they thrive on it, down through the ages they have repro- 

 duced themselves on it, and they love it. 



Nutrition and Appetite Are Confused 



Perhaps a part of the misunderstanding comes about be- 

 cause we decline to divorce the science of nutrition from the 

 pleasures of appetite. The consumer wants tasty food, and 

 the body needs nutrition. This confusion has caused nutri- 

 tion to be sometimes a science, sometimes a crusade, and 

 always the source of a good argument. 



A diet of blubber and frozen fish may be abhorrent to most 

 of us and yet be adequate. Thinking is influenced by emo- 

 tions as well as by facts. The nutritionists report the facts 

 regarding carbohydrates, proteins, fats, carotene, thiamin, 

 ascorbic acid, iron, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, pantothe- 

 nic acid, amino acids, and fatty acids. We must know their 

 relative effects under varying combinations of temperature, 

 age, weight, physical effort, nervousness, metabolism, and 

 many other variables of life. This is an enormous problem 

 about which little is known. It would appear that nutrition, 

 like economics and medicine, deals with a wide variety of 

 highly complex variables, which can combine themselves in 

 so many ways that it is difficult to know what is the truth. 

 The problem is further influenced by emotions. If the facts 

 do not agree with one's emotions, the facts are held to be 

 wrong. 



Even though progress has been slow, it will be more rapid 

 when the facts are well established. It did not take the Wis- 

 consin dairyman, the Iowa hog-producer, and the New York 

 poultryman long to eliminate the "dead hand of the past" 

 and recognize that there was something to the science of feed- 

 ing animals and act accordingly. When man gets the facts 

 and eliminates some of the emotions, he will recognize that 



