The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-04-22
FRIDAY: DON'T BE NERVOUS:
 EAT FISxl

EAT FlSS1
 According to HutchiSon and Mott ram (Food and the zrinciples of Dietetics, Wm. Wood & Co., 1933), the popular fancy that fish is brain food" is grounded on the be- lief that fish is specially rich in phosphorus. The Swiss naturalist, Agassiz, who it seems took medical degree at Munich the year after he became doctor of philosophy at Erlangen-perhaps they were care- less and left medical degrees lying about unwatched in those days
 1830). Being the rightful owner of the degree of Doctor of Medicine, Agassiz probably wanted to make some use of it, so he delved bit into the medical science" of the day, learned that without phos- phorus thought is impossible (this was the dictum of Buchner, but it has long since been laid away in the museum), learned also that fish contains phosphorus Gas matter of chemical analysis meat, beans, corn, peanuts, nuts, wheat, peas, oatmeal, eggs and cheese contain more phosphorus than fish does), and lithely jumped to the conclu- sion that fish is brain food. This authoritative pronouncement estab- lished the idea, and it thrived for years, until Mark Twain, no mean naturalist himself, applied it in practice, prescribing couple of whales as breakfast dish for youth who sought hints on how to become an author.
 The foods I specifically recom- mend to prevent or cure what ailS many who consider themselves nervous" contain much calcium and at least enough phosphorus for all bodily requirements. They are milk and milk products, egg-yolk, carrots, peas, beans, peanuts, nuts, caggabe, plain wheat (not refined flour or other refined wheat prod ucts), greens. now add another item to the diet for nervousness" or nerve weakness" I, too, came by a medical degree in my youth and I am anxious to make some use of it. So hereby dub fish, even fresh water fish but especially sea fish and Shellfish as good nerve food and it matters little whether you take oysters, lobster, canned sal mon or sardines, brook trout or like muskellunge or bass or perch, it is all good nerve food, and I'll tell you why.
 All fish and Shellfish contain more or less vitarnin D, the sunshine vit- amin, in their body fat as well as well as the fat or oil in their flyers. Even the lowly burbot, allied to the cod, abounding in the Great Lakes, New England lakes and the lakes of Minnesota and Wisconsin,, large quantities of which are used for fertilizer and scorned as food for man, has been found to be richer than cod or halibut in vitamin D and is now being exploited for the medicinal value of its liver oil and body oil.
 If more fish and shellflsh is in- cluded in the daily diet, the mo- | torious shortage of vitamin D in the diet of the average American will be to some degree corrected. The only natural sources of vitamin D in the diet of the average Ameri- can are milk, cream, butter and egg yolk, and few do or can consume enough of these foods to get the required amount of vitamin D.
 Vitamin D is essential for the ab- sorption of calcium and its utiliza- , tion in the body.
 So I say don't be nervous. Have some more of this fine salmon salad or now that the season is on let's have some fried oysters With a fist full of greens and potatoes julienne.