1940's Medicine and Health | "Tell 37-Year Rise in Better Eating"

Newspaper article

By: The New York Times

Date: July 19, 1946

Source: "Tell 37-Year Rise in Better Eating." The New York Times, July 19, 1946.

Introduction

The first four decades of the twentieth century were an era of rapid ups and downs in the nation's economic state. These fluctuations were mirrored in Americans' well-being, including their diets. The prosperous 1920s brought no national food shortages, but scientific research on nutrition was still in its infancy. The 1930s were a decade of want for many, and even people who ate sufficient calories may not have been eating enough nutritious foods. The 1940s and World War II (1939–1945) created a new situation for nutrition. Although food supplies were adequate, America faced the extra task of feeding troops and helping its allies.

Studies of particular populations, particularly draftage men, had found...