The Laws of health.

  • Nabarro, David, 1874-
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Laws of health. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    20. A child during its growth requires in proportion more food than does a grown-up person. Like an adult, a child has to supply fuel to keep up the heat of the body and to do work, as well as to replace the wear and tear of the tissues. But in addition to this, the child's body grows and gets bigger every day, and therefore requires an extra supply of food. To build up good, sound, strong bones a healthy, growing infant requires a liberal supply of nitrogen-containing or proteid food, of mineral food, and of fat. It requires also a certain amount of sugar during the first year of its life, but less than it does later on.* If an infant is fed on too little proteid and mineral food its bones will not be strong and healthy. There will be too little mineral matter in the bones, which are therefore softer than they should be. A little later, when the child begins to stand and to toddle about, the weight of its body will make the bones bend, and the legs will become crooked. It will then get all the signs of the disease called rickets. Not only the legs but also the bones of the arms, chest, and * Sugar and starchy food are known as carbohydrate food, because they contain the elements carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Such foods are fuel, like the coal used for the steam-engine, and are tuork-producers. During its first year a child does very little work because it sleeps most of the day and night. A baby, therefore, does not want so much of these foods in proportion as an adult. The most important mineral foods a baby requires are phosphate of lime and phosphate of potash. The phosphate of lime is neces- sary for the proper growth and hardness of the bones and teeth. The phosphate of potash is necessary for the formation of good healthy muscles and blood. These mineral foods are present in meat and milk in a form which is easily absorbed by the blood. Therefore, by feeding a child on good milk and, as it grows older, also on meat, it gets not only the necessary proteid or nitrogenous food, but also the necessary mineral salts.