The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1907-02-01
SOME FACTS ABOUT MILK.

not rate the fOOd-value of meats
, solely by the amount of fat that
they include, says Literary Di-
gest. DR.. j. A. Gilbert, writing in
! the Medical Record New York +,
takes the view that this devotion
to erich" milk has no logical
basis. In our earnest search after
a fat milk, he says, we have prob
ably gone too far. To quote from
an editorial in The Hospital (Lon-
don, November ~ which notes
DR.. Gilbert's opinion appreciative-
| ly:
''The milk which is richest in
cream is not, therefore, the most
nutritious, for the very simple
reason that a rich milk is less
easily digested and absorbed than
a milk in which the fat pePcen.
tage is low. AS far as its other con
stituents are concerned, a milk
poor in fat is as valuable a food
as milk rich in fat. The fat
percentage, the popular stand
ard by which milk is judged, is
most valuable while the proper
lions of the albuminoids, sugars,
and salts vary little in the differ
ent samples of milk. In other
words, while the energy-producing
and heat-giying qualities of the
several kinds of milk may be great
or little, the valuable prOteid in
gradients, which go to the build
ing-up of the tissues-the prime
property of any food-remain
very much the same in all varieties
of cows milk. Thus a thin milk
is for all purposes, save for ener-
gy and heat production, as valu-
ale a food as the sO-called rich
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 flesh
forming than a rich milk, mas
much as the former is less liable
to induce gastro-enteric disorders
Let us consider what this means.
1t means, first of all, that the en-
ormous quantity of skim-milk pro
duced in this country could be
turned to more economical use
than the feeding of animals or the
manufacture of ivory for table
knives and piano keys. The
despised skim-milk is a valuable
article of food, capable of supply
ing many of the wants of the or
ganism, and from it's lightness
and digestibility, peculiarly suit
able to those whose digestive
powers are 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, althO' at
present utilized only to feed pigs.
Surely, if he is esteemed the
greatest benefactOr 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 a waste product
and transforms in into a valued
article of a nations diet"
These consideration lead the
writer also to doubt how far the
popular preference for the Jersey
cow is just. Certain Jersey cows
give milk so rich that they can
lOt suckle their own calves. Jer-
'ey milk is hard to digest, not
only because the fat glObules are
arger than those in the milk of
)ther breeds. TIL Jersey COW is
delicate animal, highly strung,
lard to rear, and difficult to han
lie, and were it not for the ficti-
ious values set upon rich milk,
he farmer would probably rely
IN the more stable and hardy
'reeds, such as the Holsteins. To
IuOte the writer's concluding par.
graph:
at may seem that this argu-
nent runs counter to the expert
nee which has stamped itself
pom the laws of this country in
UGH fashion as to make the fat
the standard for the
stimation of the purity of milk
ffered for sale. And it may be
rged that if thin milk were
egally salable as 'unskimmed
lilk,' watering could never be de-
ected. This objection, of course,
caves out of sight the fact that
watered milk presents a lower
i proportion not only of it's fat,
ut also of it's other solids.
"At the same time we are of
pinion that public feeling is ripe
,r a radical change in the laws
Overning the dairy industry. The
ublic should be protected against
nscrupulous dealers, and in adj
ition to that very simple meas
re, there should be police super
ision to provide against the pur-
eying of a fluid called milk, no
Dubt, but bearing rather the char
,ter of sewage"