VE Day broadcast,
Prime Minister Winston Churchill
The Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark
were the only part of the British Isles to come under German
occupation during the Second World War. This year marked the 60th
anniversary of the historic D-Day landings and islanders remember
those dark days of deprivation and celebrate their
freedom
For five years until 1945 the Channel Islands were the only
place in Britain to experience German Occupation and suffered
extreme deprivations. This was especially true in the last eight
months, following the Allies’ liberation of the Cherbourg
Peninsula, when food became almost non-existent.
Guernsey was probably the worst-affected. Some 23,000 islanders
(1,000 of them children), 20,000 German forces and 5,000 foreign
labourers all needed to be fed. After four years of lowly
subsistence rations, many people succumbed to malnutrition; and
even the soldiers were found collapsing in the streets. In the
Autumn of 1944, as the impact of the ‘siege’ began to
bite, the Bailiff of Guernsey appealed to the International Red
Cross Society for assistance. The Swedish ship, the ‘SS
Vega’, eventually made five trips with essential supplies
including cod liver oil, much of which was distributed to the
children. Hence, in February 1945, an entry in the log for Hautes
Capelles School read: ‘Children showing more signs of hunger.
Many come to school without breakfast. A gift of half a pound of
cod liver oil and malt has today been given to every school child
to take home; it has brought great joy.’ And Vale
School’s log on 20 March 1945 read: ‘A small amount of
cod liver oil was received and given to those children who have
been away for a long time and to those children who had lost over a
pound and a half in weight during the month without
bread.’
At that time, the oil was mainly known for being the prime source
of the vitamins A and D. It was recognised that vitamin A helped to
ward off infections and that vitamin D helped prevent rickets. It
would seem that the distribution of cod liver oil and malt to these
malnourished, underweight children was on account of their
declining health, including skin infections, boils, carbuncles and
ulcers. Cuts and abrasions often became septic and took a long time
to heal. As for the malt, its blending with the oil was merely to
make it more palatable.
The doctors and nutritionists who visited the Island after its
Liberation were surprised to find that despite weight loss, the
nutritional status of the children was not as bad as had been
feared. Almost certainly this was because every child had received
a daily ration of 1 pint of nutrient-rich local milk during most of
the Occupation. This would have helped prevent protein malnutrition
and also rickets (by providing calcium and vitamin D).
Sadly, it was not the same elsewhere. Throughout Europe, millions
were experiencing severe malnutrition. Children in the Netherlands
were found to be especially affected; they were starving to death.
During the last months of the War and the immediate post-war years,
desperate attempts were made to assess where the limited food
resources could be best utilised. Survey teams sent out from
Britain, evaluated and documented the nutritional status of these
vulnerable populations. Many eminent, soon-to-be famous,
nutritionists were involved, among them Hugh Macdonald Sinclair,
medical doctor and Oxford don. His pre-war research had been
focused on various aspects of vitamins and trace minerals, but over
time, he began to take an interest in essential fatty acids
(EFAs).
Dr Sinclair spent the early post-war years completing his work in
Europe and amassing an extensive library of nutrition books and
papers. This became an indispensable resource for developing his
ideas on the importance of EFAs in human nutrition.
Even though much of Dr Sinclair’s published work was
speculative and hypothetical, its impact was far-reaching and it
provided the stimulus for a worldwide explosion of research into
EFAs and their physiological importance. Many of his predictions
linking chronic diseases to omega-3 EFA deficiency have been proved
to be true.
It became established that both omega-6 and omega-3 EFAs are
essential for human health and that the well-being of the body
often depends on the relative amounts consumed, the so-called
‘balance of essential fatty acids’ in the diet. For
present-day diets, it has been found that this balance is far too
much in favour of the omega-6 family and that it needs to be
corrected by either eating less food containing seed oils
(margarines and baked goods) or by adding more food containing fish
oils (oily fish, fish liver oil).
Generally speaking, when the dietary balance is too much in favour
of omega-6 EFAs, inflammatory tendencies tend to be promoted. But
these can be prevented, or even reversed, by consuming more omega-3
EFAs (and less omega-6 EFAs). This is why supplementing with cod
liver oil can greatly reduce the severity of many inflammatory
conditions such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma,
Crohn’s disease, eczema and psoriasis.
The impact on the chronic joint pain associated with osteoarthritis
can be particularly dramatic. Not only is the painful inflammation
relieved, there is now good evidence that further damage to the
joint cartilage is reduced and possibly prevented.
Cod liver oil has also been shown to benefit cardiovascular health
by improving the elasticity of arteries, reducing blood platelet
aggregation (making blood ‘thinner’) and by lowering
levels of blood lipids, including that of cholesterol. Other
benefits from taking cod liver oil are associated with brain
function and development, probably because the brain has such a
high content of omega-3 EFAs. Thus various forms of brain
malfunction have been linked to diets lacking in omega-3 EFAs and
have been found to be corrected or alleviated by appropriate
supplementation; these include depression, aggressive behaviour,
attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and bipolar
disorder (manic-depressive illness). Even diabetic neuropathy, a
degenerative condition of the nerve endings of diabetes sufferers,
has been found to respond, or even to be reversed, by taking
omega-3 EFAs.
Vitamin D is essential for normal bone growth; deficiencies
accelerate the progression of osteoporosis in the elderly and
result in malformations such as rickets in the young and
osteomalacia in adults. More recent research has also linked a lack
of vitamin D to increased risk of colon and breast cancers,
rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and falls in the
elderly.
Current advice to cover up to protect against sun damage to the
skin, can result in insufficient vitamin D from sunlight - a
situation that can be remedied by taking a daily dose of cod liver
oil.
Those Guernsey children of 60 years ago are probably taking cod
liver oil again. But this time it will not be to counter the
effects of their starvation, but to soothe their ageing joints and
maybe to alleviate other ailments, too!
back to the top »