Sir,—There can be no more patriotic movement if we look at the future “stamina” of our people than a recall from the anaemic loaf of to-day to the wheat flour as God Almighty gave it for the building of bone and muscle and nerve….

Here in Cumberland another very important food-stuff, which in old days contributed to the bone and muscle of our dalesmen, has almost passed away.  I allude to the delicious “Haver” bread, a very thin cake of fine oatmeal, which up to thirty years ago was the staple bread at every farm, and for the storing of which—for only two bakings took place in the year—the oak kists were part of the household furniture….

The “Haver bread” not only helped to produce good teeth but helped to keep them good, for the eating of it acted as a toothbrush.  The report of our school medical officer of health and the report of our Chief Constable upon the condition of teeth of the fine strapping young fellows who, volunteering for the Metropolitan Police Force, were obliged to be rejected a year ago, by reason of their teeth, shows that something is radically wrong with the present food of the people.  I am assured that one of the inner cuticles of the wheat corn which is cast aside in the manufacture of refined white flour by the steel roller process, contains a particular “calcium” salt which goes to give enamel to the teeth.  If this is so, one cannot hope to arrest decay and cannot wonder that such a large percentage of our children are shown to be suffering from bad teeth.  This means that a large percentage of our children at the most critical portion of their growth are ill-supplied with the very instruments that most tend to good nutrition.

My experience of the stone-ground flour is that the mere fragrance and scent of it, if one becomes accustomed to it, makes it impossible for one to return to the scentless and tasteless flour that is in fashion.  I am told that one of the cuticles of the wheat grain which is cast out in the new milling process contains certain essential oils which give this nutty fragrance, and that this essential oil has a peculiar power to promote the flow of saliva and therefore is an important aid to digestion.

(London Daily News, 16 January 1911, p. 4]