MALT AND HEALTH
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Malt has long been regarded as one of the stabilizing items in our normal national diet, and its production has been in the past a big national industry. Malt is a great aid to digestion and assists in the rapid conversion of food into energy. It helps in the assimilation of bread and other cereal foods, so that when taken at meal times it is a valuable aid to those with tired or weak digestions.
As is well known, malt is the constituent in beer which helps to give that beverage its body-building properties, but in recent years, with the decreased production and strength of beer, the amount of malt used has dropped very sub- stantially. In 1925, 12,385,000 cwt. was used. The figures for last year are not yet available, but it is apparent from the beer production figures that the consumption of malt, without making any allowance for the decreased strength of the beer, must have been at least 2,000,000 cwt. less.
A tribute to the value of malt is to be found in the large number of patent medicines which contain it. But we are not a medicine-taking nation by inclination, and since we have come to rely so much on malt we must find more new and pleasant ways of taking it.—I am, Sir, &c., WILLIAM ARBUTHNOT LANE,
39 Bedford Square, W.C. 1. President, New Health Society.
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