Word: starching
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...your story regarding Argo starch addiction in many pregnant Negro women [July 28]: This is nothing new or astonishing to many Northern doctors. As a former Yankee who was a medical student and intern in Cincinnati during the mid-fifties, I was well aware of this common practice, which was frequently discussed on our ward rounds. While some may believe this eating of starch has profound psychiatric implications, our understanding (based on talking with many of these mothers) is much homelier. Through folklore, many women believe that the starch, in some fashion, enhances the production of vernix caseosa, thereby making...
...Thirty years ago when I became pregnant with my first child, I began to bleed. The doctors tried everything, but nothing helped. My grandmother, who was born in Rumania, suggested I try one-half glass of starch dissolved in water three times a day. My bleeding stopped, and I had a full-term, normal...
Across the country, the preferred brand is Argo Gloss Starch, available in either the economy-size blue box at 19? or the handy red box at 11?. Both contain chewy lumps that taste, according to one gourmet, like "a cross between milk of magnesia and matzo. The texture is that of an after-dinner mint." Like peanuts, one handful leads to another. "After a box of it," said one woman, "my throat gets kind of sticky, so I go and get a big glass of ice water. Then I get a powerful desire for more." Some enthusiasts spice laundry starch...
Inexpensive Psychiatry. Argo representatives say that their laundry product contains nothing but cornstarch, a common thickener for soups and desserts. (They also say the starch-eating habit is "rare.") According to medical opinion, eating large amounts of laundry starch often brings on anemia by blocking the body's absorption of iron. Some doctors state that overeating laundry starch may also cause a deficiency of folic acid, which in pregnant women may lead to premature births or bleeding near delivery time...
...Whether starch gobbling results from a physical need or a cultural habit is a minor medical mystery. According to Manhattan Internist Harry Roselle, who sees many cases at St. Luke's Hospital, Negro women nibble starch in times of stress as a form of "inexpensive psychiatry." Many Negroes believe that starch prevents nausea during pregnancy. Indeed, some doctors agree that starch probably does soothe "morning sickness," though probably only for psychological reasons. Unfortunately, the other effects...