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28—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 8, 1973
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A “perfect environment for
nonsense” is provided in Amer
ica by the communications media,
says Dr. Philip L. White, Secre
tary of the American Medical
Association’s Council on Foods
and Nutrition. Dr. White is, of
course, talking about nutritional
nonsense. And he emphasizes that
radio and television, especially,
are constantly promoting the
views of food faddists without re
gard to whether their informa
tion has a basis in scientific fact
or not.
Said Dr. White in an article in
the October issue of Nutrition
News, a four times-a-year bulletin
for nutrition educators published
by National Dairy Council;
Why So Lucrative?
“Why is nutrition nonsense so
lucrative a non-profession? Why
are we faced with one bad diet
book after another? How can fal
lacious authors rise to national
prominence as on fatty clouds al
most over night? Why? Because
the media of mass communica
tions ignore .peer review and pro
vide tailor-made megaphones for
any thing sensational.
“The media, especially radio
and television, are so hungry for
controversial or ‘different’ view
points (to stimulate audience in
terest) they seem to seek out
those who-march to a different
drum. The enormous number of
talk shows create a talent de-
mand that exceeds the supply.
“Why do the media permit Hol
lywood personalities to spread
their foolish notions about health
foods? Perhaps it’s because after
their umpteenth time around the
talk show circuit, nutrition non
sense is all they have to talk
about They are invited back be
cause somebody must fill the
chairs on stage. The mass media
does provide the perfect environ
ment for nonsense.”
In his article, one of Dr.
White’s main points is that sci
ence benefits from peer review
the process by which a scien
tist’s report is reviewed by other
scientists to see if his research
has been valid and his conclu
sions or hypothesis reasonable.
As Dr. White suggests, no such
review is involved when the food
faddist presents his ideas to the
public, nor do most newspapers
or other media require it.
Room For Encouragement
One has to be encouraged,
though, by the great increase in
the number of newspaper and
magazine science writers who do
know science and do not relay
nonsense to the public. One prob
lem, of course, is the question, “is
information news?” It is news
that sells newspapers, and sen
sationalism and controversy build
ratings for radio and television
And Americans have always had
some interest in the medicine
show, in the showman-quack.
So I predict food faddism and
nutritional misinformation will
Soil Conditioner
MAXICROP
LIQUID PLANT
FEEDING
Vitamin & Mineral for
livestock and poultry.
Need for less protein, in
crease butterfat, cut mastitis,
increase egg production.
Zook & Houck,
me.
RDI, Gap, Pa. 17527
Doctor
in the Kitchen*
by Laurence M. Hursh, M.D.
Consultant, National Dairy Council
NUTRITIONAL NONSENSE
be around for awhile. But people
should guard against swallowing
nonsense and rely instead on
sources of factual information
rather than opinion or notions. It
is, after all, our own health we
want to protect.
(NOTE: Last week’s column,
“Cholesterol Content of Food", in
correctly stated “a 3Yi-ounce serv
ing of lobster will gtve you 200 mg
of cholesterol . . ." The table in the
column correctly listed 3/a ounces
of lobster as containing 85 mg of
cholesterol.—L.M.H.)
The history of cheese goes back
a long time. Legend has it that
cheese actually was “discovered”
several thousand years before
Christ by an Arabian traveler
who placed milk in a pouch made
from a sheep’s stomach. During
his journey that day the com
bined action of the sun’s heat
and enzymes in the lining of the
stomach changed the milk into
curds of cheese and the thin
liquid now called whey.
“Since that legendary discov
ery,” says a National Dairy Coun
cil publication, “Newer Knowledge
of Cheese,” “countless experi
ments have produced varieties of
cheese that range in texture from
soft to hard and in flavor from
mild to pungent and sharp. Yet
CHEESE HISTORY
Get either supplement now for earlier weight gains and more
pounds of beef per feed dollar.
the initial, basic process remains
the same.
“Over the many centuries dur
ing which cheese has been made,
it has played a distinctive role in
the economy of peoples and of
nations. It was vital to the early
nomadic tribes and became one
of the prized mediums of ex
change because it provided milk
in a solid and less perishable
form.”
- Brought To Europe
Cheesemaking began in Europe
when the Crusaders brought back
the secrets of the art. After the
fall of the Roman Empire and
during the Dark Ages, Trappist
Monks in the monasteries kept
the secrets alive and developed
many varieties of cheese that still
are made today.
Localities contributed, too, to
varieties of cheese. Techniques
employed varied geographically
and the milk available in one
place and the techniques used
produced cheeses of certain char
acteristics not obtained else
where. These differences resulted
in the many varieties of cheese
that are obtainable today.
Cheesemaking remained a farm
or home operation until the mid
dle of the nineteenth century.
Cheesemaking as a great industry
in the United States began with
the first small cheese factory in
Rome, N.Y., in 1851.
All Kinds Available
Through controlled, scientific
methods American cheesemakers
have successfully manufactured
virtually all the foreign cheeses
such as Swiss, Camemhert, Lim
burger, Blue and Parmesan. And
Americans have originated such
varieties as Brick, Colby, Mon
terey or Jack cheese and others.
The beauty of cheese is that it
converts milk to a concentrated
form of nourishment suitable for
immediate use or storage for fu
ture use. And cheese is not only
nutritious.
into your cattle feeding program.
DEPEND ON US . . . FOR ALL YOUR FEED NEEDS.
Wolgemuth Bros., Inc.
MOUNT JOY, PENNA.
fTifitlsoioo '‘iuoa“ 'to "fcobbiq 1 *
icient Romans began the custom of hanging flags of
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istian churches down to modem times. j
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