Evening star., 1953-12-23
Six Meals Daily Called
Ideal for Hard Worker
Nutrition Foundation Finds
Heavy Lunch Slows Output
By Thomos R. Henry

Five or six meals a day, instead of
two or three, may be close to the ideal
for industrial workers.
They should be light meals, spaced
just right to keep blood sugar from fall
ing below normal.
Big lunches are bad. They almost al
ways result in an hour or so Of less
work and poorer work. Light lunches,
on the average, are followed by an in
crease in production.
These findings stand out in a review
of recent scientific studies on relations
between nutrition and industrial pro-
duction just issued by the Nutrition
Foundation.
There is a flattening of the curve
Of production after full midday
meal" says the review Production
curves rise steeply for workers who have
eaten only light snacks.
"One might be tempted to generalize
from the common sense fact that after
eating a large meal, one often feels
drowsy, has lack of coordination, and
disinclination for mental and physical
effort. But it is known that similar
effects can be produced when the
stomach is distended with air instead
of food
Between-Meal Snacks.
Long periods between eating also are
undesirable. They are likely to be asso-
ciated with feelings of emptiness and
weakness, reStleSSneSS, irritability
and decreased ability to concentrate It
is especially important to keep blood
sugar from falling below normal and
to do this five to six meals q day are
suggested.
1T is agreed that small meals spaced
at shorter intervals are better for the
worker in hot environments and at high
attitudes. Large meals cause an imme-
diate rise in cardiac output and it has
been demonstrated that even a mod
crate meal can affect the electrocardio-
gram Of normal man.
"Snacks between meals are especially
important when work begins early in
the morning."
Mass vaccination against tubercu-
losis would be of little value in the
United States.
This is the conclusion of Drs. Carroll
E. Palmer and Lawrence w. Shaw Of
the Public Health Service after four
large-scale studies.
These studies were carried out in
four communities with the best known
of all tuberculosis vaccines, the CAL
mette-G -Guerin one named after the
French scientists who developed it and
which has had the most extensive trials
all over the world. In each group
studied, approximately the same num-
ber were left unvaccinated as were
,vaccinated, following tuberculin test
to determine whether tuberculous in
fection was present.
Started in Georgia.
The first test, started in 1947, was
carried out in the population of Mus
cogee County, Ga. The second, launched
in 1949, was among $1,000 Indian
school children, where the prevalence
of the disease is high. The third was
started in 1948 among 10000 patients
in Ohio mental hospitals In 1850 a
study was started among Puerto Rican
children, who also have a high tuber-
culoSis rate.
None of these groups admittedly is
entirely representative of the popula-
ton as. whole. The people of the
Georgia county come closest to afford
ing fair sample. There, the two Pub
lie Health doctors say, "the effect Of
the program is imperceptible and there
is little reason to expect very different
results in other communities"
There is some question, 1t Is pointed
out in a report from the National
tuberculosis Association, whether vac
cination may not actually be dangerous
for persons already infected with the
tubercle bacillus. There is some evil
dence from experiments with rats
which indicates this. Large doses Of
vaccine accelerated the disease in these
animals.