The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1934-09-28
Let Our Motto Be
GOOD HEALTH
BY DR.. LLOYD ARNOLD
Professor OF Bacteriology and Preventive
Medicine, University of Illinois.
COLLEGE of Medicine.
DIET FOR oLDsTERs

HedrL, kinney anu pancreaS. lneSe
diseases of older life are rapidly be-
coming more Of a problem as our
life expectancy increases. For in
stance, In Illinois In 1910 only 80
per cent of the population was over
35 years Of age. In 1890, the number
was 40 per cent-a gain of per cent
in 20 years.
In saying diet, however, I hasten
to add that this article is not going
to present spinach as the cure-all for
these older diseases Older persons
may eat spinach "if there be such"
as like it, but older people, thank
goodness, have no drastic need for
vitamines in their diet It's the
youngsters up to twenty years Of age
or so who must have foods that con-
tain vitamines-who must have their
spinach. We oldsters, done with our
growing pains, can take 1t or leave
it And l for one leave it. That's
personal, of course; spinach is good
food, excellent food. l recommend 1t
for babies and the teen age group.
But-age has its compensations.
But coming back to our problem
No person past thirty-five has the
physical tone of the person of twen-
ty. AS our muscles begin to show
signs of sagging, our hair of thinning
and our skin of drying, so do our
internal organs lose their tone, in the
same relative degree.
Particularly is this true of the d.
gestiye tract. The lining of the
stomach begins to blanch, and the
stomach secretes less acid AS we
grow older this deficiency of the
stomach to secrete acid affects a
greater number of persons In the
forty to forty-five year age group, the
number Is 10 per cent to II per cent;
in the fifty year group, 20 per cent;
in the sixty year group, 30 per cent
to 40 per cent; in the seventy year
group, 60 per cent.
For years there has been contro-
versy between practicing physicians
and psychologists as to how this trou-
BILE was to be corrected. The physi-
clans believed in relieving their pa
| tients by giving some form of acid
as medicine while the Psychologists
| laughed at them because they said
with two or three pints of stomach
juices requiring acidifying, it was
| foolish to think that few drops of
medicine taken by mouth in glass
of water could do the job.
Now, in a series of experiments
we have been carrying on in the re-
search laboratories of the University
of Illinois, and which we are just
now ready to make public, we have
found at last that the physician is
right. And the psychologist was wrong
when he thought stomach acidity was
the main factor in digestion. 1t is
not. However, the acidity of the stom-
ach juices has great deal to do
with the health of the individual For
at the laboratory we have proved that
when there is no acid secretion in
the stomach, the bacteria from the
lower intestines can make their way
into the upper intestines and the
stomach, and the absorbed products
can reach the heart and kidneys. And
If these latter organs are already
showing signs of degenerating, then
the addition of these lower intestinal
products helps in their still further
degeneration.
When the stomach is acid, how
ever, the intestinal bacteria cannot
get either into it or the upper in
testine. 1t is as If the stomach acid
ity made gate through which the
intestinal bacteria cannot pass. With
this fact known our problem then was
to find how to make the stomach
juices acid for anyway two to four
hours after eating, when the major
work of digestion goes on. We tried
many experiments. 1t was found that
synthetic acids such as per cent
citric, Tactic, hydrochloric, sulphuric
one was as good as another-helped
when taken in water at meal time.
But who wants to be taking medicine
at every meal?
Foods were tried out. And then
through experiment AFTER experiment
we proved that diet rich in acid
and poor in alkaline would do the
trick.
So in the diet for the older person
we can forget vitamines as factor.
It's acidity we are after. Simply eat
plenty of lean meat, eggs, butter,
fresh fruit, green foods. other fresh
vegetables. Go easy on potatoes, how
ever, cereal foods, pastry, other
starches, sweets, all fats except but
ter. said green foods. you notice.
And spinach is green food. So If
you like it, eat it. But there are
many other kinds of green foods be-
side spinach. There are turnip greens
and beet greens, chard. asparagus.
lettuce, celery and cabbage. Sour
kraut is one Of the best dishes older
persons can eat. Sour kraut juice is
good too, and so are tomato. lemon
and pineapple juice. Do not drink
much sweet milk, but drink freely
Of buttermilk.