222 PEARL— NATIONAL FOOD CONSUMPTION. 



fact the American man uses up, in one way or another, about 120 

 grams a day. Furthermore, if the last seven years' experience is 

 any criterion, he will continue to use up about 120 grams per diem 

 until such time as his general habits of life are in some manner 

 rather profoundly changed. Doubtless they can be changed. But 

 until they are, one must count on supplying about 120 grams of 

 protein per day to each man equivalent component of the population. 



The data of Table XV. for calories are shown graphically in 

 Fig. II. 



From this diagram it is apparent that there has been only a very 

 slight decrease in per capita gross food consumption since 191 1. 

 Even this probably does not mean that the population is eating any 

 less, but that because of the gradually rising prices through all this 

 period there has been a narrowing of the margin between gross and 

 net consumption ; or, put in another way, there has been a slight 

 reduction in the wastage of edible foods. 



Summary. 



In this paper are presented a portion of the final results of a com- 

 prehensive statistical study of the consumption of human food in the 

 United States in the period from July i, 1911, to July i, 1918. The 

 results are expressed in terms of nutrients and allowances have been 

 made for losses of edible material in storage by spoilage, in transpor- 

 tation, etc., as well as for inedible refuse, and losses in cooking, gar- 

 bage, etc. The final net figures are believed to represent with sub- 

 stantial accuracy the course of human food consumption in this 

 country during the period covered. The net result is to show that 

 on a per man per day basis the consumption of nutrients in this 

 population was extremely even and steady during the seven years 

 covered by the investigation. The amount of total nutrients con- 

 sumed decreased slightly in the period, but the decrease was insig- 

 nificantly small. The conservation campaign of the Food Admin- 

 istration produced notable changes in 1917-18 in the proportionate 

 contribution of different classes of food materials to the total nutri- 

 tional intake. 



