[Report 1931] / Medical Officer of Health, St Andrews.

  • St. Andrews (Scotland). Council.
Date:
1931
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1931] / Medical Officer of Health, St Andrews. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    INTRODUCTORY. A favourable environment is necessary for the full develop- ment of the high qualities which are conferred by inheritance upon a race or individual. Recognition of this fact as applied to mankind has been the force which has inspired the amazing advances in sanitary science of the past half century. Biological research has led to the effective control of many infectious dis- eases, to the purification of water supplies, to the conservation of drainage, to the improvement of housing and to the protection of infant and maternal life, while industrial research has led to the betterment of working conditions. In short, all the ramifica- tions of the public health organisation of the nation has been employed in removing from the path of the individual those external influences which actively threaten existence. The result has been an increase in the capacity and in the expectation of life of the individual. The following pages of this Report will show that St. Andrews Town Council have been alive to modern advances in sanitary science and have applied them for the benefit of the citizens. Regard for the state of health of the community, however, is not a matter which is solely the concern of the Local Authority. Each individual is under an obligation to safeguard his health in the interests of himself and of his neighbours. Nevertheless, the vast majority of people are daily showing the utmost disregard for their welfare by the nature of the food they are consuming. The modern craze for attractive food has led to a serious lack of balance in the national diet thereby causing an alarmingly in- creased incidence in those common disorders of the respiratory and digestive tracts which are the chief causes of disability among the population. More than half the nation’s food supply is manufactured and people are consuming too much sugar and starch and too little fresh food. Evidence regarding the injurious nature of the nation’s food supply is accumulating and St. Andrews is sharing in the work. The Medical Research Council’s Report on “ An Enquiry into the Diet of 154 families of St. Andrews ” by Professor Cathcart and Mrs. A. M. T. Murray has shown an unexpected lack of balance in the food supply in the city. The work of Dr. J. Hunter P. Paton in the James Mackenzie Institute on the relation between the consumption of carbohydrates and common catarrhal dis- orders has provided clear indication of the evil effect attending the ill-balanced diet of to-day. The results of these investiga- tions will be added to the volume of information which is being gathered in other parts of the country and it is hoped that before long there will occur a national awakening to the danger which menaces.