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--substituting 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, anticipating a milk shortage in the winter
bought large quantities 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 CONSTITUENTS 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 constituents 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 substitute. 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 butter. 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 substituting 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 2¼
pounds of carrots to give the same amount, or 7 pounds of white bread
or the impossible quantity 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 constituents 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 butter, 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.
THERE IS NO OTHER FOOD THAT HAS ALL THE VIRTUES OF MILK; IT THEREFORE
HAS NO SUBSTITUTE. "THE REGULAR USE OF MILK IS THE GREATEST SINGLE
FACTOR OF SAFETY IN THE HUMAN DIET."
OUR MILK PROBLEM
We have not nearly enough milk in the United States to give every
child the quart and every adult the pint which they should have.
Although we actually produce about a quart per person, more than
half of this is used for butter, cheese, and cream, and only about
two-thirds of a pint is drunk directly as milk or used in cooking.
This spring we have slightly more than this amount because of the
dairymen's response to the patriotic appeal to maintain production,
but our supply and consumption of milk are still far below what they
should be.
To increase the quantity in the country the price of milk must be low
enough for people to afford it, but high enough to keep the producer
and distributer in the business. The question of a fair price is a
difficult one. The cost of feed has gone up, labor is scarce and dear,
but further economies in both production and distribution are still
possible. This past winter the Food Administration and the Dairy
Division of the Department of Agriculture have assisted many local
commissions in determining fair milk prices and pointing out economies
all along the line of the milk business.
It is most unfortunate that ignorance of the value of milk makes
people particularly sensitive to a change in its price. When it goes
up even a cent a quart, many cut down their consumption, while a
considerably larger advance in the price of meat will make little
difference in the amount bought.
If diminished use of milk continues, dairymen may go out of business
and permanent harm be done, both to us and to those dependent on
us abroad. A factory may close down and when the need comes reopen
immediately, but if a cow is killed it takes practically three years
to replace her.
The milk we have should be used as effectively as possible. The most
economical way for a nation to use its milk so as to get the benefit
of all the food in it, is, of course, as whole milk, or evaporated
or dried whole milk. The next most economical way is in the form of
whole-milk cheese, since all but the whey is used in it.
Cream and butter are much less economical unless all the skim milk
is used. As 41 per cent of our milk-supply goes to make butter, we
have large quantities of skim milk containing as much protein, it is
estimated, as all the beef we eat.
At present we feed the largest part of this to animals or actually
throw it away. Since the cottage-cheese drive of the Department
of Agriculture, an increasing amount of it is being made into
cottage-cheese--a palatable and useful meat substitute. It can, of
course, be used as a beverage or in cooking. Whey also has many food
uses. Buttermilk, too, is justly popular and healthful. Skim milk is
not a substitute for whole milk for children.
Cream, valuable food though it is, is also extravagant in its use of
milk. It takes five quarts of milk to produce a quart of cream. Buying
whole milk is, therefore, better policy than buying cream and no milk.
The sale of cream is now forbidden in Great Britain for this reason.
OUR MILK ABROAD
It is our supply of milk that is helping to meet the milk shortage
abroad. Before the war we exported very little. By 1917 our export of
evaporated, condensed, and dried milk had gone up twentyfold. In the
spring of 1918 we sent over the equivalent in whole milk of almost
50,000,000 pounds a month, and should probably have sent much more
were it not for the lack of ships. After the war, when ships are
released, the demand for it will be enormous. It will take years to
build up the dairy-herds of Europe again, so we shall continue to be
their main source of supply.
LEARN AND TEACH THE UNIQUE VALUE AND ECONOMY OF MILK. DO EVERYTHING
TO PREVENT IN THIS COUNTRY THE TRAGIC RESULTS WHICH ARE FOLLOWING THE
CUTTING DOWN OF MILK CONSUMPTION ABROAD.