The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-11-04
YNTUTTYON AND NUTRTTTON

INTUITION AND NUTRITION
 Tn every bag of mail to this de- partment I expect to find a number of letters from conventional folk who wheedlingly deplore the incompe- tence of doctors around there and praise my rugged honesty and pro- found knowledge before they begin reciting their symptoms. At that 1t is inspiring just to think of trying to live up to the ideal these folk con-, ceive. Every doctor would like to do so. I honestly believe this accounts for large part of the pretense and bombast, in short the Quackery which is so characteristic of Medi- cine today. So many people seem to expect us to know so much that we simply have to pretend we know, for we can't let them down.
 What the rank and file of the medical profession ten or fifteen years ago did not know about nutri- ton fills many books today. Nutri- tion is not, as too many laymen as- sume, merely knowledge of foods. It is the sum of the processes by which animal or plant life takes in, digests, absorbs or assinilates food material and conveys 1t to the place or the cells where 1t Is utilized.
 At present 1t would seem that the medical profession is confused by the very complexity of applications drawn from the newer knowledge of nutrition. Most of the new knowledge comes out of the laboratory, from animal experimentation. Then 1t is applied in practice by doctors here and there, and they draw their con- clusions as to its value or effective ness in human nutrition and record their observations for the benefit of physicians at large. Right here is where confusion, enters, for what is the busy practitioner to accept as a principe to guide him when one lot of Investigators reports successful application of the new idea in the prevention or treatment of certain ailments, while another lot of inves- tigators reports indifferent results or no appreciable results at all2
 Prof. E. V. McCollun, one of the distinguished nutrition authorities, declared in 1895 that Deficiency of vitamin B-l constitutes one of the major health problems of the world" Opposed to this is a dictum of ob- scure origin but one frequently and forcibly uttered by medical gentle men who seem to substantiate one another, assuring the bewildered laity that people in this country get plenty of vitamins in their ordinary diet.
 Prof. H. c. Sherman, another rec- ognized authority, calls attention to the fact that refined sugar supplies approximately 800 calories per capita per day in the ordinary dietary of the people of this country (from one- fifth to one-fourth of the total en- ergy requirement) and adds that in- vestigations' of recent years indicate strongly that we are not justified in assuming that the ordinary dietary of the people of North America fur nishes enough vitamins and minerals to compensate for the total absence of these factors from SO large a part Of the daily victuals.
 Intuition is all very well so far as it goes but it becomes ridiculous when doctors cling to 1t long after the accumulating weight of new knowledge shows that the old idea was wrong.
 Do you hear of many cases where people get diseases by drinking raw milk? Would raw milk be safe if heated before drinking, or should one get only pasteurized milk for all needs? (B. W.)
 Answer-No, rarely hear of any one getting disease by drinking raw milk. I drink 1t daily-Grade A raw from tuberculin tested herd. Any milk is safe for anybody if 1t has been boiled for one minute, or just parboiled for 20 to 30 minutes-pas- teurized, that is to say-heated to 145 degrees F. for 20 to 30 minutes.
 Protected by John P. Dille Col