NUTRITION 9 1 



tal stamina and moral conduct! The tragedy here is this: Few if any of the 

 people who can afford to buy these pills need them, few if any of those 

 who need them can afford to buy them. The consumer should insist that 

 advertising of food conform to honest and factual education of adults 

 in nutrition, for it is obvious that the consumer pays the freight of all 

 food advertising in the increased cost of the advertised foods. 



We are urged to drink milk, and to eat meats, eggs and vegetables for 

 our needs of inorganic salts. Is that a good insurance? Is it enough? Can we 

 get adequate mineral insurance at less cost through other foods? While 

 it appears true that herbivorous mammals have sought "salt licks" for 

 countless ages, and our forebears fought wars for possession of sea salt as 

 their more sophisticated descendants now do battle for crude rubber and 

 mineral oil, it seems obvious that except for the element iodine in restricted 

 areas of the earth the dietary needs of minerals were efficiently met bv the 

 common non-purified, non-processed natural foods. So far as I know this 

 would still hold true, except for the cooking of such foods as meats, fruits 

 and vegetables and the habit of discarding the cooking water. To be sure 

 the otherwise excellent natural food, milk, is so deficient in iron that an 

 exclusive or almost exclusive diet of milk for weeks or months brings on 

 an anemia due to the iron deficiency in the diet. How does the American 

 dietary stand as to some of the essential mineral needs such as calcium, 

 phosphorus, iron and iodine? The iodine deficiency in the States whose 

 soil and water Mere depleted of iodine by the waters from ancient glaciers 

 is now taken care of by putting the iodine back into our table salt. The 

 iodine was there before our ingenious chemists learned to take it out. In 

 so far as purification deteriorates our food, the science of chemistry does 

 not serve man's welfare. Professor C. H. Sherman, of Columbia Univer- 

 sity, an outstanding expert on nutrition, has long held the view that the 

 American diet is probably too low in calcium and possibly in phosphorus 

 for optimum nutrition. This problem is complicated by the fact that a 

 modicum of vitamin D is involved in the adequate absorption and utiliza- 

 tion of calcium and phosphorus, particularly in the growth and main- 

 tenance of our bones. Can not the possibility of a dietary danger in this 

 field be met, universally and ivithont cost, by adding a little calcium, 

 phosphorus a?id iron to our table salt? This should offer no insurmount- 

 able difficulties, and there is no evidence that a slight excess above actual 

 needs of these minerals works any injury to our health. We are urged to 

 eat milk for its calcium. Yes, milk is a good source for lime. But milk is a 

 relatively expensive food, and even in our country, with a plethora of 

 foods there is not enough milk to go around, at least as long as we insist 

 on butter and cream for our table and turn so much of the valuable skim 

 milk into channels other than human food. I think we should put a Httle 

 lime, phosphorus and possibly iron into our table salt as a national insurance 



