- Creation
-
Creator (Definite): Medicus (Our Dogs contributor)Date: 30 Jan 1931
- Current Holder(s)
-
- No links match your filters. Clear Filters
-
Cites Edward Mellanby
Description:‘Some years ago, in the early stages of his investigations into the causes of rickets in children, Dr. Edward Mellanby, the famous scientist, published some very interesting reports of the effects of different foodstuffs upon dogs. In particular his reports upon the results of giving too much starchy material in in food are particularly interesting. Starchiness and cooked food are two of the principal causes of eczema and of rickets, in my opinion.
...
In one of his reports to the Medical Research Council upon the effect of different foods in producing or correcting rickets (rachitis) Dr. Mellanby described experiments which were carried out to see how this disease could be affected by diet. In the first experiment made a puppy was fed on boiled horseflesh without fat. After about ten weeks of this diet the animal developed a rickety appearance. It seemed certain, however, from the general condition of the animal, that scurvy was associated with rickets. It was found at this time that if puppies, in addition to the meat, received a substantial quantity of meat each day, they remained in good health. It was found that on a diet of oatmeal, rice, and milk, puppies ultimately developed rickets when the milk was limited. Then a large number of experiments were made in which a diet of milk, oatmeal, and rice was used as the standard, and in all cases under laboratory conditions the animals developed rickets. The treatment which prevented the disease was an increase in milk consumption. When the oatmeal and rice were replaced by ordinary white bread, other conditions being the same, rickets also developed. The scientist found the period during which the dogs so fed became quite rickety was from four to six months, and except in puppies of big, fast-growing breeds, the bony changes and other symptoms were not as strongly developed as was desirable from an experimental point of view. Further experiments showed that fat – milk-fat, cod-liver oil, suet, etc. – corrected the trouble, thus showing that too much starchy food of the bread and rice type was bad for dogs, and also that lean meat alone is not so good for dogs as lean and fat combined.'
[also discusses Mellanby’s experiments with feeding dogs bread – lack of success due to kind of bread (white not brown)]