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- f

YEAR'S CHANGES IN
OUR FOOD HABITS

P. H. BRYCE, M. A., M. I).

Chief Medical Officer of th^

Department of Immigration and Colonization

Ottawa, Canada

Read before the Pood and Dnig SectioD 6f tbe American Public Health Aaodation.
ChicagOk December, 1918

Reprinted from Amxbic4n Joubnal or Pubuc Vbtuaa, V(d. K, No. 2
February, 1919, pp. 108-113

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I^m National Archtvee Archives nationaiM
■ (xCanafla du Canada

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YEAR'S CHANGES IN
OUR FOOD HABITS

p. H. BRYCE. M. A.. M. D.

Chief Medical Officer of the

Department of Immigration and Coloniaation

Ottawa, Canada

H««l brfbre the Pood .nd Dnm Section of the America. Public HeiUth A«.d.tion.
Chieago, December. 1918

■i\

Reprinted 6wn AMMa-x JouMui or Prauc HuALTH. VoL K. No. «
FefaiiMry. 10IB. pp. 108-llS

A YEARS ( HANGES IN FOOD HABITS.

Pktkh H. BRvrK, M. D..

Cliiff Mnli'dl Offiirr. Cnnaria Immigration Serpire, Otlawa, Onl.

Krwt Mnrr rom) anil Dru^i Sprtioa, Amrrion PuNic Hrallh AaMcittion, >l Chinco. lU.. OccrailMr 10, lOt*

REALIZING the ennrtnouii area
inHncJ«Hl in the Tnitwl States
and Canada, involving distinrt
Hiniatio mnditionH both from North to
South and from Vmh\ to West, it is man-
ifestly diffirult to estimate just what
changes have taken place within a year
or two in the food habits of our people in
the several areas whose natural products
vary so greatly.

Profenaor Taylor in his address before
congress pointed out that (juite notable
differences existed in the food habits of
the people of Southern (iermany as com-
pared with those in I'nr in and the North
Eastern Provinces, their diet being much
more of a vegetable and fniit and less of
a meat character. If this be true it need
hardly be .said that the people of the
Southern States, where the Imnana and
orange are native, would eat much less
animal foods than those of the Norther
States and Cana<ia where hitherto the
quantity of such has Ijeen from 8 to 10
ounces a day as the average for the whole
population.

In any di.scu.ssion of a year's changes in
foo<l habits we naturally think, however,
chiefly of the changes which hive resulted
from the economies demanded by war
needs, and it is to this phase of the sub-
ject that I .shall especially direct your
attention. During the past forty years
the people of the Northern States, to a
much greater extent than the con.servn-
f .> po|>ulation of Great Britain, have
•■(langed their food h.ibits from the time-
honored meat and bread diet, to a ver>'
much more rational dietary involving the
inireased \ise of not only home-grown
vegetables but also of the fruits of the

South and West, which have been »d-
vertise<l with the business persistence of
large cor|)orations engaged in the shipping
and forwarding business.

In an admirable booklet ^n the
"Changes in the Food Supply and Their
Relation to Nutrition." by Prof. M. B.
Mentlel of Vale, particular attention is
given to this point, statistics therein
showing that the value of the products of
the orchards in the United States in 1840
was al)out ^,0(10,000 while the cen.su? of
1910 gives the value at $140,867,000.
Similarly the small fruits contributed
$.*J.OO<),000, grapes $««,000,000. citrus
fniits $'2,1,000,000 and sub-tropical fruits
$«,000.000. It will thus be seen that
while the population increased some five
times since 1840, the urt of fruits has in-
crea.sed ever twenty times during the
same peritHl. While .such a change in the
use of fniits is incidental to the coming of
the steamship and railway, associated
with the enormous increase in urban pop-
ulation, it has nevertheless been accf)m-
panied by ■^rtain changes in the fashion ot
foods of a less desirable character. Thus
the u.se of all wheat flour by the old milling
process has been replaced by a flour made
by the modern roller process from which
for greater profits in by-products much of
the protein and mineral salts have been
removed. Not only in this way has the
use of starches greatly increased, as well
as of sugar, Init the food of the growing
children of our populat on has also lost
much nc-cessai • protein, while the use of
fats and oils formerly universal in the
bacon of former times has notably been
decreased. However, this disu.se of the
courser fats and oils has in some degree

A Year's Chanxes in Foo<l Habits

liwn made up by an increaw in the u«e of
butter. a« the form of fat not only most
palatable to the American but Iikewi«e
the modt (li«e!itible.

To the use of fresf ^eRetableM miwt lie
added the enormously increased use of
canne<l fruits and vejwtable*. the quanti-
ties «if which are not included in the
statistics already referred to. These
amounted in the United States in 1008
to »1«0.000.00(> in value. Another veiy
notable chanf^t in the fashions or fancies
in foods dtirinK the last twenty years is
seen in the use of manufactured articles
in which the ordinary f^rains are variously
u.sed in breakfast food packages. Apart,
however, from the greatly increase<l cost
of many of these foods, the development
of a taste for these foods, perhaps more
digestible through their partial change
to sugar, has tended to the further use of
hydrocarbons, lacking in the protein
contents essential to a true food. As
the chief analyst of inland revenue for
Canada says: "The popularity of these
foods is due to four factors: (1) Attrac-
tive and widespread advertising. («) A
growing tendency to save time in the
preparation of the meal . (3) The guam n-
tee of cleanliness furnished by the manner
of packing, (4) The attractive flavor
possessed by most of these foods." An-
other chnnge in food fashions is seen in
the use of milk products in the shape of
flavored ce-crearas as a condiment, thus
removing the protein contents from a
food formerly use<l in the shape of
chef'se.

Kxcept in seaport towns it is probable
that the u.se of fish has on the whole until
n.-cently decreased, not only owing to the
lessened supply and increased cost, but
also becau.se fish unless absolutely fresh
is usually held in disfavor. Indeed the
popularity of fish judged from the amount
of it canned, .seems to have iiicrea.sed
less during the last census period so far

as increased quantity is concerned than
any other canned product.

This brief review illustrates the changes
which have taken place in the food habits
of the American and Canadian people
during the la-st half century. The d-rec-
l':>n of these changes has doubtless been
toward supplying articles which, while
more attractive to the paiate. have like-
wise been more readily digestible for the
large number of people, whose habits of
living have lessened the need for the
stronger protein foods as oatmeal, all
wheat, rye and bariey. On the other
hand grave injuries have resulted to the
nutrition of classes whose physiological
needs have suffered through the lack of
pniteins. whether due to their high cost
or to the indulgence of gustatory fancies.
There is little doubt, however, but that
the introduction of Southern fresh vege-
tables and fruits during the long winter
of the North has proved on the whole
greatly beneficial to that large class of
workers to whom variety in their food
has always proved diflScult owing to
expense.

We are now in a position to vitw the
food situation as it actually exi.sts in
America after two years of mcpjising
submarine warfare, wliioh has afTficted
the normal distributio of foods « stiir to
the needs of ^he Alii in the four essen
tials of wheat, bacon, sugar and fats, aii
of which have been steadily decf«a.«fi»»R
year by year during the la.st four years
That the situation of the allied peopk-
as well as of their armies has not real!
been serious as yet is in a large pieasun
due to the experience and energy of F<K)d
Controller Hoover, who.se administration
of the Belgium Relief Food Fund prob-
ably fitted him to undertake the respon-
sibilities laid upo.i him by the govern-
ment as none other could. He was
impres.sed with the great need which
existed for the conservation of every

The Ammrnn Journal of Piihlic Iiealtli

lM>uit«l of frHMJ. which «>hI«1 in any way
Jtiipply vtwrgy •« the noMi^ni and koqi
thfwte rnKafCnl in war work, nurh nx
munitions, at the maximum drftrre of
efficiency under rxixtinff ronditionH. while
maintaining the civil iNipnlation of the
Aliira at the hifthext |M>N.silile staite of
comfort neceHMiry to efficiency. The
, submarine warfare haii added enormoufdy
to the difficulty of the situation. Kven
as late an Au){ii.«t, lf)18. nfter all the
destruction of ocean timna^e sim-e Fehni-
ar>'. Ittlfl. the lonaeii due to Muhmarinex
anM>unted to rt^T.WTA kto^' tons of which
170,401. a slijfht dp<rensc. wan Briti.sh
tonnaKe. On the other hand to have
some idea .1 the total tonnuKe arriving
at British ports, it may lie stafe<l that
there were H,H81.fl.Sl) tons of shipping
entering and clenring from the rnite<i
Kingdom during the same month.

It is ohvioiis then that the |>rohlem a.s
shown by these various figures, rendered
it neces.sary that every (m.ssible effort
should \te made to have transferred from
this continent tho.se foods es()ecially high
in their enerf?y-producing value, most
compact in bulk in com|)arison with their
foo<l values, least )>erishablc and most
constant in quality and least variable
and chc-ay)e.st in price. Such, as has al-
res-'y been pointe<l out, are the four items
wheat, bacon, fats, an<l siigor. A further
situation had to be met in that Canada
ilurin^ four years and the Tnited States
during the last year and a half had seen
a large proportion of the man power of
l)oth nations fteinj; removed fnini produc-
tion: .so ihst .vc find that in sjiite of every
clTo-" there has lieen a steady reduction
in the number of cattle and hogs and a
decreased numlicr of milch cows. Thus
the .\dvi.sory Committee of Congress in
May, 1918, rejMirted 'if) per cent less live
stock in the rnite<l Mates, 20 per cent
less hogs in Iowa and ;J jicr <ent fewer
milch cows.

It ii obvious then that the fimt step to
lie taken was to ensure the larfteflt {Mimi: Je
saving in wheat to supply not only our
own increasing aniiies in Prance at.d Italy,
but also the other Allies dependent on u.s
for fiMid. ,\m the Fotnl Hoard has re-
FM)rted there were but «0,00».000 bushels
■<uri>his of the 1017 crc»p for export under
ordinary conditions, yet KO.OOA.OiM)
bushels of wheat were exported; which
meant that the jjeople of the I'nited
States had consumed IOO,000.0<M) less
bushels. This is all the more notable
since the nutritive value of the poor crop
of 1017 was less by 7 per cent than the
average. Canada ex[M)rted during the
same jierio<| of wheat 85,0(H),000 bushels
more than the average for the preceding
three years.

It Is further important to realize that
the worid's supply of foo<l animals had
fallen since the liegiuning of the war by
ll.'..0OO,0O«l. We have also: .-ently been
made to realize how dependent we are on
this continent when we learn that the
submarines off our coa; t« sank in a few
month.s .50,000.000 pounds of sugar.

Manifestly then there were three things
for us to do in this crisis, viz.:

1. Produce more of these several food
supplies.

i. Conserve them in everj- way possible
especially fiy cnnsuniing less.

3. Rejilace them by other kinds of
f(K>ds.

With regard to the first our Fwd Con-
trollers tell us that in 1918 the United
States plante<l 10 per cent more winter
wheat while Canada planted 6,000,000
acres more grain, equivalent to an in-
cr«-a.sc of l«0,000,iK>() bushels. England
enormously increased he, acreage up to
the point of supplying 70 percent of her
own needs, having an increased acreage
of 1,000,000 acres an<l 10,000,000 acres
in crr)p; but the <rops of FVance and
Italy were notably Itss than the average.

A Yvnr'n ChariRes in Fo«mI flabits S

Thiw thr mg»T pro«lurtion of Vrnncr in hhr»J-pr«w««.l (rtrmany haa heen able to

1»I7 fell from 730.(¥IO ton* Jo «l0.n00. carry on. MU uh that her fH,pulation

But a remarkahie outrome of war iuhmIh U through each i.rhan dweller having lieen

seen in the rmieii in the fieWn hec.min given a plot of suhiirban land »o cultivate,

their own f(K>d pmvidem. Meiiopotnmia han supplied at least aii p<<r rent of

in 1H18 has grown more grain than liefore the fooil neressary for theii sustenance,

in renturiea of her history, having 7.000,- How much this has mea..i will he u'der-

000 orres in crr.ps: while irrigation by ,stoo<l when we remember that Wore the

pumping water from the Tigris has raise«l war 70 per cent of the whole population

«/!.000 tons of whea» and 100.000 tons of in Germany was urban. Now in less

iMrley. Eg> pt I.-- I>een once more p. degree, indewl. because the necessity has

granary in time Wrth and has g^en not been so pressing, all have turned to

4«4,0«0 tons of y in 1818 and will war -» -ir.g in America. It ia difficult

harvest an enorm.. IIS crop of sugar. to. .-te statistics because so many

Such are the chtef illustrations of how pt , :.. fe simply enlarge<l their previ-

the Allies' food supply has been assured out ...ct gardening and these have been

f.*r this year: but fx-rhaps 'he most of course the most efficient. However.

interesting phase of our subject is that the Food Board of Canada report, an

in our secmd postulate of saving more by estimated total of 15.000 acres undf

consuming less of these essential food- cultivation in 1918 based on five tin..^

stuffs. We all know tha' me amongst the acreage in 1017.

us has suffered from a dearth of available In the Northern SUtes and Canada

food, although the ,)oor may have l)een undoubtedly the greatest increase has

injured through high prices. It is of l.een in the [K)teto crop. Gerr any in-

course true that some com. lyc and Iwr- deed has long appreciated the value of

ley have been introduced into our bread, this source of food. Professor Prescott's

some glucose into our sugar supply, and analyses gives the following resulU:
.some fish into our animal food supply;

but es.sentiblly we have "ot seriously Potatoen. Per cent.

shifted the movable weij in the foml ^^at" 78.3

balance .so far as f,ur ne< iry calories ^i^t*"'" 8.8

are conceme*! ex^-pt perhaps to les.sen ^** 0.1

their excess. ('. « . Ljingworthy. chemist Hydrocarbon 18.0

to th- '^epnrtmch < ) Agriculture. Wash- ^"'^ 1.0

ingto . . quotea a. -aying that we ordi- Calories jM-r lb., m

iianly es.,c three tin^ps as much meat as we

need and that saving is pos.sible is .seen Bananas. Per cent.

in the fact that Canada's excess meat Wat-;r 75.3

export last year with fewer animals grown Protein 1 . S

was enough to feed .500.000 sohliers at the Fat 0.6

f""it- Hydrocarlion WO

Now with these facts before us we nalu- Ash g

rally enquire what changes have taken r- 1 • ,. .„„

pla.'-c in our use of foods. All will at ^*'°"^ ''^^ "*• ^

once turn to vhat he is personally cogni- Fortunately it is food so simply grown

zantof, ,i!.: ti f war gr.rden. Professor that many of the wage-earning class have

Taylor in illustrati.-';; the means by which lieen able to provide enough to supply

The American Journal of Public Health

their own household requirements, while
cooked in the usual way it serves as the
most important item in replacing our
bread supply. There is, however, no food
whose useful possibilities have been more
restricted in America, than the potato.
With 80 per cent of water and sold
generally at a low price, the cost of
tran-sportation of the raw product limits
its use largely to its home di.strict. By
dehydratif.n or drying and its conversion
into chips or potato flour it could become
here as well as in Germany one of the
most important sources to replace wheat-
en flour as a food for o«ir people. How
important these alternative food supplies
are may be judged from the fact that
the saving of a single potmd of bread in
America per person weekly will increase
the wheat export by 100,000,000 bushels
annually.

Incidentally it may be stated that the
use of the !.weet potato and the banana
in the South is in the same category and,
as Professor Prescott states, the banana
at .) cents per pound is next to dried beans
and bread the cheapest food when meas-
ured in calories or fuel value. But the
war garden has played a further use in
its supplying food during the summer
from the earliest onions, lettuce, beets,
peas, and beans, to the later com, toma-
toes, carrots, parsnips, and celery, all of
which in successioii have supplied mate-
rial for canning and drying up to the needs
of the many householders. In addition
to home products, it is probable too that
the output of the canning companies in
these and other vegetables and fruits has
lieen notably increa.sed and will l»e made
ancillary, as canned goods, to the over-
seas supplies for the army.

In addition to the war gardens (^anada
has seen during the year a very notable
increase in the home consumption of fish.
With an abundance of meats from home-
gnjwn animals the Canadian people.

chiefly located inland, have preferred
through convenience to eat animal rather
than fi.sh food. The increase in the num-
ber of fishermen and the capital invested
in fishing showed no marked increase in
the decade 1900-1910. Possessed on
both coasts of probably the most valuable
fisheries in the world, both on account of
the clinwte and the indented character
of the coasts, Canada until only recently,
owing to other more attractive or less
strenuous occupations, has allowed this
great source of food and wealth to remain
uii veloped in proportion to its possi-
bilities. Enormous supplies of a variety
of edible fish as halibut, sole, skate, and
flat fish exist in Canadian waters; while
in the Great I^kes and the thousand
inland lakes of the Laurentians immense
quantities of the best fresh water fish are
available. To indicate how rapidly this
source of food .supply has been utilized,
it may he stated that since the Food
Board took up the matter seriously, the
number of licensed wholesale fish estab-
lishments in Canada increased from 900
to 1,5.50, including 900 headquarters;
while 5.5 per cent of the total western fish
catch was con.sumed at home as compared
with 15 per cent the previous year. A
single trawler caught 120,000 pounds of
flat fish and cod in eight days off the
North British Columbia Coast which
were frozen when landed, when not sold
for immediate consumption; while cod
and halibut from the west coast sold i »
Montreal at lij cents per pound and
mackerel from the .\tlantic was sold at
similar prices. Indeed in May, 1918, the
fish consumption of Canada was one
pound per week per capita, and 8,500,000
pounds were sold in the first five months
of 1918 as compared with 5,000,000
pounds last year.

In no item perhaps have the people of
this continent been more disturlied than
in the restriction of the sugar supply.

A Year's Changes in Food Habits

Sugar since the early days of sorghum and
sugar cane in the South and maple sugar
in the North has been used much as salt
or any other condiment. In spite of
occasional medical warnings as to its
injurious effects if used in excess, from
babyhood to old age, our people have
cultivated a sweet tooth. The old time
candy stick and candy crystals may have
been replaced by more expensive choco-
lates and other confections; but sugar is
used everywhere from the pickaninny who
chews sugar cane to the Northerner, who
from using maple sugar ha." looked upon
sugar as an. elementary food. T ' •;re is
little doubt, however, that its restriction
to some extent through being replaced by
oatmeal, barley, meat, peas and beans,
with more use of milk would prove a
distinct benefit to the growing children
of our continent, whose sweet tooth has
been allowed to control indulgent mothers
rather than the knowledge that the pro-
teins and fats are much more essential to
the development of the growing animal.

A word need be .said regarding the use
of milk and milk products. The value
of milk as a complete food for children
and for general i!se in a mixed diet is
everywhere accepted, and it is now only
a question of obtaining it in sufficient
quantity and quality at any reasonable
price. We are all familar with the strug-
gle that has gone on l)etween the pro-
iucers and milk-dealers on this continent
•luring the past two years. It is stated
that !J0 per cent of the milch cows in New
York state instead of the usual 17 per cent
were slaughtered in 1917. The demand

for meat was so great and prices so high,
ait tie food so costly and labor do scarce
and expensive, that the farmer seemed per-
fectly determined to either get much more
for the milk or go out of the business. The
evidence from the Chicago official investi-
gation seemed to prove that a similar
situation has everywhere existed. Statis-
tics are difficult to obtain; but it is
probable that in no one particular have
the infants and children of the poorer
people been affected more seriously than
in a lessened milk supply; while as for
eggs, their use would seem to have been
restricted largely to the wealthy and to
those provident householders, who have
kept a dozen hens and fed them on garden
and household refuse. If milk foods,
such as cheese, have been increased for
export as war food at the expense of the
children's food, it oould only be excused
on the ground of some pressing necessity,
but we have good evidence to know that
the milk problem was serious before the
war and will only be solved when it is
managed as a municipal utility as to
quantity and quality and distributed on
some basis as efficiently as is public gas,
electricity, coal and water. If the evolu-
tion of society is to make three-fourths
of the people non-producers of food and
urban residents, then public safety and ef-
ficiency demand that food, the first item
in the life of the people, be regulated
as carefully by government, whether
general or municipal, as the quantity and
quality of the water and other liquid
.supplies.