Investigation of Workers' Food and Suggestions as to Dietary
1917-10 1917 1910s 12 pages 11 under the erroneous impression that the 4-lb. ration was directly applicable to adults instead of to a mixed population. It is not of course permissible to draw very far-reaching conclusions from observations covering so short a period as one week, and we may suppose...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English English |
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London : His Majesty's Stationery Office
October 1917
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/1D39E7A9-DD2A-4FB2-AC8A-5B9276D81B6D http://hdl.handle.net/10796/A4D3FE2C-24C8-4AEA-90E6-DCB219A0F325 |
| Summary: | 1917-10
1917
1910s
12 pages
11 under the erroneous impression that the 4-lb. ration was directly applicable to adults instead of to a mixed population. It is not of course permissible to draw very far-reaching conclusions from observations covering so short a period as one week, and we may suppose that the proportion of waste (not necessarily economic waste, but waste from the nutritional point of view when, for instance, much of the fat purchased is not consumed, although it is salved and turned to industrial ends) varies in different establishments. It is, however, proper to infer that the hostel inmates are not on the whole under-nourished, although individual instances show that the Ministry was well advised in adopting this systematic control. Miss Ferguson (Proc. Roy. Soc., XXXVII, 1917, Pt. 2, p.117) has found a protein intake of 102 grammes and a total energy equivalent of 3,163 (food as consumed) in forty Glasgow working-class families observed during 1915-16. Here the cereal ratio was 48 per cent., and both protein intake and energy did not differ greatly (the protein was 8 grammes less the energy 135 calories greater) from pre-war observations of the same families. These determinations are in line with the general trend of our munition hostels' returns, but, as was to be expected, not so high. TABLE VI. Analysis of Food Returns from 15 Hostels and Canteens Hostels and Canteens Number of Persons. Daily Calories based on Meal Values Man Value of Calories Cereal ratio. Grammes per Head Daily. Bread per Head Weekly. Return for Week Ending Protein. Fat. Carbo-hydrates. A 2,600 W. 2,564 3,205 48.6 88.3 90.6 331.8 6 lbs. 10 oz. 24.3.17 B 9 W. 2,476 3,095 56.0 81.5 72.7 372.0 6 „ 10 „ 14.7.17 C 520 W. 3,308 4,135 25.2 127.3 163.1 313.3 3 „ 1 „ 23.6.17 D app. 100 M. and W. 3,124 3,124 41.8 104.9 128.0 366.2 6 „ 0 „ 28.7.17 E 22 W. 1,747 2,183 40.1 55.3 55.9 236.6 4 „ 8 „ 14.7.17 F 600 W. 2,839 3,548 29.5 100.6 137.1 280.5 4 „ 10 „ 21.7.17 G 1,780 M., 2,815 W. 3,023 3,023 33.2 98.0 119.4 363.9 2 „ 8 „ (Flour 12 oz.) 13.6.17 H 151 W. 2,969 3,711 28.4 100.3 104.7 348.8 3 lbs. 6 oz. The month of June. I 40 W. 2,559 3,199 36.9 93.8 88.2 316.6 4 „ 0 „ 23.6.17 J 370 W. 2,182 2,728 41.1 76.6 101.4 233.4 4 „ 0 „ 29.4.17 K 3 M., 438 W. 2,928 3,660 46.4 92.7 109.6 342.2 4 „ 8 „ 13.5.17 L 1,100 M., 6,130 W. 3,951 3,951 39.7 132.7 156.2 476.6 6 „ 4 „ 30.6.17 M 50-60 W. 3,557 4,446 15.8 116.8 195.5 309.0 2 „ 13 „ 30.6.17 N 262 M. 3,475 3,475 49.3 119.2 114.2 462.8 7 „ 3 „ 15.6.17 O 105 M. 2,813 2,813 29.7 102.1 123.4 283.2 4 „ 14 „ 13.6.17 17. The voluntary war ration set by the Food Controller — 4 lbs. of bread, 2½ lbs. meat, and ½ lb. of sugar per week — is an average ration for the whole nation. People engaged in sedentary occupations, old and infirm people, and young children, naturally eat less than the rationed amounts of these foods, and the manual workers more. The ration must be made up to the amount required by each munition worker to keep him or her in health and full working power. At the same time no one is expected to over-eat or to waste. Not only must no food be wasted, but the energies of men and women (required for war-work) must not he misspent in cultivating or procuring luxuries. While then it is most necessary at the present crisis to prevent all waste, it would be an unwise policy to urge the nation to underfeed, and by so doing reduce the output of munitions, ships, food, &c., and increase the numbers of discontented, miserable, and sick. In a patriotic endeavour to save, it would above all be suicidal to underfeed children and make the next generation grow up weakly, under-developed, and prone to disease. For school children and young adults safety lies in a generous diet. Healthy growth is impossible if food is insufficient. Over half a million children died under five years of age in the four years preceding the war, 1911-14. Ill-feeding is a very large cause of this mortality. It is the middle-aged and elderly people engaged in sedentary occupations who can be abstemious with advantage to themselves. The nation is working harder than before the war. There are 4½ million women now at work, and elderly retired men have come back to work. Many children also are working. The nation's need for food has thus considerably increased. The immediate remedy then for a threatened scarcity is not a reduction of food needed for the performance of work, but in a saving of all waste, a complete utilisation of all food fit for human consumption by human beings, an increase in the home production of food, and thus an extension of the food supply. 18. In the days before the war, bread, meat, and sugar made up two-thirds of the food of the nation, the other third coming from milk, butter, or margarine, cheese, fish, potatoes, vegetables, and fruit. We see then how important the three rationed foods are. Now the voluntary ration of bread, meat, and sugar, together with a little fresh vegetable or fruit, would by itself be ample to feed old, bed-ridden people, and young children, but it is not enough for workers. Those engaged in sedentary occupations (clerks, tailors, brain workers, &c.) require enough of other foods to double the energy value of the ration, so do active children over 10 years of age. Women doing moderately heavy work
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