By M. YATES, Hon. Sec. Bread Reform League, London.
It is well recognized that defective mineral nutrition is an important
factor in the production of rickets and bad teeth, but as its
influence in predisposing toward tuberculous disease is not so clearly
ascertained, will you kindly allow public attention to be directed to
a statement which was discussed at the Social Science and Sanitary
Congresses and which, if confirmed by further scientific research,
indicates a simple means of diminishing consumption, which, as Dr.
William Fair, F.R.S., says, "is the greatest, the most constant, and the
most dreadful of all the diseases that affect mankind." In "Phosphates
in Nutrition," by Mr. M.F. Anderson, it is stated that although the
external appearances and general condition of a body when death has
occurred from starvation are very similar to those presented in
tuberculous disease, in starvation, "from wasting of the tissues, caused
by the combustion of their organic matter, there would be an apparent
_increase_ in the percentage proportion of mineral matter; on the other
hand, in tubercular disease, there would be a material _decrease_ in the
mineral matter as compared with the general wasting." Analyses, made
by Mr. Anderson, of the vascular tissues of patients who have died
of consumption, scrofula, and allied diseases, show "a very marked
deficiency in the quantity of inorganic matter entering into their
composition; this deficiency is not confined to the organs or tissues
which are apparently the seat of the disease, but in a greater or lesser
degree pervades the whole capillary system."
The observations of Dr. Marcet, F.R.S., show that in phthisis there is
a considerable reduction of the normal amount of phosphoric acid in the
pulmonary tissues; and it is very probable that there is a general drain
of phosphoric acid from the system.
This loss may be caused by the expectoration and night-sweats, or it may
also be produced by defective mineral nutrition, either from deficient
supply in the food, or from non assimilation. But, whatever causes this
deficiency, it is universally acknowledged that it is essential the food
should contain a proper supply of the mineral elements. If the body is
well nourished, the resisting force of the system is raised. Professor
Koch and others, who accept the germ theory of disease to its fullest
extent, state that the minute organisms of tubercular disease do not
occur in the tissues of healthy bodies, and that when introduced into a
living body their propagation and increase are greatly favored by a low
state of the general health.
Dr. Pavy, F.R.S., showed in his address on the "Dietetics of Bread" that
in white flour, instead of obtaining the 23 parts of mineral matter
to 100 parts of nitrogenous matter--which is the accepted ratio of
a standard diet--we should only get 4.20 parts of mineral matter.
Professor Church states that 1 lb. of white flour has only 49 grains of
mineral matter, while 1 lb. of whole wheat meal has 119 grains. Whole
wheat meal, besides containing other essential mineral elements,
has double the amount of lime, and nearly three times the amount of
phosphoric acid; so that if defective mineral nutrition in any way
predisposes to consumption, the adoption of wheat meal prepared in a
digestible and palatable form is of primary importance for those who are
unable to obtain the phosphates from high-priced animal foods.
Wheat meal has also great advantages for those who are able to afford
animal food, for, as Dr. Pavy stated, "It acts as a greater stimulant to
the digestive organs."
It is probably due to this stimulating property of wheat meal that
people who have adopted it find they can digest animal fat much better
than previously. If this is corroborated by general experience, it may
be of great benefit in aiding the system to resist tendencies toward
consumption and scrofula, for these diseases are generally accompanied
by loss of the power of assimilating fat. It is believed that a
deficiency of oleaginous matter is a predisposing cause of tuberculous
disease. An important prophylactic, therefore, against such maladies,
would be a general increase in the use of butter and other fatty foods.
There is such good reason to believe that a low state of nutrition
favors the development of tuberculous disease, that parents cannot be
too strongly urged to provide their children with a proper supply of
healthy, nourishing, and pure food (under which term must, of course, be
included pure air and pure water), for by so doing they may often arrest
consumptive tendencies, and thus would be diminished the ravages of
that fatal disease which, when once established, is "the despair of the
physician, and the terror of the public."
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