What We Eat,and Why

WHAT PEOPLE eat at any time depends on three things— what they like, what is available, and what they can afford. The relative importance of these is not always the same. During the war and early postwar years, what was available came first, and likes came last for a substantial part of the world’s population. People have had to accept what they could get, whether or not they liked it.

As far back as we can remember, however, we have taken for granted that our town and city markets would have a great variety of foods and that everyone could choose freely among them and buy as much as desired as long as he had the money. The war changed that. Customary foods were not available in the quantities necessary to satisfy demand.  Rationing and standing in line and the disappearance of many favorite foods came to determine what people ate. After the early postwar period, likes and ability to pay played a more important role.

Patterns of eating were not always as they are at present, nor are they uniform throughout the country. Food habits are the result of many factors including experience, availability of foods, and purchasing power.  A brief backward look helps to illustrate the point and to indicate some of the forces that make for change.

Food habits may be deeply rooted in the nationality, religious customs, and cultural background of forebears. Early settlers lived close to the land and learned fairly soon to adapt their food habits to the foods they could grow or procure locally. Later, large numbers of families from various countries settled in groups in the larger towns and cities. These communities had their own restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores where they could obtain the customary foods of the old country. Thus food habits of other countries were perpetuated in the United States. In parts of the country distinct regional food habits also developed. These were related to the kinds of foods that could be produced in the area, facilities for storing, preserving, transporting and marketing foods, and the general level of purchasing power.

Little by little, through the process of mixing and blending, food patterns of different nationality and regional groups have become more alike.  People move around more, meeting new people, eating new foods, and finding old foods in new dishes.

Food has done more and better traveling, to large cities and smaller places alike. Refrigerator cars, fast motor freight, and improvements in processing and marketing have contributed to the amazing variety of foods offered for sale the year around. Agricultural sciences have played a part with improved varieties and quality of food. Modern education in foods and nutrition has had a part in changing demand. Even before the war people were becoming more conscious of the effect of food on health; and during the war education about nutrition was extended widely. School lunches and factory lunchrooms were expanded and proved, when well planned, to be effective in improving food habits.

One of the best ways of studying trends in American food consumption is through figures on food supplies. For many years the Bureau of Agricultural Economics has estimated the quantities of food going to consumers. The estimates take into account production, imports, exports, stocks on hand, and foods consumed on farms where they are produced.  Total quantities of food for domestic consumption in a given year are divided by the total population to give per capita averages. For the war years, only civilian supplies and civilian population figures were used.  Estimates of per capita consumption are then adjusted for losses that occur up to the point at which consumers buy their food.

A series of such estimates for the years 1909 through 1945 gives an excellent picture of the changes in over-all food consumption that have occurred in the past 37 years in this country.

As a Nation we have been eating less and less of some kinds of foods and more of others. Consumption of grain products, for example, has fallen markedly throughout the period. In fact, in the years 1941 to 1945, the amount used was about one-third less than during the period 1909 to 1913, a difference of about 100 pounds a person a year.

The consumption of potatoes, too, has declined. The general trend fluctuates from year to year, but it is unmistakable. From 1941 to 1945 civilians ate only about three-fourths as many potatoes as they did from 1909 to 1913.

Grain products and potatoes are important sources of calories, and it is natural to wonder what foods have replaced them. Actually there has been an increased consumption of several types of foods.

One of the most marked and significant changes has been the increase in the use of milk. The general trend has been upward since' 1909—the beginning of the series. But since 1934 the increase has been continuous, with an especially rapid rise during the war years. As a result, average consumption of milk and its products (except butter) was 45 percent greater from 1941 to 1945 than from 1909 to 1913. In 1945 we used about 90 quarts a year more than in 1909. At the 1945 level, consumption averaged nearly three cups a day per person. This includes the milk used in bread and other bakery products, in candy and other foods, as well as the milk equivalent (on the basis of protein and mineral content) of cheese and ice cream.

The consumption of tomatoes and citrus fruit, important sources of ascorbic acid, increased gradually since 1909, but in the past 10 years the rise has been spectacular. In 1945 the average civilian consumed 116 pounds, compared to about 45 pounds in 1909.

A large part of this increase has been in citrus fruit, a result of improved market supplies at relatively lower prices than 20 or 30 years ago.  There was a time when for many people oranges were a special treat for the Thanksgiving fruit bowl and the toe of the Christmas stocking.  Today they are a daily food for millions of Americans during a large part of the year and there are ample supplies of canned citrus juices of good quality at reasonable prices.

Tomatoes have always been a stand-by. They are easy to grow, easy to can, and rural families have come to rely on them. City people, too, use tomatoes in considerable quantity, because they lend variety to meals and, in cans at least, they have been relatively cheap. Canned tomato juice, which came on the market about 1930, rapidly became a favorite and has contributed to the increase in consumption of tomatoes.

Leafy, green, and yellow vegetables form another group that has gained importance in our national diet. From 1909 to 1913, annual consumption averaged about 74 pounds a person. Twenty years later it had increased to about 90 pounds. From 1941 to 1945 we had 121 pounds for each person, or nearly 65 percent more than the consumption from 1909 to 1913. Of the foods in this group, cabbage is consumed in largest quantity, but the increases that occurred were in the use of other vegetables, especially carrots, lettuce, and other salad greens.  The increase in the use of canned products was greater than that of fresh vegetables. Green and yellow vegetables are good sources of vitamin A and as a group contribute important amounts of ascorbic acid. Nutritionists have been urging people to eat more of these foods—perhaps one of the reasons why consumption has increased.

There has been an upward trend in the consumption of dry beans and peas and units, including peanut products. The average quantity used in 1945 was about 20 pounds a person, as compared to 12 pounds in the early years of this series.

Americans like sweets, and use a large amount of sugar in soft drinks, candy, canned fruit, ice cream, ready-baked goods, and in many other ways at home. From 1942 to 1945, sugar consumption was limited by supply, but the lowest figure for any one of these years, 91 pounds in 1945, is about the same as the average for the first 10 years of this series— 1909 through 1918. An increase is expected when supplies are more abundant again.

For other groups of foods no consistent trend in consumption since 1909 is apparent. Consumption of meat tended to go down from 1909 to the late 1930’s. It rose sharply, however, during the recent war years, when average incomes were high, evidence that many persons had not been consuming all the meat they wanted. But the consumption of fats and oils (including bacon and salt pork) has risen, at least until wartime shortages limited supplies. The consumption of eggs has fluctuated between 22 and 28 dozen per person a year, except in 1945, when it rose to 31 dozen.

From the nutritional point of view, it is important that figures on food consumption be translated into terms of calories, protein, minerals, and vitamins. The figures indicate the extent to which available food supplies, if equitably distributed, would provide for the nutritional needs of the population. They show how shifts in consumption have altered the nutritive value of the national diet over the years.

Calories.—There has been little change in the calories provided by the per capita food supply between 1909 and 1945, except that during the depression years in the 1930’ calorie averages were rather low. The lowest figure, 3,170 calories for each person a day, occurred in 1935.  At that time the purchasing power of many families was low and the drought of 1934 brought smaller supplies of some foods. But even this level is higher than the prewar consumption in most countries.
   All foods contribute some calories to the diet. Therefore a study of the proportion of the total calories coming from different groups of food is one way of seeing the effect of shifts in consumption over a period of years. The upward trends in consumption of milk, of citrus fruit and tomatoes, and of green and yellow vegetables are reflected in their contribution of calories. Likewise the downward trends in consumption of grain products and of potatoes are clearly apparent.

Protein.—The amount of protein in the per capita food supply declined slightly from 1909 to the middle 1930’s, a result of lowered consumption of grain products and meats. Since 1935, the year of the lowest average, the protein content of the diet has increased because of higher consumption of milk, of meat, poultry and fish, and of dry beans, peas, and nuts.

Fat.—The amount of fat, visible plus invisible, in the over-all food supply has been increasing, partly because of larger supplies of fats as such and partly because of increased consumption of milk.

Calcium.—Probably the most striking trend in the nutritive value of the national diet is the increase in calcium that has occurred during the 37 years of this series—1909 to 1945. This trend parallels closely the increase in milk consumption, since from two-thirds to three-fourths of the calcium in the diet has come from milk. For no other food is there so direct a relationship between its consumption and the average quantity of a single nutrient in our diet.

Iron.—Trends in the iron content of the national diet reflect changes in consumption of grain products and meats, which together furnish nearly half of the total iron. Because the consumption of both of these groups declined between 1909 and 1935, per capita supplies of iron decreased also. There was little change during the 1930’s, but a marked increase occurred after 1941 when meat consumption went up, and especially after flour and bread began to be enriched with iron and some of the vitamins.

Thiamine (Vitamin B₁).—Nearly a third of the thiamine in the food supply comes from meat. Pork is an especially rich source. Trends in the thiamine content of the diet follow very closely the trends in meat consumption. Whole-grain cereals are excellent sources of thiamine but most of the grains used in this country during the period were highly refined. Therefore, this food group contributed only about a fourth or less of the total thiamine. The enrichment of flour and bread introduced during the war had by 1944 brought up the thiamine contribution from grain products to about a third of the total. As a result of this program the average thiamine content of the per capita food supply in 1943, 1944, and 1945 is estimated to be about one-fourth higher than it would have been without enrichment.

Riboflavin (Vitamin G).—This vitamin is often too low in American diets. Nearly half of the total quantity in the food supply comes from milk and from 15 to 20 percent from the meat, poultry, and fish group.  The average amount of riboflavin in the diet showed little change between 1909 and 1939 or 1940 when the gradual increase in milk consumption was partly offset by a decline in meat. Between 1940 and 1945, however, the riboflavin in the diet increased almost one-third following the rapid rise in milk consumption, the enrichment of grain products, and some increase in meat consumption.

Niacin.—The amounts of niacin available for consumption throughout the years of this study have followed the same trend as protein, iron, and thiamine. Since nearly half of the total comes from meat, the average quantities decreased from 1909 to the late 1930’s; they increased during the war years because of greater supplies of meat, poultry, and fish and the enrichment of grain products.

Vitamin A value—The increase in consumption of green and yellow vegetables is one reason for the larger amounts of vitamin A available, especially from 1941 to 1945. More whole milk, also a source of vitamin A, was consumed and victory gardens supplemented market supplies of vegetables.

Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C).—Nearly all the ascorbic acid in the diet comes from vegetables and fruit. Therefore, any changes in consumption of these foods are reflected in ascorbic acid values. From 1909 to the middle 1930, there was a slow upward trend in vitamin C values. From then on, however, the increase was spectacular. A large part of this increase came from the larger quantities of citrus fruit and tomatoes; part of it came also from green and yellow vegetables.

These trends in the nutrient content of the food supply from 1909 to 1945 show that the national diet has improved in nutritional quality.  In fact, during the war years the levels of nearly all nutrients studied have been higher than at any time during the series. This is partly the result of relatively high purchasing power, together with large supplies of essential foods. Also, the enrichment of flour and bread has made important contributions of iron, thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin.

The quantities of the several nutrients in the wartime food supply were sufficiently high to provide every person in the country a nutritionally good diet if the nutrients had been distributed exactly in accordance with need. Unfortunately this is not the case. Dietary studies have shown that large numbers of people have less than they need of one or more nutrients.  Others have liberal margins over and above what are considered adequate allowances. If diets now unsatisfactory could be brought up to recommended nutritional levels, average nutritive values for the country as a whole would need to be even higher than they now are.

The extent to which further nutritional improvement can be expected will depend for one thing on future shifts in consumption. For example, when grain products and potatoes, good sources of several nutrients, are replaced by foods giving chiefly calories (sugars and fats), the nutritional quality of the diet is impaired. If, however, some of the calories are replaced by good nutritional investments such as milk and fruits and vegetables, there may be a net gain in the quality of the diet. Consumer demand for various foods will in turn be affected by such factors as income, relative price levels, education, and further improvements in production and marketing.

Programs for better distribution of food to low-income groups, to children, and others with special food needs offer a means of improving the national diet. Still another possibility lies in improving the nutritional quality of foods themselves, through plant breeding, and through greater conservation of naturally occurring nutrients in the utilization of foods.

THE AUTHOR
Esther F. Phipard, a food economist in the Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics, has for the past 10 years been finding out about American diets—what kinds and quantities of foods are consumed by different groups of families and how good their diets are nutritionally. She is coauthor of four Department bulletins reporting these studies. More recently Dr. Phipard served with a group of nutrition specialists assisting the Food and Agriculture Organization in analyzing food supply data for different countries.

FOR FURTHER READING
Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics: Family Food Consumption in the United States, U. S. D. A. Miscellaneous Publication 550, 1944.
Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics: Tables of Food Composition in Terms of Eleven Nutrients, U. S. D. A. Miscellaneous Publication 572, 1945.
Clark, Faith, Friend, Berta, and Burk, Marguerite C.: Nutritive Value of the Per Capita Food Supply, 1909-45, U. S. D. A. Miscellaneous Publication 616, 1947.
Cochrane, Willard W.: High-Level Food Consumption in the United States, U. S. D. A. Miscellaneous Publication 581, 1945.
Stiebeling, Hazel K., and Phipard, Esther F.: Diets of Families of Employed Wage Earners and Clerical Workers in Cities, U. S. D. A. Circular 507, 1939.
Stiebeling, Hazel K., Monroe, Day, Coons, Callie M., and others: Family Food Consumption and Dietary Levels, Five Regions, Farm Series, U. S. D. A. Miscellaneous Publication 405, 1941.
Stiebeling, Hazel K., Monroe, Day, Phipard, Esther F., and others: Family Food Consumption and Dietary Levels, Five Regions, Urban and Village Series, U. S. D. A. Miscellancous Publication 452, 1941.