Report to the Local Government Board upon the available data in regard to the value of boiled milk as a food for infants and young animals / by Janet E. Lane-Claypon.

  • Lane-Claypon, Janet E.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report to the Local Government Board upon the available data in regard to the value of boiled milk as a food for infants and young animals / by Janet E. Lane-Claypon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    expression of 0])inions not based on ciirefnlly Jiscertaincd facts. In this report all known facts will be considered which bear on the general effects ])rodnce(l by feeding young animals upon either raw or boiled milk. This report does not deal with the experimental evidence as to the digestibility of raw and boiled milk as tested in the laboratory, the effects produced in milk by boiling, by boiling it for prolonged periods, or by heating it to a temperature above the boiling point of milk. Confusion has been caused by the lax use of the term “ sterilised milk.” “ Sterilised milk ” in the true sense of the word is difficult to obtain ; milk which has been heated to 100° C. is not sterilised, and even considerably higher temperatures are not sufficient to kill the spores which are almost always present (^^). In the literature of the subject, milk which has been brought to the boiling point of water is often described as “ sterilised milk.” This is a misnomer—it should be described as “ boiled.” Investif/ation of the problem. The milk given to a child or young animal may be the milk of its own species, or of another or foreign species. The problem can therefore be dealt with under two main divisions : (1) The comparative nutritive value of raw and boiled milk of the same species. (2) The comparative nutritive value of raw and boiled milk of a foreign species. Both these divisions of the subject will be influenced by subsidiary factors, such as the age of the young animal or child, the quantity and quality of the milk given, and the environment or social condition. Division (1) is chiefly applicable to cattle and will be dealt with in Part II. (see p. 4). It has also a limited applicability to the human species ; this is dealt with fully in Part III. (see p. 15 et seq.). Experiments have been carried out upon animals for the elucidation of the problem enunciated in Division (2), and will be discussed fully in Part II. (see p. 7 et seq.). The most important aspect of Division (2) concerns the artificial feeding of infants with raw or boiled cows’ milk. The clinical evidence upon this matter is dealt wdth in Part III. and further clinical data, studied expressly for the purpose of this report, are considered fully in Part IV. The clinical requirements for the elucidation of the 2')rohlem appear to be (1) A large number of healthy babies under medical super- vision, and of known, and so far as possible, the same social environment, who shall have been fed for prolonged periods upon raw or boiled cows’ milk. Further there should be a control of babies drawn from the same average population fed in different ways. Infant Consultations alone provide material of this type. Here the babies are approximately healthy, sick babies being referred to the hospital ; they are under medical supervision, notes and records being kept ; this means that the infant’s food is regulated, and its general conditions noted. Further the babies are visited in their own homes by the health visitors of the Consultation, so that the social environment is known. Application was made to the large Infant Consultations of this country, but although very friendly replies were received from the 22306 A 2