The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-05-12
vITAMIN D FOR POT-BELLY

vITAMIN D FOR POT-BELLY
 Edward Mellanby, in his book Nutrition and Disease" (Oliver and Boyd, London) gives profile picture of a child with a pot-belly, alongside of a second profile pie ture of the same child taken six months later, showing the improve ment in the deformity by calcify- ing diet, that is, a diet providing adequate amounts of calcium, phos- phorus and vitamin D.
 Prof. Mellanby believes that cereals contain an anti calcifying factor and therefore holds that too much cereal in the diet is a con- tributing cause of rickets, defec- tive teet, etc, point which both of the Mellanbys Edward and May) have established at lesat ex- perimentally and sctrongly upheld by observation of the nutrition of children over @ period of many years.
 In this country now physicians generally prescribe a daily dose of vitamin D in one form or another for nearly every baby, as a sup- plement to the diet, to prevent rickets. And nose physicians rec ommend that the vitamin D sup- plement be containued throughout childhood, for the sake of promot- ing the development of sound even teeth and strong bones and vigor- ous muscles and steady nerves.
 Of course there are still many thousands of young children who, If they received any vitamin D in early infantcy, get little if any af- ter the first year. This is attribu- table to the ignorance and incom- petence or indifference of physi- clans who have never quite grasped the scientific principles on which this modern practice is based--doc- tors of the old school who depend on their skill in exploiting their patrons unsophistication and, as long as they get away with it, laugh at the newfangled ideas, with the implication that they are saving patients from squandering money on silly fads.
 When a child is pot bellied, knock . kneed, flat or weak footed, has a high hip" or a How shoul- der" Casually these are signs of spinal curvature), irregular or rapidly "decaying" teeth, that child needs an optimal daily ration of vitamin D and a high calcium diet.
 No room to give details here send stamped envelope bearing your address and ask for monographs High Calcium Diet" and vita mins Everybody Needs" If you fail to provide the stamped en- velope bearing your address the re- quest cannot be complied with. Do NOT send postcard request. Do NOT send loose stamps.
 Although it is commonly assumed that rickets is a bone disease or that softening of the bones and consequent deformities constitute the characteristic condition of ric- kets, the truth is that rickets is a nutritional deficiency, and the muscle glands and nervous tissues suffer as much as do the bones or teeth.
 Indeed some of the earliest signs, and in many instances the only signs that develop to a notable de- gree in cases of mild rickets are simple weakness of the general muscles and of the muscular coat of stomach and intestine together with an abnormal irritability of the nervous tissues. These signs com- monly escape recognition in older children and youths. The symptoms or weaknesses, or frailties such muscle weakness and nerve irri- liability give rise to are best over- come by supplementing the every day diet with an adequate ration of vitamin D in a form pleasant to take, biologically standardized and economical.