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League of nations quarterly bulletin
958
PUBLIC
)'ear Professor Cathcart produced, ~and the Medical Research Council published, a report (No. 151 of the Special Report Series) giving the results of an inquiry into the diet of 154 families in St. Andrews. T h e present report deals with the diet of 56 families in Cardiff and 57 families in Reading, and is therefore more or less a continuation of the other. The purpose of the whole inquiry has been to obtain more accurate quantitative knowledge of the normal diets actually used by inhabitants of this country. In the first study, at St. Andrews, information was obtained with regard to a vertical section of a comparatively well-to-do population; in this the data relate to horizontal samples ,of two working-class communities living under divergent industrial and environmental conditions. The inquiry deals with the quantitative or ' energy ' aspect of nutrition, as distinguished from the qualitative aspect which is concerned chiefly with the quality, source, and distribution of the various constituents that go. to form the complete diet. Its method has been to determine the calorie value of the diets used, and the proportions of this for which the three main principles o*" food--protein, fat, and carbohydrate--are respectively responsible. Variations in the diets in relation to economic circumstances are also considered. As at St. Andrews, the figures for Cardiff and R e a d i n g showed substantial divergence from those that have been generally accepted in the past as representing an average standard. In particular, an unexpectedly high consumption of fat has again been disclosed. Accurate knowledge on points such as these is obviously essential for the proper application o.f the results of nutritional science to the practical problems o.f diet in health and disease. T h e results of the investigation as summarised by the authors, and set out below, do not of themselves seem to indicate the existence of any marked degree of ignorance amongst the people, nor do they appear to represent much in the shape of a contribution to the general knowledge of the subject of nutrition. Perhaps, however, when they are grouped with and fitted into the collection of items of information amassed by other workers, something of real importance and value may be revealed. This is the s u m m a r y of their findings as set out b y the investigators : - " 1. The average calorie intake determined
HEALTH.
JUNE,
by the study of the family diet is approximately 8,000 calories. 2. As in the St. Andrews study, we have found that the percentage of calories derived from fat is higher than that generally accepted as the average. 3. The percentage derivation of calories is approximately 10 per cent. from protein, 32 per cent. from fat, and 58 per cent. from carbohydrate. 4. The increase in the intake o.f fat with rising income is more marked than the rise in the consumption of protein. 5. J u d g i n g from the state .of the physique of the, admittedly limited, number of children at our disposal there is no. evidence of serious malnutrition in the families studied."
League of Nations Quarterly Bulletin. promise referred to in the last issue of T H:E PUBLIC HEALTH,given by Messrs. George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., that in order that the health reports of the League of Nations might be more accessible and more widely known, a bulletin wo.uld be published quarterly giving details of the work of the Health Organisation, has now been carried out. Number 1 of Volume I, dated for March, 1932, recemly appeared and proves to be a publication containing a series of articles, covering a wide field and coming from the pen of writers and workers of distinction, calculated to prove of real value and interest. A m o n g s t the contributors are Sir George Newman, who. furnishes an authoritative communication upon Medical Education in England ; Professor Burri of Berne, who writes upon the Milk Supply of North American Cities; Lieut.-Colonel McKendrick, who reviews the reports from the Pasteur Institutes on the results of Anti-Rabies Treatment; and the Medical Director of the Health Organisation of the League on the Floods in China. A prominent place in the collection is given rightly to the resolutions of the Conference held in London in June, 1981, on Immunisation against Diphtheria. The bulletin is a publication which should find a place amongst the journals regularly taken in public health departments, and as it is priced at two shillings and is published quarterly, the annual cost, even in these days of financial stress and economy, is not excessive. In any case, judging from this first number it is likely to be worth the money.
PUBLIC
)'ear Professor Cathcart produced, ~and the Medical Research Council published, a report (No. 151 of the Special Report Series) giving the results of an inquiry into the diet of 154 families in St. Andrews. T h e present report deals with the diet of 56 families in Cardiff and 57 families in Reading, and is therefore more or less a continuation of the other. The purpose of the whole inquiry has been to obtain more accurate quantitative knowledge of the normal diets actually used by inhabitants of this country. In the first study, at St. Andrews, information was obtained with regard to a vertical section of a comparatively well-to-do population; in this the data relate to horizontal samples ,of two working-class communities living under divergent industrial and environmental conditions. The inquiry deals with the quantitative or ' energy ' aspect of nutrition, as distinguished from the qualitative aspect which is concerned chiefly with the quality, source, and distribution of the various constituents that go. to form the complete diet. Its method has been to determine the calorie value of the diets used, and the proportions of this for which the three main principles o*" food--protein, fat, and carbohydrate--are respectively responsible. Variations in the diets in relation to economic circumstances are also considered. As at St. Andrews, the figures for Cardiff and R e a d i n g showed substantial divergence from those that have been generally accepted in the past as representing an average standard. In particular, an unexpectedly high consumption of fat has again been disclosed. Accurate knowledge on points such as these is obviously essential for the proper application o.f the results of nutritional science to the practical problems o.f diet in health and disease. T h e results of the investigation as summarised by the authors, and set out below, do not of themselves seem to indicate the existence of any marked degree of ignorance amongst the people, nor do they appear to represent much in the shape of a contribution to the general knowledge of the subject of nutrition. Perhaps, however, when they are grouped with and fitted into the collection of items of information amassed by other workers, something of real importance and value may be revealed. This is the s u m m a r y of their findings as set out b y the investigators : - " 1. The average calorie intake determined
HEALTH.
JUNE,
by the study of the family diet is approximately 8,000 calories. 2. As in the St. Andrews study, we have found that the percentage of calories derived from fat is higher than that generally accepted as the average. 3. The percentage derivation of calories is approximately 10 per cent. from protein, 32 per cent. from fat, and 58 per cent. from carbohydrate. 4. The increase in the intake o.f fat with rising income is more marked than the rise in the consumption of protein. 5. J u d g i n g from the state .of the physique of the, admittedly limited, number of children at our disposal there is no. evidence of serious malnutrition in the families studied."
League of Nations Quarterly Bulletin. promise referred to in the last issue of T H:E PUBLIC HEALTH,given by Messrs. George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., that in order that the health reports of the League of Nations might be more accessible and more widely known, a bulletin wo.uld be published quarterly giving details of the work of the Health Organisation, has now been carried out. Number 1 of Volume I, dated for March, 1932, recemly appeared and proves to be a publication containing a series of articles, covering a wide field and coming from the pen of writers and workers of distinction, calculated to prove of real value and interest. A m o n g s t the contributors are Sir George Newman, who. furnishes an authoritative communication upon Medical Education in England ; Professor Burri of Berne, who writes upon the Milk Supply of North American Cities; Lieut.-Colonel McKendrick, who reviews the reports from the Pasteur Institutes on the results of Anti-Rabies Treatment; and the Medical Director of the Health Organisation of the League on the Floods in China. A prominent place in the collection is given rightly to the resolutions of the Conference held in London in June, 1981, on Immunisation against Diphtheria. The bulletin is a publication which should find a place amongst the journals regularly taken in public health departments, and as it is priced at two shillings and is published quarterly, the annual cost, even in these days of financial stress and economy, is not excessive. In any case, judging from this first number it is likely to be worth the money.