Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-03-09
Germans Find Means
To Bridge Fat Cap
In DIET Deficiency
Provide Synthetic Fat
From Petroleum Mixed
With Synthetic GIycerin
BY THOMAS II. HENRY,
Star Staff C0rrPSpGndpnt

Star Staff Correspondent
LONDON thy maiD - Germans
ere making synthetic fat out of
paraf1n from petroleum mixed with
synthetic glycerln by means of a
new process of para1hn oxidation,
They also are extracting the
marrow from bones by a new auto
Claving process.
These are the two chief means
taken for bridging the so-called
fat gap" most serious deficiency
In the Relch's diet, according to
report on food and health conditions
inside Europe Just published in the
official journal of the British Asso-
ciataion for the Advancement Of
Science.
The report, based on facts gath
cred from various sources. such as
recent competent visitors to Ger
many from neutral countries, in
dicates that the nation is making
good her threat that she will be the
last country in Europe to starye
An unbiased appraisal of the food
situation is that it IS fair" and not
quite so good in most respects as
that in Great Britain. Says the
report:
German Army Rations Good.
The German ration card is taken
at its face value in Germany Itself
The army ratIons are good. although
somewhat monotonouS in both guam
City ard quality. The workers are
well locked after. Infant mortality
has not increased. The supply of
milk TO eXpectant mothers and chill
dren is regular and good. These
mothers also are issued preparations
Of vltamin D--the anti-rickets vita
min. Margarine is enriched with
vitamins. The chief trouble is the
fat group. Blood sausage is being
made on large scale.
Just before the war, the report
points out, Germany had imported
enormous quantities Of soy beans
from Manchuria and had them in
storage. At one time they formed
a considerable part Of the army diet
and a special cook book was issued
for preparing them The stocks
that remain, however, have become
rancid.
One Of the best induces on the
health Of a country, says the report,
is the tuberculosis death rate. The
best figures available show that it
has gone up only slightly in Ger
many but very greatly in nearly all
the occupied countries. This is due
largely to lack Of adequate food and
fuel.
tuberculosis LESSONS in the lungs
are fairly common everywhere, but
IN relatively few cases today do they
result in serious cases of the disease.
The first need Of the body is heat,
however, and in occupied Europe
the food is converted almost solely
into heat, leaving nothing left to
fight the TB germ.
Typhus in Poland.
Only In Poland has the dreaded
spectre Of typhus raised its head, so
far as the authors Of the report pub /
IShed in Nature can determine.
Both Rumaaia and Hungary, where4
epidemIcs were feared, have been
kept clean Of it. Poland also has
serious epiden1ics of scarlet fever
and Of the rabbit disease, tularemia,
hitherto unheard Of there.
The German soldier, the report
says, seems to be fairly well pro-
tected against infectious disease. al /
though not so well as either the
American or British soldier. When
he enters the army he gets one shot .
IN the arm, in contrast to the dozen
or so given every American soldier
before he goes on overseas duty.
This shot is Of a polyvalent vaccine
against typhus, typhoid and para
typhoid and dysentery, The latter
Is unknown in the United States or
Great Britain and. SAYS the report.
Is OF doubtful value. Nearly all the
German typhus vaccine is Of the
type made at the Pasteur Institute
IN Paris which. before the war al
least, was decidedly inferior to either
Two types Of American vacCines.
All the occupied countries, saws
the report, are beginning to show
signs Of food deficiency diseases. /
such as neurities, pellagra. beriberi
and spontaneous fracture of bones.
Teeth are decaying rapidly every
where because Of lack Of calcium.
Infant mortality is running very
high and a second pregnancy Of a
woman on most Of the diet obtain
able is considered tantamount to