The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1917-01-25
NUMBER 10
EVERYDAY CAUSES OF INDIGESTION.
Little Talks Oh Health and Hygiene by
Samuel G. Dixon, NJ. D., IL. D.,
Commissioner of Health.

The teeth are the first factor
in the process of digestion. They
represent the millstones that cut
and grind the food. AS they do
so, alkaline secretions are given
out by glands in the mouth and
mix with the food to make the
first change it undergoes in the
process of being absorbed by the
system.
Good teeth are essential to
normal digestion. Teeth which
are diseased or artificial teeth
held in place by settings which
retain foodstuffs, are injurious to
health because they provide pla-
ces in which disease producing
germs grow and multiply.
If you have diseased teeth or
false teeth not easy to keep clean
have them attended to. The
germs they foster are producing
poisonous substances that inter-
fere with the normal functions of
vital organs, such as the heart
and kidneys.
If you put your teeth in order,
provided the organs have not be-
come chronicalIy effected by long
subjection to improper conditions
in the mouth. the discontinuance
of the poisons will permit Nature
to reassert herself and the or
gans whose functions have been
affected will resume their normal
course in sustaining the scheme
of life.
Care of the teeth should begin
with the advent of the child's
first ones. They should be kept
clean by means that will insure
no wounding of the gums. They
are usually destroyed by acid,
therefore no mouth washes con-
tanning acids should be used.
Consult your dentist before using
mouth washes or preparations in
the form of powders, creams, etc.
If you are interested in your
digestion, you will avoid incon-
gruous mixtures of foodstuffs
made up solely to tickle the taste.
Potato salad in the American
style is a good example. The
potato is composed chiefly Of
starch. That is digested in the
second stomach where the secre-
tons are alkaline. If you soak
the potato in vinegar you have
something whose nature is strict
ly opposite to the alkaline, which
it fights. Therefore, you are ma
terially delaying the digestive
process.
Poor cooking often makes prop
er food either difficult or impos-
sible to digest. The hard earned
money of the household goes to
the purchase of good food which
is often ruined by the housewife
ignorant in the art of cooking.
Good cooking is not matter of
whim or flattering the palate. 1t
is an absolute essential to health.
Therefore the art should be
taught in our public and parochi-
al schools.
If you eat too fast when the
body is overtired, heated, or
chilled, you will often suffer dis
tressing indigestion. Eating in
impure or staple air will inter-
fere with digestion. If you are
compelled to take a meal under
such circumstances, the quantity
Of the food should be reduced to
q minimum.
Outside of some of these things
which have been mentioned, all
Of which can be controlled to a
greater or less extent, it will be
found that certain foods do not
in themselves agree with certain
persons. If you are eating SEN
sible food in a sensible manner
and you find that some particular
thing does not agree with you,
The only thing to do is to cut it
,ff your list.