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Nutrition, and in particular to the emphasis laid in Part 6 of
the Report on the nutritional value of milk, and requested the
Council to take early opportunity of reviewing their arrangements
under the Maternity and Child Welfare Act, 1918, in the
light of this report.
The Report of the Advisory Committee is an authoritative
contribution of the highest value to Medical Officers and Health
Visitors in their important educational work. It will be their
duty to acquaint themselves in detail with this Report and to
see to the fullest dissemination of the new knowledge amongst
the mothers in the Borough. This is no new endeavour of health
officers, for the Report itself says "The diet of the people is now
more in conformity with physiological principles than it was in
pre-war years and one of the reasons for this advance is the
educational work on nutrition carried out in health clinics and
in schools throughout the country."
The Circular dealt particularly with milk, mentioning certain
limitations which, while they may have remained in some
areas, are not now in force in Wembley, for example: limitation
of the supply of milk to the last two or three months of
pregnancy and to children up to the age of 18 months or two
years. The Council had for some time allowed the supply of
milk in appropriate cases irrespective of the stage of pregnancy
and to children up to the age of 5 years. The Council accepted
the recommendation that for expectant and nursing mothers
two pints per day, and for children 1-2 pints per day, be granted
according to medical recommendation.
The Circular further asked that any economic scale in force
in the district should be reviewed. This is dealt with in another
paragraph (Page 38). The Council also adopted the recommendation
that the milk granted by the Council must be
pasteurised milk.
The only practical way to reduce the incidence of bovine
tuberculosis especially prevalent in children, is by pasteurisation,
while, in the present state of our knowledge, the only way
to reduce the risk to a minimum of outbreaks of infectious
disease (for example, typhoid fever, certain enteritis conditions,
scarlet fever, septic sore throat, diphtheria, etc.) is by
efficient pasteurisation. In Wembley there need be no difficulty
for any householder in obtaining pasteurised milk.
The Circular mentioned the importance of giving accessory
foods. Sufficient milk food and accessory milk food preparations
are given at the various clinics, according to the
opinion of the Medical Officer. For those whose family income
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