor at home.

MILK IS VITAL TO NATIONAL HEALTH AND EFFICIENCY. We can conserve wheat and meat, sugar and fats, and be none the worse for it, but WE MUST USE MILK. The children of to-day must have it for the sake of a vigorous, hardy manhood to-morrow. A quart for every child, a pint for every adult is not too high an ideal.

There is no lack of evidence that children suffer if they do not have enough. In New York in this past winter, two things were observed which are undoubtedly closely connected--increased undernutrition among school children, and decreased use of milk. The Mayor's Milk Committee in the fall of 1917 reported that the city as a whole had cut down its milk consumption 25 per cent, and certain tenement districts 50 per cent. The majority of the families who had reduced the milk to little or none were giving their children tea and coffee instead--subst.i.tuting drinks actually harmful to children for the most valuable food they could have.

About the same time as the milk investigation, a count was made of the number of New York children who were seriously undernourished-- half-starved. Twelve were found in every 100 children, twice as many as the year before.

The warring nations in Europe fully realize the value of milk. In the face of a serious shortage they are making every effort to get to the children as much milk as can be produced or imported. Until children, mothers, and invalids are supplied, no one else may buy any. For adults, milk is an almost unknown luxury.

All the countries have definite milk rations for their children. These rations would be adequate if they could be obtained, but many times they fall short. Every effort is made to treat all children, rich and poor, alike. The price of milk is regulated, but parents who cannot afford to buy it are given it free or at cost. Dried and condensed milk are used where they can be obtained and fresh milk cannot.

Thousands of tons of condensed milk have been sent over from America.

There has been scarcely a child born in the north of France and none in Belgium whose continued life during all that period has not been dependent upon American condensed milk. At one time the Ministry of Food in Great Britain, antic.i.p.ating a milk shortage in the winter bought large quant.i.ties of dried milk for distribution by local health committees and infant welfare societies.

In Belgium, in spite of the misery of the people, fewer young children are dying than before the war, because of the milk and bread and care that they get at the ”soupes” and children's canteens. But in Poland, Roumania, and Serbia, thousands and tens of thousands of babies and young children have died since the war for lack of milk and other food.

Grown people should use milk and appreciate that it is far more than a beverage. Comparing it with tea and coffee is not sensible. The idea that food is ”something to chew” breaks down completely when milk is considered. ”Milk is both meat and drink.”

THE VALUABLE CONSt.i.tUENTS OF MILK

What gives milk its unique value? It must contain especially valuable substances, since it is an adequate food for the young for several months after birth and is one of the most important const.i.tuents of a grown person's diet.

It contains protein of a kind more valuable, especially for growing children, than that of most other foods. Milk protein separates out when milk sours and is the familiar cottage-cheese. Because of it, milk, whole or skim, is a valuable meat subst.i.tute. When we drink milk, therefore, we need less meat.

It contains fat. A pint of milk has a little more than half an ounce--the same amount as an ordinary serving of b.u.t.ter. By drinking milk we can save fat as well as meat.

Milk-sugar is also present, more or less like ordinary sugar, but not so sweet. The sugar, the fat, and part of the protein burn in the body, giving the energy needed for the body's activities. A pint gives as much fuel as 4 eggs, or half a pound of meat, or 3 or 4 large slices of bread. Although bread is cheaper fuel than milk, its economy compared with meat or eggs is obvious. The pint of milk costs usually about 7 cents, while the eggs and meat cost at least two or three times as much. The economy of subst.i.tuting milk for at least part of the meat in the diet is plain. It is the advice of an expert to ”let no family of 5 buy meat till it has bought 3 quarts of milk.”

But this is not the whole story of milk. Milk is extraordinarily rich in calcium, commonly called lime, necessary for the growth of the bones and teeth and also important in the diet of adults, even though they have stopped growing. No other food has nearly as much. A pint has almost enough calcium for one entire day's supply. It takes 2 pounds of carrots to give the same amount, or 7 pounds of white bread or the impossible quant.i.ty of 21 pounds of beef! A diet without milk (or cheese) is in great danger of being too low in calcium, especially a meat-and-bread diet without vegetables.

Among the most necessary const.i.tuents of milk are the two vitamines.

One is present chiefly in the fat and the other in the watery part of the milk. Without milk fat, in whole milk or in b.u.t.ter, we run considerable risk of having too little of the fat-soluble vitamine.

The other vitamine is more widely distributed in our foods, so that with our varied diet there is little danger of not getting enough.

Milk, therefore, fills all the needs of the child, except, perhaps, for iron, and is one of the best foods in the diet of grown people.