How Good Is Our National Diet?

Abstract

OOD supplies in the United States have seemed to be almost unlimited. Our enormous production capacity, together with modern methods of processing, storage, and transportation has made possible throughout the year a variety of foods unattainable in almost any other country. To the casual observer, productive farms, well-stocked warehouses, and flourishing markets may indicate a well-fed nation. Indeed, average per capita consumption figures would seem to bear this out. It is only by a study of individual family food consumption that we can learn about deviations from the average and how significant these deviations are in terms of human nutrition. Such a study was conducted in 1936 by the Bureau of Home Economics and the Bureau of Labor Statistics in collaboration with other Federal agencies. Weekly records of family food consumption were the basis for estimates of the nutritional adequacy of diets. Any dietary evaluation assumes that we know what nutrients and how much of each are needed, and that we know how much is supplied by each food. A basis for judging the adequacy of diets was made available in 1941 when the Committee on Food and Nutrition of the National Research Council an-