FISH AS FOOD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3392, 6 December 1911, Page 8

FISH AS FOOD.

“DOES WOT NOURISH THE BRAliv’

OLD THEORIES UPSET.

DR, ASHBURTON THOMPSON’S VIEW.

Dr. Aishburton Tliompson, medical officer to the Department oif Public Health, gave evidence in Sydney- before tiho Royal Commission appointed to inquire in to the alleged high cost of food, sitting at the Public Works Department. “I regard fish as inferior to lean meat/’ said the doctor, in the course of his evidence, “as a tissue-builder, because it contains less proteid. Its yield in energy is proportionate to its fat content, and that is low—few fish contain meed than 10 per cent., and the vast majority somewhere about 5 per cent. It has not the same satisfying quality as meat. It has its food value, and its nutritious, and easily digestible wihen boiled or grilled. It is almost wholly absorbable, and assists in introducing variety in diet, which is essential. But its value is relative.

“People who do laborious work may cat moat freely, but those who had sedentary lives, witli a- minimum of physical exertion, should cat little meat. They would do -well to- substitute fish for meat., so as to diminish the amount of their nitrogen intake. ‘Mfish is not specially or directly suitable for tilioso 'wiho are engaged in brain work. It docs not specially nourish the brain or the nervous system, hut it is suitable as a substitute for moat.” The economic value of fish was a doubtful factor, added the doctor, and salt fish was less digestible than fresh. Apparently, fish ought to bo cheaper than' other kinds of food. There was no co-st of cultivation. The complaint made in Australia that fish was unduly expensive had been made, and was still being made, in other countries. It might, so far as New South "Wales was concerned, be based on reasonable grounds, hut it would seem to be general and persistent. Considering the large proportion of people under no necessity for great muscular exertion, lie lrad no doubt that a much freer consumption of meat would be generally beneficial.