Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-27

Dear DR.. Peters: Will you please
write something about bleeders? I lost
q boy of years through bleeding from
a few scratches on his head. 1 have
another boy, 4 years Old Both were
normal, healthy children. Does this con-
dition run in the family? What kind of
food should they have? We want to do
all we can for my living boy. Is the
condition ever outgrown? Please help
me. MRS. F.
The disease your little boy evidently
suffered from, Mrs. F., was hemophilia,
and the patients are known as bleeders,
or hemophilicS. My medical dictionary
says the word hemophilia is taken from
hemo, blood, and philia, to love-a
strange combination, isn't it?
But 1t is no stranger than the disease
itself. Hemophilia is characterized by
q tendency to bleed much more pro-
fuSely than normal. Small wounds that
stop bleeding very soon in the normal
may ooZe for days and cause anemia,
and larger wounds may bleed SO pro-
fusely that death results. There is ap-
parently a deficiency in the CLOTHING
power Of the blood.
The strangeSt part of the disease Is
this: It is an inherited characteristic,
and 1t is believed that only male chill
dren are real bleeders. This character
iStic is transmitted by the male only
to his female children, who themselves
are not affected. They, however, trans
NIT the tendency to both their male
and female children, a proportion
(scne say one-half, others two-thirds)
of the males manifeSting the disease;
the females, while having the tendency
and the ability to pass it on, escape
themselves. For instance, should your
second boy be a bleeder, and live to
marry a normal girl. his boy children
would not inherit the characteristic,
and so wouldn't develop hemophilia.
But his girl children may inherit the
characteristic, although it is not mani
tested in them, and pass it on to their
male and female children. In other
words, your sons boys wouldn't have
hemophilia Of the mother was normaD
but his daughters sons, his grandsons,
may have it.
The cause Of this strange disease is
not known. However, there is a disease
Of hemorrhage of the newborn, which
may or may not be of hemophilic orr
gin, that has been proved to be due to
q deficient diet in the mother. So 1t
may be possible that this disease hemo-
philia, may have some connection also
with deficient diet, although the
ytrangeness Of the inheritance factor ap-
parently contradicts this.
The only thing you can do for your
child Is to see that he has a COM
plete diet and the normal hygienic
program in all ways and 1t would also
be wise for you to have a blood test
made Of his blood to see II his blood
clothing time is normal. II it Is not
then all you can do is to guard him, as
far as Is humanity possible, from cuts
and bruises. Sometimes hemophilles do
continue to live to maturity, and the
tendency to bleed seems to lessen as
time goes on.
I'll give you the foundation diet that
every child should have every day.
Part Protective Foods.
One and one-half pints Of milk at
least.
One full cupful of vegetables (espe-
cially the green-leaf vegetables). Part
of them raw
One full cupful Of fruit, part fresh,
II possible.
One or two ounces of high protein
food-fesh foods, eggs, cheese.
Part Energy Foods.
Whole grain cereals and bread, rice,
Hacaroni, potatoes and simple desserts.
Fats in form Of butter, cream, egg
yolks and nuts.
Gaining Weight.
Exercise Is an important measure In
gaining. as it is in losing weight Usu-
ally the musculature of the under
weighter Is habby, and series of exer-
cises, especially in the open-not too
vigorous at first-helps to increase the
tone and vigor and weight of the
muscular system.
One thing I will speak of for those
who want to gain, is the cultivation OF
an unruffied spirit. AS Hubbard said
don't allow the trivial annoyances to
worry you into passion, for that wears