London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Battersea 1899

Report upon the public health and sanitary condition of the Parish of St. Mary, Battersea during the year1899

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92
the fat, being most prejudicial, as tending to practically starve
the child. A warning to the public of these dangers of using
such impoverished milk was issued during the year in the form
of a printed circular, placed in prominent positions in the Parish
and otherwise freely circulated, directing the attention of parents
or persons having charge of young children to the fact that
Milk consists, broadly speaking, of three constituents : firstly,
Fat, as in cream or butter; secondly, Cheese, as casein or curds;
thirdly, Whey, chiefly water, salts, etc., and that the abstraction
of the major part of the fat in separated or skimmed milk takes
away the most important constituent as far as nourishment is
concerned, and a young child fed wholly or principally on such
impoverished milk is under-nourished to the extent which the
abstraction of fat has gone. On the other hand, that, if such
milk is to give a sufficient proportion of fatty constituents, the
child must, if fed on this separated milk, consume a much larger
quantity of the impoverished milk, far beyond its power of
digestion. That the fat in good new milk should be from 3 to 4
per cent. in weight, but many of the condensed separated milks
contain less than 1 per cent. of fat, and recommending that those
having charge of young children should avoid the separated
condensed milks, and give the children good new milk, both
from a health point of view and as a matter of real economy.
If condensed milks are given, those which contain the whole of
the constituents of the milk, as the best do, should be used, and
further that all condensed milk should be made ready for use as
food by the use of boiling water, in order to destroy any disease
germs present, and in conclusion to beware when feeding young
children, of the numerous condensed skimmed or separated
milks which give little or no nourishment, but on the contrary
more or less starve the infant.
In connection with the subject of the sale of condensed
skimmed or separated milks a deputation waited upon the
President of the Board of Agriculture urging that in the then