Final report of the Committee on the Production and Distribution of Milk.
- Great Britain. Committee on the Production and Distribution of Milk.
- Date:
- 1919
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Final report of the Committee on the Production and Distribution of Milk. Source: Wellcome Collection.
13/104 (page 7)
![7 + ; . ‘ . . . é ‘ . ‘ ‘ 15. Seasonal variation of yield.—The index given below indicates the monthly variation in percentages, according to the daily average, of the total milk supply during the years 1917-18. It has been calculated from returns of production from various sources, and takes account of the seasonal variation in calying :— Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dee. 5°9 6°0 6°9 8°1 10°8 11°8 10°3 9°8 9°] 8°3 ran | 5°9 = 100°0 ml ee N , hanes p 5 i : : ? € : : : _16. The decrease in output shown by the tables in paragraphs 12, 18 and 14 may be attributed to three main causes : — (a) the scarcity and high price of feeding stuffs; (b) the deterioration in the quality of cakes and meals; (c) the lessened efficiency of milkers. These factors exercise the greatest influence during the winter. In addition, it is probable that the proportion of cows in milk during the winter has been less than under pre-war conditions. Although the total number of cows shows an increase, there is evidence to show that the numbers have been con- siderably reduced in districts and on farms which formerly specialised in winter milk production. In these districts the production of milk was largely dependent on purchased concentrates and soiling crops, hence the cost of production has risen much more than in districts where retentive soils and pastures and a moister climate reduce the use of soiling crops and purchased foods to a minimum, (b) ConsuMPTION. 17. Importance of Milk as Food.—The Committee have already put on record their opinion that the average consumption of milk in the United Kingdom is much lower than is desirable in the national interest.* Milk contains ali the nutritive constituents required by the body—protein, fats, and carbohydrates—in a readily assimilable form, which makes it a valuable food for all classes of the community and especially for children. For infants who may have to depend on artificial feeding it is essential. Milk ought, therefore, to be available in greater quantities than are obtainable at present. 18. Growth-promoting Substances.—In addition to the above-mentioned constituents, milk has been shown to possess special properties which promote growth, and are necessary for maintaining the body in a healthy condition. These qualities of milk were first made known by Professor F. Gowland Hopkins at Cambridge, and have since been the subject of research by numerous investigators, notably Professors T. B. Osborne, and L. B. Mendel of Yale University, and Professor EK. V. McCollum of the Johns Hopkins University. The exact nature and composition of these growth-promoting substances, or vitamines, as they are provisionally termed, is at present unknown, but their existence is inferred from the effects produced in respect of growth and health by feeding animals on special and carefully controlled diets. The investigations into this subject so far as they have proceeded at present indicate the existence of at least three growth-promoting substances or vitamines, all of which are present in milk. These have been termed : — (i) The ricket preventing vitamine (or fat soluble A), which is necessary to promote growth and to prevent rickets in young animals.t The fat of cream and butter are amongst the richest known sources of this vitamine. (i1) The anti-neuritic vitamine (or water soluble B growth substance of American investigators), which is also necessary to promote growth, and in addition is essential to prevent the occurrence of the disease known as beri-beri. This vitamine is found in the germ and in the bran or outer layers of certain grains and in milk, but not in association with the fat of the milk. Gui) The scurvy-preventing vitamine, which is essential to prevent the disease known as scurvy. This vitamine is found in fresh untreated cows’ milk and in fresh fruits and vegetables in quantities suitable for the satisfactory nutrition of the young. There is no evidence that the heating of milk destroys to any serious extent the vitamines described in (i) and (ii) above. The scurvy-preventing vitamine (paragraph (111) above) is, however, sensitive to exposure to heat or to drying, and pasteurised, boiled, dried, or condensed milk may be regarded as inferior in varying degrees to raw milk in scurvy-preventing properties. When milk prepared in these ways is utilised for the feeding of infants over long periods, it is desirable to supplement its scurvy-preventing properties by the addition to the diet of small quantities of vegetable or raw fruit juices, preferably orange juice, which is very rich in this particular vitamine. The very great difficulty of procuring clean milk in this country, and the risk of infection with tuberculosis and other diseases from the use of raw milk, have frequently led to the use of pasteurised, sterilised, dried, or condensed milk for infant feeding. Skimmed or separated milk is deficient in the ricket-preventing vitamine, and the development of rickets may follow from its extended use in the feeding of young children unless the deficiency is made good by the addition of cream or cod liver oil. 19. Attention may here be called to the inferiority in this respect of margarine to butter asa source of fat in the diet, especially of growing children. Margarine is usually manufactured largely from vegetable oils; these are deficient in the anti-rachitic vitamine, which is characteristic of many animal fats, and the nutritive value of margarine made from such oils is, therefore, inferior, especially for children. 20. Although vegetable oils and fats are generally deficient in the ricket-preventing vitamine, which is also essential for growth, yet the green parts of piants are the chief ultimate source of this vitamine; for, as far as is at present known, animals are unable to build up this or any vitamine within their own bodies, but obtain them directly or indirectly from the vegetable kingdom. or this reason the diet of cows, especially of those whose milk is to be used for infant feeding, should itself contain an abundance of all the * 1st Interim Report (Cd. 8608), page 1, and 3rd Interim Report (Cd. 315), page 12. + E, Mellanby, Journ. Physiol. (Proceedings) 52, 11 and 12,1918. Lancet, March 15th, 1919,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32177240_0013.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
