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plenty of time, and if the individual is slow in developing to the adult propagating
stage, nature does not mind—she is content to wait. If on the other hand
the individuals mature early and become fit for propagation early, then, when
that stage is over and the young have been born, nature is satisfied and the
adult may die. Well-fed children are taller, heavier, and suffer less from defects
and diseases, than those less well fed. It is possible that growth is stimulated
by an increase in the amount of insulin in the blood and by increased saliva
in the swallowed food. These children thus come to biological maturity
earlier by good feeding. If overnutrition and obesity continues it will tend
to shorten their lives. Fat men and women are more prone to accidents
and are bad insurance risks. Heavy consumption of fat leads to an increase
in the blood of serum cholesterol, which leads to arteriosclerosis and high blood
pressure. Fat people get diabetes more readily, possibly because more demand
is made on the cells in the pancreas which supply insulin. Changes also take
place in the kidneys and other organs of fat people. Taken together these
signs are the signs of early degeneration and completion of the life cycle. So if
you wish to delay your departure from the miseries of this wicked world, you
must keep down your diet, especially your intake of fat. When I am asked
for advice on slimming, I sometimes say "take minced meat and cabbage
three times a day", meaning that the person should take a moderate diet of
protein and green vegetable, with a minimum of starchy foods and fat.
Living Standards.
However, a contented mind needs a well-filled body. In conditions of
undernutrition, people become restless and their standard of behaviour falls.
They become less scrupulously honest in their dealings, or even amoral; ordinary
good living people take to lying and stealing, and they inevitably impart these
principles to their children. I wonder if this wave of crime which we have
seen this few years, especially among juveniles, is not the result of lowered
moral standards from food scarcity which we went through during the war years.
It is a sobering thought if a period of starvation leads to a generation of
criminals.
I reported last year on the special investigation we are conducting about
the health of school children. It is conceivable that there might be an optimum
rate of growth and development for children which would ensure that they are
neither over or undernourished, with the consequent dangers from both. I
hope our investigation will help us to reach some conclusion about this. If we
could say that the best birth weight was so much and that a child fed in such
a way would attain the ideal growth rate and hence have the minimum of
disabilities and illnesses, we should have effected a great step forward in
public health.
This much we can say, that now as in the past, a great many diseases
can be avoided if we take the trouble to live healthily, even although we do
not know the exact causes of the diseases we are avoiding. Years ago it was
known that a clean water supply would avoid the danger of typhoid fever;
that was before the cause of typhoid fever was known. To-day if we avoid
over-indulgence, obesity, alcoholism, heavy smoking, dusty and foggy air,
unwholesome food and such like, we can avoid a great many dangers, even
although we do not know the exact mechanisms by which these evils cause
diseases; and in the meantime we may be confident that future research will
provide us with the knowledge.
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