Introducing children to cabbage varieties | Short letters

Broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage appear to have a protective effect against the development of the autoimmune form of diabetes in children, according to your article (Study links bananas, oats and yoghurt to greater diabetes risk in vulnerable children, September 8). Every parent would like to know how they were led to eat them.
Harold Mozley
York

In your editorial on public libraries (8 September) you note that the poorest areas often suffer disproportionately from funding. As a bookseller, we introduced a scheme this summer where a child can choose a book, along with a voucher, and then swap it when they have read it. This has proven successful and we hope to develop this further in the run-up to Christmas.
Rob and Kim Turnbull
Reiver reads, Carlisle Market Hall

Regarding your article (I chose to live at home as a student. Here’s why I’d recommend it, 9 September), if students went to local universities and lived at home, it would solve a lot of our housing problems. In Bath, large parts of the family housing stock are currently occupied by students for barely three quarters of the year.
Jane Paxton
Bath

My mother grew up in a teetotal house in Edinburgh in the 1930s. When she was a teenager, a doctor recommended that she drink Guinness daily for her anemia (Letters, September 5). This was the only alcohol in the house and she hated it. Later in life, she drank only wine.
Tim Scott
London

The hearts on pencil cases from the 1970s were usually pierced with an arrow, which emphasized the direction of the intention (Letters, September 5).
Liz Fuller
London