The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-08-08
MORE RABBIT FOOD, LESS
 APPENDICITIS

By''rabbit food"I mean fodder, feed, hay, vegetables, whole grains, greens. More specifically mean the fresh raw vegetables, relishes, herbs leaves you and particularly your children should eat every day, either as salad or as appetizer or relish but so seldom do.
 In my judgment-an and remember, this is merely my opinion, since there is no consensus of medical opinion available-one of the pre- disposing causes of the appendicitis for which Yankeeland is famous is the vitamin B1, (thiamine) defi- ciency from which nearly all youngsters is Yankeeland suffer, thanks largely to the ignorance and credulity of their parents, teachers. physicians, who permit the children to satiAte themselves with pap, re- fined carbohydrate, in the form of breakfast food" and leave rabbit food" for the rabbits. , One fundamental observation on which I base this opinion is that of McCarrison, British army sur geon, who lived for years among the Himalyans in India and rarely encountered appendicitis although he was kept busy with the same kind of abdominal surgery as doc tors routinely do here at home. Mo- Garrison ascribed his patients free dom from appendicitis to the char acter of the diet of the people or that country-it consists principally of whole grains, fresh vegetables or greens, eggs, milk-the richest food sources of vitamin B-complex, of which B1 (thiamine) is a com ponent. As a matter of fact we know that vitamin B1 in adequate amount Is essential to maintain normal ali mentary function (good digestion) and normal carbohydrate metabol- ism Civilization of starch and sugar for production of emergy). If there is 8 constant B1 deficiency in the diet, it is reasonable, I believe, te assume that the individual will moi have a sufficient degree of na- tural immunity to protect hin against invasion of the appendi, by the various strains of bacteria we find responsible for acute ap- pendicitis.
 And that's all I can say about the nature and cause of acute appendl- citis. Whether my notion of it ap- peals to you or not, may add this suggestion: Even if your kids are sissified and contained against spinach, lettuce, raw cabbage, beet greens, turnip greens, celery, raw carrot, raw turnip, raw potato etc. as so many pampered children are in Yankeeland, you can still conn bate the evil influence of malnutri- tion by keeping always in the house a supply of plain wheat and en- couragnig the kids to chew it GIT place of gunn), to eat it (crackee in coffee grinder and cooked more or less) as breakfast cereal or a. a main ingredient in various ap- petizing items as described in the pamphlet Wheat to Eat" available on written request if you inclose stamped self addressed envelope Clipping of this item will not suf- fice). Plain wheat, unreflned, un- processed, is the richest, most econ- omical, most healthful food source of vitamin B-complex, and besides it is good to eat.
 QUESTIONS and ANSWERS Sickly Girls
 I work in an office among 8 dozen stenographers, most of us over thirty, few around twenty Almost daily one, sometimes two ol three, are absent or hardly able te work because of "the course" ol headache. Can you give us any advice or information.
 (Miss R. c. H.)
 Answer-It is still not too late