The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-01-17
Milk Foods for Children.

Al The value OF milk in the diet of tn
young is due not only to the fact tina
/ II contains large number of nourishin,
substances in forms in which they cal
easily be assimiated, but also TO tn
fast that in some way not now fully un
der.tood it seems 10 promote growth am,
to help the body of the child to max,
good use OF other foods.
While milk should, if possible. have
place in the diet of all growing children
II is not necessary to serve it at every
meal, and the lunch can, If this seem,
desirable, be made an exception, says til,
Irish World In practice, however, il
has been found that such dishes as milk
toast milk soups and cocoa are often
convenient for ehildren's lunch at home
while at school they can be prepared
more easily than most dishes, because
| they do not call for an oven or for any
but the simplest cooking utensils.
Milk soups, of which there is a great
variety, all prepared in about the same
way, are important, not only because
| they can be made means of serving
milk in large quantities, but also because
they offer good way to use vegetables,
| the value of which as food is important.
Materials other than vegetables--small
amounts of fish or cheese, for example
can also be used for tiavoring These,
however, tend to increase the protein
rather than to add the nutrients, which
give vegetables their special usefulness in
the diet, a fact which should be kept in
mind when bills of fare are being made
1t is unfortunate for those who have
charge of children to be tied down to any
fixed recipes for milk soups, for if so
they are likely to fail to utilize materials
at hand such as those that have been
left over from previous meals and are
still in good condition
Other easily prepared dishes that may
be the means of introducing milk into
the diet are simple chowders, such as po
tato or corn chowder and custards. The
breakfast cereals large and varied
class of foods, valuable in themselves
may be the means of encouraging chill
dren to take much milk.
All can be served with milk: and the
food value of the uneooked varieties can
be further increased by using milk in
stead of water in preparing them. In
this way skim milk, which has a higher
food value than most people realize, and
which is too often wasted, can be made
to count as nourishment.
Vegetables and fruits are now consid I
cred necessary part of the diet of the
the child. The reasons are many, but |
most of them may be summed up by
saying that they furnish material needed
to form bone and tissue and to regulate
body processes. The mild acids which
some OF them contain help to prevent
. Il. . he ltttt
,r 4ef, especially when it is raw, though
is value for this purpose may have been
in popular literature.
Green vegetables are also valuable
means of introducing into the diet min
raj matters, particularly iron, in form
n which the body can utilize them, Even ,
t city prices green vegetables have been
hown to be an economical source of iron.
hey should be looked upon as a separate
nd important group of foods to be
rawn upon regularly.
The uses of fruits in the diet are much
he same as those of green vegetables,
hough, unlike most vegetables, they have
considerable percentage of sugar, espe- 8
ALLY when they are dried, and sugar is
quickly absorbed fuel food. Like vege [
sbles, they have value because they con /
-ibute some of the nitrogen required for +
ssue building and repair and some en-
'gy.
However, they are valuable chiefly be-
luse they supply growth stimulating
nd body regulating substances and also
ineral matter needed for bone and for
any other purposes. The quantity of
Iese materials in fruits and vegetables
small. it is true, but large in compari-
N with the-amount in many other COM
on foods. Dorothy Dexter.