The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-04-17
MILK AS A FOOD.
Contains All That is Necessary to
Keep the Body in Condition.


Milk is a valuable and indispen-
sable article of food. 1t supplies to
the system all the nutriment that is
necessary to keep the body in the
best of condition. Not only may in
fants and children live almost en-
tirely upon it, but grown people as
we'll.
One man lived on nothing else for
more than %thirty-fve years, and to-
day he has twice the strength OF any
ordinary meat-eating man.
Too little attention is paid as a
rule to the milk that is taken into
and used in the household.
People are not sufficiently partlcu-
lar about knowing that it m from
a healthy and we'll kept dairy. Nor
are they careful about keeping 1t IN
a proper place when it reaches them.
If not already bottled when re-
ceived, milk should be poured into
bottles kept expressly for this pur-
nose that have been cleaned with a
solution of borax and warm water,
allowed to remain in the bottle over
night and then washed out with
fresh warm water.
It is strongly advised that no milk
should be taken that is not already
bottled, but if this cannot be helped,
then treat it in this way. Fill the
bottles to the top, so that no air may
enter, then cover them tightly anu
set in a cool place or on ice.
The care of milk to be fed to Da-
HES should constitute one of the most
important features in a mothers at
tention to the welfare OF her little
one.
Though milk is a most valuable
food and contains all that is essen
tial to the nourishment Of the human
infant in ordinary health, it fire.
uuently conceals within its whiteness
the germs of disease.
Scarlet fever and d%iphtheria often
come through milk handled by
dairymen in whose families these dis
eases exist.
Even when diseases cannot be con-
veyed through milk, it is often the
case that milk received in purity
from a healthy COW is made to con
tain disease germs through the care
less handling.
This makes it almost a necessary
orecaution that all milk fed to in
fants should be sterilized.
To sterilize milk ear to render
it free from germs. If it is required
for immediate use this can be done
by boiling it for ten minutes in a
clean saucepan, stirring it briskly to
prevent the formation Of a large
coagula.
When an infant is to be fed on
sterilized milk any water used to
dilute it should be boiled in a clean
saucepan before using, so as to rem
der the water sterile.
The bottle containing the sterilized
milk should neve be opened except
when the milk is to be used. If 1t is
not necessary to use the entire con-
tents of the bottle Of the bottle for
n feeding, the portion used should
remain in the sterilized bottle tightly
corked.
Skim milk contains nearly all OF
the food value of the original milk,
with the exception of. the fat, and
even this may be present to the ex-
tent of from Ito to 1 per cent.
1t contains from 3.5 to 4 per cent.
of protein, about 5 per cent OF milk
sugar, and s per cent of ash or min
eral matter. It's chief value is as a
muscle making food, and hence it is
the best food for growing children or
laboring people.
Its economy as an article of diet
can best be shown by comparing
it with other foods. Twenty-Five
cents will purchase Gk times as
much total nutrients and five times
as much protein in skim milk at 2
cents a quart as in sirloin steak at ~
cents, or four times as much nutrl-
ents and SR times as much protein
as mutton shoulders at Is cents a
pound.
At the present prices the only COM
mon food materials that will furnish
more protein for a given sum OF
money than skim milk are beans,
wheat, -four, oatmeal, cornmeal and
salt Goldfish.