The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-03-04
FOOD AND THE ARTERIES

Many philosophers, ancient and modern, have made what Sophomorons call Wlsecracks con-
 cerning the influence of diet on health and lon- gevity. At first impact some of these sage say- ings impressive, but eventually somehow
 one classifes them under the heading of poetry rather than truth Dr Osler himself got off a few of these wsecracks and used effectively in his famous doctors Bible' quotations or others from ancient classics
 Dr Osler died before the dawn of the science of nutrition We must keep that fact in mind,
 while we consider his teaching, for he was the greatest medical teacher we have ever had. Speaking of the causation of chronic Brights disease (chronic nephritis, chronic iniamma-
 tion of the kidneys), which is generally associ- ated with arterioscleross Gardening of the ar- teries) and myocardits (slow heart muscle im- pairment) Osler said:
 | Alcohol plays an important part, particular | ly in conjunction with other factors. Among the better classes in America chronic Bright's dis ease is very common, and is believe, caused more frequently by overeating than by excess in alcohol"
 Speaking of the treatment of chronic Bright's
 disease Dr Osler said
 Alcohol should be strictly prohibited. Tea
 and coffee are allowable The diet should be
 light and nourishing (sic), and the patient
 should be warned not to eat excessively, and
 not to take meat more than once day. The
 patient should keep the urinary secretion free
 by drinking daily definite amount Of either
 distilled water or some pleasant mlnera
 Water.'
 Somewhere else in his writings q cannot find
 it at the moment) Osler quotes some olu mas
 ter to the effect that the platter kills more than
 the sword
 That advice that the diet should be light
 and nourishing is like advising that drinking
 water should be clear and wet, or that the pa-
 tient must have good ventilation but not drafts
 that we should have plenty of fresh air but
 avoid exposure. Today if any physician pre-
 scrbes restriction of your diet to things which are nourishing but easily dlgested he IS just stringing you along. and that's all there IS about it. In Sir Williams day the doctors really m Sick-rOOm 6Q. We know better now.
 Overeating, that is, consuming greater
 quantity of food than is required for growth, repair and maintenance of body weight within normal bounds, is perhaps a more important cause of C. V. D. (artery- y-heart-kidney impair ment, premature old age) today than it was in Oslers day. Not that eat more, but mainly | because we walk less. She who walks may eat | and still keep her youthful figure. Otter won | der how great a part of this dreadful compress | sion is due to too many cars per family. Dr Osler arbitrarily restricts the patient to one meat meal daily. In his day the doctors | really imagined neat especially dark or red | meat, in vague way greater strain | on metabosm, on the arteries, on the kidneys | than is other food. We know better now. True | it is generally easier to overeat in the delec- | table carbohydrates the breads cakes, sweets, candies, etc. but calory for calory or nutritive | value for nutritive value so far as we know it | doesn't matter whether one eats meat once a | week three times day, so long as there is | a fair variety of items in the diet every day. | QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS | Pathogenic Practice | Is it harmful to put quarter of teaspoon | full of bicarbOnate of soda in every cereal or
 vegetable dish taken by a year old child to
 prevent sour stomach and vomiting which had | happened prcviousIy-doctors call it neurotic vomiting~(Mrs J. r. W.
 Answer-It is harmful. The stomach con- | tents should be sour and acid when food is di- | gesting If vomiting happens or is induced | from any cause it is natural that the chyme l should appear sour and acid. In any where | an alkali is to be used to neutralize excessive | acid in the stomach, it is better to take pre- l pared chalk (calcum carbonate) a dose of 10 | grains being sufficient to neutralize excessive | stomach acidity for few hours. Such dose
 may be taken two three times day if nec- essary, and it does not disturb the acid-base
 balance in the blood and tissues does bicar- | bonate of soda. If the child's vomiting is hab- | itual neurotic medicine is scarcely the right | treatment.
 l The Appendix | i. Docs the appendix function in the human
 another one grow? 5. How does removal of | the appendix affect the person mentally and | physically? 4. At the removal of the appendix | is it necessary to follow a special diet? | Answer-1 No. the appendix is the vestage | of portion of the intestine whose function has | been lost in evolution. 2. Mo- 3. No effect. A.. | No.
 | Soap and Water Is Best | Parents say dishes held under hot water | faucet are sufficiently cleaned for the next user. | I say that they should be washed with hot | sOapy water and then rinsed with clear water. | Who is right? have been n patient in tuber- | cuIOsis sanatoriunl, that's why am particular. | (P. B. E)
 r Answer-You are right Dishes, are more | thoroughly and economically cleansed with l soap and water.