Fat in infant dietetics

Since Biedert's monograph in 1S69, on "Investigations concerning the difference between Human Milk and Cow's Milk," the question of artificial feeding of infants, from the point of view of the harmfulness or otherwise of the various constituents of milk has passed through many phases.The basis of this paper is on work done on infant feeding in New Zealand. There, practically the whole of infant feeding is supervised by a Government subsidised society called the "Plunket Society", after Lady Plunket, wife of one of the Governors who took.much interest in Infant Welfare. Briefly, the Society has "clinics" in every town, run by nurses - "Plunket Nurses" who have had training at one of the Society's Homes.There is no medical supervision of these clinics whatever, the nurses run them themselves, and the method of feeding is according to a hard and fast rule and is the same throughout the country.The formula used is founded on the work of Rotch in America some thirty years ago - the so-called "humanised" or percentage-milk, and is made up as follows: a portion of the milk is set aside to allow the cream to rise. The remainder is warmed, curdled with rennet and the resultant whey added to the days milk which is drawn off from the top sample and sugar and lime water added.As large areas of New Zealand are devoted to dairying and the ideal for butter making is a milk with a high fat content, many herds are either entirely Jersey Gows or have a percentage of Jersey or Jersey strain cows in them.As the fat content of Jersey milk is between 5 and 6% as compared with an average of "5% in average herd milk, this is an important factor