THE NUTKITIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF MAN 



By C. A. Elvehjem 



Department of Bioehernistry 



Vniversity of Wisconsin 



At the present time the nutritional requirements of man can be 

 expressed in chemical terms to a greater extent than ever before. 

 However, we as chemists must recognize that there is more to adequate 

 nutrition than the mere combining of the known compounds into a 

 diet and the calculation of the cost of these dietary constituents. 

 Owing to the fact tliat some of the vitamins that were formerly the 

 costly part of our diet may now be purchased at prices so low that they 

 are difficult for us to comprehend, certain erroneous suggestions have 

 been made concerning the cost of an average diet. It is true that one's 

 yearly requirement of thiamin may now be purchased for about 50 

 cents and the nicotinic acid supply for about 12 cents at wholesale 

 prices. But we must not forget that the yearly supply of calories is 

 still a significant item in our diet. Most of us ignore calories until 

 times of stress. Even in the last war one of the greatest problems in 

 many countries was an adequate supply of total food. If my calcula- 

 tions are correct I find that it would be difficult to supply one's yearly 

 requirement for energy for much less than $15, and the cost of ade- 

 quate protein would certainly exceed this value. Thus if we add up 

 the cost of the individual components we get values considerably higher 

 than some of the figures which have recently been suggested by certain 

 workers. It is impossible even to estimate the cost of the unknown 

 factors. 



I believe the safest program at this time is to rely upon the com- 

 mon foods which we have been accustomed to eating rather than at- 

 tempting the production of cheap, synthetic substitutes. However, 

 we should make every effort to improve the quality of the foods 

 that are now making up the American dietary. In other words, we 



1 Given before Symposiam on Nutritional Restoration and Fortification of Foods, Division 

 of Agricultural and Food Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, American Chemical Society 

 Meeting, St. Louis, Mo., April 8, 1941. Reiirinted by permission from Industrial and 

 Engineering Chemistry, vol. 33, June 1941. 



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