The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-11-20
Your Health
By DR.. William Brady

Signed letters pertaining 10 per-
sonal health and hygiene, not 70
disease, diagnOsis Of treatment,
will be answered by DR.. Brady II
stamped seIf-addressed envelope
Is enclosed. Letters should be brief
and written In ink. No reply can
be made TO queries not conforms
ing TO instructions. Address DR..
william Brady, National News
paper Service, 800 West Madison
Street, Chicago, Ill.
THE DIGESTION OF STARCH
II old time practitioners had
queer notions about the digestion
Of starch 1t was because they knew
little Of the physiology and chemiS-
try of digestion. Physicians today
harbor no such notions. There Is
no foundation in physiology or
chemistry for the notion that
starch, cooked or raw, Is more dif-
fcult to digest than any other food
material.
In healthy person whose diet
Is not too refined q considerable
portion Of the starch taken in ce-
reals, potatoes and other vegetables,
.. ..-svcu ny the saliva-provided
the food is properly masticated.
This presupposes that the person
has complete complement OF
functionally efficient teeth-hiS own
or his dentists, with no teeth miss
ing. In order to qualify as a healthy
person and to retain good health,
good nutrition, of course one must
have all teeth working every day.
The digestion of cooking (boiled,
baked or otherwise cooked starch
occurs not only during mastication
of the food in the mouth, but con-
tinues for half an hour or longer
in the fundus or upper part Of the
stomach after the food has been
swallowed.
If salivary digestion is efficient
and remember, 1t depends on the
condition Of the teeth-less starch
remains to be digested in the in
testine by the action of the amylase
or amylopsin, a digestive engine in
the pancreatic Juice similar to the
ptylin in saliva. It is my firm con-
viction that a common explanation
for the indigestion" and nutrition
al deficiency of many thousands Of
people who fuss about the starch
in their diet is simply the fact that
they have lost several teeth and
never had the missing teeth re-
placed by proper dentures.
I do not mean to imply that a
person who has limped along
dental cripple for many years can
hope to recover good digestion,
good nutrition and good health by
having a chaepjohn plate or other
denture made at the eleventh hour.
I am speaking rather of the cause
and prevention of indigestion,
dyspepsia" 'gas," nervous indi-
gestion,' mucous colitis" and nu-
merous other complaints Of that
sort. The wise man or woman
takes care of his or her masticat-
ing machinery when it first breaks
down, and does not drift along for
months or years with one or moro
teeth missing.
The attempt has been made to
"enrich" white flour by adding
dashes of two or three synthetic
vitamins and maybe a little iron
and calcium to it, thus partially
replacing the nutritional essentials
removed in the milling and refin-
ing. But this has been a half
hearted effort. Instead of enrich
ing flour in that inadequate and
extravagant way, people who want
to enjoy good nutrition should con-
slider ways and means of using
plain wheat that has not been i'm
poverished, In the ever yday diet
airy. Practical suggestions for this
are given in the pamphlet Wheat
to Eat"-for copy send twenty
| cents, or ten cents and a three
cent stamped envelope bearing your
address