Do the sources employed by historians
of nutrition science and nutrition policy
making have anything to offer those
concerned with the narrative approach
to everyday food behaviour?
David Smith, Hon Senior Lecturer in the
History of Medicine, University of
Aberdeen
d.f.smith@abdn.ac.uk
Introduction: outline
• Some key dimensions of nutrition science in
the interwar period
• Outputs and messages of those who studied
dietary habits systematically
• Some surviving archival material from the
dietary surveys
• Messages from the vitamin camp
Interwar vitamin enthusiasm and scepticism
Vitamin pioneers / enthusiastic
Cambridge School
Hopkins
Nobel prize
for vitamins
1929
Mellanby
Vitamin
theory of
rickets
Vitamin sceptics
Glasgow School
Conducted dietary
surveys
Paton
Cathcart
John Boyd Orr
Directed Rowett Institute,
Aberdeen
Main Surveys supervised by Paton, Cathcart and Orr (handout)
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Paton, D.N., Dunlop, J.C., and Inglis, E. (1900) A study of the diet of the labouring classes in Edinburgh carried
out under the auspices of the town council of Edinburgh Otto Schulze and Co., Edinburgh.
Lindsay, D. E. (1913) Report upon the Study of the Diet of the Labouring Classes in the City of Glasgow carried
out under the auspices of the Corporation of the City. (With introduction by Professor D.N.Paton.) Corporation
of Glasgow, Glasgow.
Ferguson, M., Findlay, L. (1918) ‘A study of social and economic factors in the causation of rickets’, Medical
Research Committee Special Report Series no. 20
Cathcart, E. P., Paton D.N. and Greenwood, M. (1924) ‘A Study of Miners' Dietaries’, Medical Research Council
Special Report Series no. 87.
Paton, D.N. and Findlay, L. (1926) ‘Child Life Investigations. Poverty Nutrition and Growth. Studies of Child Life
in Cities and Rural Districts in Scotland’ Medical Research Council Special Report Series no. 101.
Cathcart, E.P. and Murray, A.M.T. (1931) ‘A study in nutrition; 154 St. Andrews families’, Medical Research
Council Special Report Series no. 151.
Cathcart, E.P. and Murray, A.M.T. (1932) ‘Studies in nutrition; an enquiry into the diets of families in Cardiff
and Reading’, Medical Research Council Special Report Series no. 165.
Cathcart, E.P. and Murray, A.M.T. (1936) ‘A dietary survey in terms of actual foodstuffs consumed’, Medical
Research Council Special Report Series no. 151.
Orr, J. B. (1936) Food, Health and Income, London, MacMillan
Cathcart, E.P., Murray, A.M.T. and Beveridge, J.B. (1940) ‘An enquiry into the diet of families in the Highlands
and Islands of Scotland’, Medical Research Council Special Report Series no.242.
Rowett Research Institute (1955) Family diet and health in pre-war Britain, Dunfermline, Carnegie United
Kingdom Trust
For a more comprehensive list of surveys see : D J Oddy (1977) ‘An investigation into patterns of food
consumption in Britain 1914-1940’ SSRC End of Project Report HR3170.
Dietary Survey Methodology 1: “Man Value” Scales (handout)
Atwater (From
Lindsay 1913)
Lusk (from
Cathcart and
Murray 1931)
Cathcart &
Murray new
scale 1931
Cathcart &
Murray study
results 1931
Man 1.0
Man: 1.0
Man: 1.0
Man: 1.0
Woman 0.8
Woman: 0.83
Woman: 0.83
Woman: 0.70
Boy 14-16: 0.8
Boy ≥ 13: 1.0
Boy ≥ 14: 1.0
Boy ≥ 14: 0.78
Girl 14-16: 0.8
Girl ≥ 13: 0.83
Girl ≥ 14: 0.83
-
Child 10-13: 0.6
Child 10-13: 0.83
Child 12-14: 0.9
-
Child 6-9: 0.5
Child 6-10: 0.60
Child 10-12: 0.8
Child 10-12: 0.68
Child 2-5: 0.4
Child 0-7: 0.50
Child 8-10: 0.7
Child 8-10: 0.7
Child 6-8: 0.6
Child 6-8: 0.46
Child 3-6: 0.5
Child 3-6: 0.4
Child 2-3: 0.4
Child 2-3: 0.31
Child 1-2: 0.3
Child 1-2: 0.28
Child 0-1: 0.2
-
Child<2: 0.3
The final
column is based
on the actual
distribution of
food in five
families
Dietary Surveys methodologies 2: Requirements (handout)
• Paton et al 1902, 1913: 3500 Cals per ‘man’ (Atwater’s moderately
active)
• Paton et al 1926: City slum child on 2600 per ‘man’ per day grows
after 18 months as fast as country children. Lusk’s standard of
3000 might be reduced to 2500-2600.
• Cathcart 1931: suggest ‘that all families be classified on an
arbitrary 2,500 Cal. Scale, and that in the case of manual workers
a special addition be made to the male parent’s allowance’
• Orr 1936: man values abandoned in favour of ‘a per head basis
calculated on the requirements of children, adolescents, and
adults, and weighted according to the distribution of these in the
total population’. Average per head 2810 Cals. (Stiebeling’s
optimal requirements, included requirements for other nutrients)
• Rowett 1955: used scales devised by the Institute in 1937 and the
BMA 1950 scales
A page from: Report upon the Study of the Diet of the Labouring Classes in the City of Glasgow (1913)
Examples of allusions to the capacity / effectiveness of parents
• ‘The household consists of ... an Irishman ...
the mother also Irish ... and four children ...
The house has two rooms. It is dirty and illkept. The table is always littered with crumbs,
and tea, and dirty crockery ... The meals are
irregular. The children drink tea five or six
times a-day, and get a piece of bread
whenever they ask for it ... Things are bought
in small quantities ...’ (Edinburgh 1902 report)
Extract from ‘A study of social and economic
factors in the causation of rickets’,
• ‘Twenty-nine percent of the mothers of the
markedly rachitic children were careless. They
were not wilfully neglected, but still the
children did not receive sufficient attention.
Either the children were not kept clean, their
feeding appeared to be irregular and
unsatisfactory, or they were allowed to sit for
hours at a time on a cold floor or chair ...’
Extract from: Studies in nutrition; an
enquiry into the diets of families in
Cardiff and Reading’ (1932):
‘Smallness of income is only partially
responsible. Far more important on the whole
than the size of the income is improvidence
on the part of one or both parents or simply
general incapacity.’
An example of the data presented in ‘A dietary survey in terms
of actual foodstuffs consumed’ (1936)
St Andrews data: Groups: I Professional; II Intermediate; III Shopkeepers; IV Skilled
workers; V Unskilled workers; VI Unemployed; VII Mother and young family
Extract from ‘An enquiry into the diet of families in the
Highlands and Islands of Scotland’ (1940)
Edward Cathcart, Regius
Professor of Physiology Glasgow
Typical graph in John Boyd Orr, of Food, Health and Income (1936) showing inadequate
nutrient intakes in lower income groups
Screenshots from Enough to Eat? (1936) (view at BFI screenonline)
http://www.bris.ac.uk/social-community-medicine/media/boyd-orr/family-diethealth.pdf
Areas covered by the
Carnegie Survey (handout)
Rough list of dietary survey material in Rowett Research Institute archives (handout)
DSC - Carnegie Dietary Survey papers:
DSO - Material relating to other dietary surveys,
DSC/1 - Records and papers
nutritional experiments etc.:
DSC/2 - Papers and test results
DSO/1 - Ministry of Food wartime diet studies
DSC/3 - Haemoglobin data
DSO/2 - Dietary study booklets - Surrey, Essex, Ely, Wales,
DSC/4 - Methodology and analysis papers
South Wales
DSC/5 - Expenditure group analysis sheets
DSO/3 - Data sheets of physical measurements 1919-1929
DSC/6 - Childrens' physical data
DSO/4 - Dietary study booklets - Glasgow and Blantyre
DSC/7 - Additional material
1941
DSC/8 - Aberlour Carnegie Survey papers and results
DSO/5 - British Aluminium Company dietary study 1939
DSC/9 - School meals survey
DSO/6 - Strachcona House dietary study 1938
DSC/10 - Statistical material on income and expenditure DSO/7 - Dollar Academy dietary study 1938
(not food)
DSO/8 - Guisachan PT Summer School dietary study
DSC/11 - Booklets and notes recording costs of food
DSO/9 - Airlie Training Centre dietary study
DSC/12 - Papers on the establishment and analysis of
DSO/10 - Eton School nutritional study 1937
survey
DSO/11 - Gordounston School dietary survey 1937
DSC/13 - Godden's tables based on LON/RRI requirements DSO/12 - Tables analysing dietary composition
DSC/14 - Committee meetings and reports
DSO/13 - SSAC Heavy Industry Surveys 1941-1943
DSC/15 - Microfilms
DSO/14 - Spinal survey photographs and statistics
DSC/16 - Follow-up by Bristol University papers
DSO/15 - Survey records on vision tests 1938
DSO/16 - Aberdeen and Peterhead household nutrition
tests 1932
DSO/17 - Milk campaign dietary survey 1927-1928
DSO/18 - English schoolboys height and weight survey
Special Collections Centre
1936-1938
The Sir Duncan Rice Library
DSO/19 - Reports and analysis Carnegie and Ministry of
Bedford Road
Food surveys
Aberdeen AB24 3AA
DSO/20 - Ministry of Food survey 1941
DSO/21 - Physical measurements of Scottish children
Tel: +44 (0)1224 27 2598
1950s
Email: speclib@abdn.ac.uk
DSO/22 - Ilkley, West Yorkshire family diet sheets
DSO/23 - Military and Service camps dietary surveys
George M’Gonigle in Enough to Eat?
‘... the average working class housewife by rule
of thumb methods knows pretty well which
foodstuffs to buy to feed her family properly.
Though she doesn’t know the difference
between a vitamin and a bus ticket our
investigations shows quite clearly that as her
income increases she approaches more and
more nearly to a really satisfactory diet’
Mellanby / Orr on Vitamins/Minerals and infections
Hopkins on ‘partial deficiencies’
Mellanby: ‘nothing has been more prominent in recent work … than the part played
by correct feeding in increasing the individual resistance to infection ... I need
only allude to the recent accumulation of facts showing the importance of
vitamin A in increasing the resistance of the animal ...’
E. Mellanby, ‘Duties of the State in Relation to the Nation's Food Supply’, British Medical Journal, 1927
Orr: ‘The influence which long-continued deficiency of mineral matter … may have
upon the incidence of disease, due to microbic infection, is well worthy of
consideration …’
J. B. Orr, ‘The importance of Mineral Matter in Nutrition’, Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural
Society of Scotland , 1923
Hopkins: ‘it may be said ... beri-beri or pellegra or any diseases like them are
unknown in this country; and scurvy is … very rare. But disturbances in health
may exist without arriving at the extreme stage when the appearance of a
severe set of symptoms leads to the recognition of actual disease.’
F. G. Hopkins, ‘The Practical Importance of Vitamins’, British Medical Journal, 1919
First appearances of ‘protective foods’ in the
medical weeklies (handout)
BMJ 1922 editorial :
... diets should be supplemented by vitamin-rich foods, of which
the most important are milk and milk products, green
vegetables, and fruit-substances which McCollum designates as
“protective” foods.
Lancet 1923: on a paper by Dr Harold Scurfield, MoH for
Sheffield on the nutritional value of watercress:
There was just the danger that people would get sick of the talk
about vitamins before they had absorbed the comparatively
simple teaching of the newer nutrition- viz., that they needed to
include more of the “protective foods” - i.e., milk, green
vegetables, and fruits-in their dietaries.
First uses of ‘protective foods’ The Times and Hansard
(handout)
The Times 31 January 1930
We are being reminded that milk is a
perfect food, that it is rich in vitamins,
and that it is the only suitable
nourishment for young children or
suckling babies; it is also a very useful
food for adults, and we are doing all
that we can to see that this country
produces good, pure milk at a cheap
price. This food is so valuable that it has
been called one of the "protective"
foods, the other being green vegetables,
because it does not matter how
unsuitable or peculiar the diet of an
individual may be, or however much a
food crank he may be, provided he
includes milk and green vegetables in
his diet, he will not go far wrong.
Hansard 15 May 1928
Milk
H Corry Mann, Diets For Boys During The School Age. MRC Special Report
1926.
J B Orr, ‘Milk consumption and the growth of school-children’, Lancet 1928;i:
202-3.
‘A memorandum on the Nutritive Value of Milk by the Advisory Committee on
Nutrition appointed by the Minister of Health and the Secretary of
State for Scotland’, London, HMSO, 1936
See references to works by Peter Atkins and others in the handout
The First Ad in
The Times using
‘vitamines’ – for
Glaxo baby milk
(Times, 9 Feb 1920, p. 8f)
Times, 3/9/25, 7a
Times, 30 Jan1928, p. 11e
See references to works by Sally
Horrocks and others in the handout
Times, 18/10/28, 20a
Hopkins on practical application of vitamins in medicine
“If the practitioner, when considering whether diet
may not be the cause of ill-health has in his mind the
idea of specific deficiencies he will no longer reject the
possibility when general underfeeding or ill digestion
alone have been excluded. Realising that details must
be considered, he will, in my opinion, be able to
ascribe more to diet than hitherto, and at the same
time extend his list of cases diagnosed ...”
F. G. Hopkins, ‘Recent Advances in Science in Relation to
Practical Medicine and the Nutritional Requirement of the
Body’, Lancet 1921
Times Thursday, Oct 17, 1929;
pg. 12; Issue 45336; col A
Times Wednesday, Oct 30,
1929; pg. 8; Issue 45347; col G
Some references (handout)
P J Atkins Liquid Materialities 2010
P J Atkins ‘The pasteurisation of England: the science, culture and health implications of milk processing, 19001950’ in Smith and Phillips
L M Barnett, ‘The People’s League of Health and the campaign against bovine tuberculosis in the 1930s’ in Smith
and Phillips
R. Duffet The Stomach for Fighting: Food and the Soldiers of the Great War 2012
S M Horrocks ‘Nutrition science and the food and pharmaceutical industries in inter-war Britain’ in Smith 1997
S M Horrocks ‘The Business of Vitamins: Nutrition Science and the Food Industry in Inter-war Britain’ in
Kamminga and Cunningham
H Kamminga ‘”Axes to grind”: popularising the science of vitamins, 1920s and 1930s’ in Smith and Phillips
H Kamminga and A Cunningham The Science and Culture of Nutrition 1840-1940 1995
F McKee ‘The popularisation of milk as a beverage during the 1930s’ in Smith 1997
D F Smith ‘The Social Construction of Dietary Standards: The British Medical Association - Ministry of Health
Advisory Committee on Nutrition Report of 1934’, in D. Maurer and J. Sobal Eating Agendas Food and
Nutrition as Social Problems 1995
D F Smith ‘The early institutional and scientific development of the Rowett Research Institute’ in A Adam, D F
Smith, and F Watson To the Greit Support and Advancement of Helth 1996
D F Smith Nutrition in Britain: Science, scientists and politics in the twentieth century 1997
D F Smith and J Phillips Food, Science, Policy and Regulation in the Twentieth Century 2000
D F Smith ‘The Carnegie Survey: background and intended impact’, in A Fenton Order and Disorder 2000
D F Smith ‘The quest for a nutritional El Dorado: efforts to demonstrate dietary impacts upon resistance to
infectious disease in the 1920s and 30s’ in E Neswald, U Thoms and D Smith Setting Standards (working
title) 2013?
D F Smith and M Nicolson ‘Nutrition, Education, Ignorance and Income: A Twentieth-Century Debate’ in
Kamminga and Cunningham
D F Smith and M Nicolson ‘The “Glasgow School” of Paton, Findlay and Cathcart: Conservative Thought in
Chemical Physiology, Nutrition and Public Health’ Social Studies in Science 1989