The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1907-02-08
FACTS ABOUT MILK.
Too Much Fat Is Undesirable-The I'm
wise Jersey Preference.


WHY should milk that contains much
cream be accounted tbs bestf cream
is only fat and we do not rate the food
value of meats solely by the amount
of fat that they include, says Literary
Digest. DIR. J. A. Gilbert writing IN
the Medical Record, New York;, takes
/ the view that this devotion to ''rich -
milk has no logical basis. In our
earnest search after fat milk, he says,
we have probably gone too far. 70
quote from an editorial in The Hospi-
al, london, November ID which notes
DR.. Gilbert s opinion approximately.
"The milk which is richest in cream
is not, therefore, the most nutritious,
for the very simple reason that rich
milk is less easily digested and alb
sorbed than a milk in which the fat
percentage is low. As far as its other
constituents are concerned, milk poor
in fat is as valuable as a food as a
milk rich in fat. The fat percentage,
the popular standard by which milk is
Judged, is most valuable where the pro
portions of albuminoids, sugars and
salts vary but little in the different
samples of milk.
"fn other words, while the energy pro-
ducing and heat-giving qualities of
the several kinds of milk may be great
or little, the valuable proteid ingredi-
ents which go to the building-up of the
tissues--the prime property in any
food-remain very much the same in
all varieties of cows milk. Thus a
thin milk is for all purposes, save
for energy and heat production, as
valuable food as the so-called erich ~
milk
"Indeed, it not infrequently happens,
as the experimental feeding of young
growing animals has shown, that a
thin milk may prove, in the long run,
more feshforming than rich milk,
inasmuch as the former is less liable
to induce CASTRO -enteric disorders. Let
us consider what this means. 1t means
first of all, that the enormous quantity
of skim milk produced in this country
should be turned into more economical
use than the feeding of animals or the
manufacture of ivory for table knives
and piano keys.
"The despised skim milk is valuable
article of food, capable of supplying
many of the wants of the organism and
from its Ightness and digestibility,
peculiarly suitable to those whose di-
gestive powers have debilitated. 1t
means that buttermilk, which can be
had for the asking almost everywhere
in this country, is a valuable food for
men and women, although at present
utilized only to feed pigs. Surely, if
ba ncta hn @ar
to the race who can grow two grains
of corn where only one grew before, in
like manner honor should be paid him
who rescues waste product and trans
forms it into valued article of a nat
ions diet. ~
These considerations lead the writer
also to doubt how far the popular pre-
ference for the Jersey COW is just Ger
tain Jersey cows give milk so rich that
they cannot suckle their own calves.
Jersey milk is hard to digest, not only
because of its high percentage of fat,
but also because the fat globules are
larger than those in the milk of other
breeds. The Jersey COW is delicate
animal, highly strung, hard to rear,
difficult to handle, and were it not for
INV iiSoioiouo Values oSt upOu mllh
the farmer would probably rely on the
more stable and hardy breeds, such as
the Holsteins To quote the writer s
concluding paragraph:
cit may seem that this argument
runs counter to the experience which
has stamped itself upon the laws of
MS country in such a fashion as to
make the fat percentage the standard
for the estimation of the purity of milk
offered for sale. And it may be urged
that if thin milk were legally salable
as 'unskimmed milk, watering could
never be detected. This objection of
course leaves out of sight the fact that
watered milk presents lowered pro-
portion of not only fat, but also Of its
other solids.
AT the same time we are of the
opinion that public feeling is ripe for
radical change in the laws governing
the dairy industry. The public should