RELATION TO OTHER ARTICLES OF DIET 227 



to the populations to be fed, then it becomes necessary to review 

 the customary dietary with the object of enquiring whether any 

 alterations are possible in the proportion of the various foodstuffs 

 consumed, that would result in economies of agricultural resources 

 without at the same time impairing the proper nutrition of the 

 populations considered. Under this head it is especially proper 

 to note whether the requirements can still be supplied, when part 

 of the present normal consumption of animal foodstuffs is replaced 

 by plant foodstuffs. Considerable evidence exists which points 

 to the conclusion that this is possible in certain populations and 

 in the wealthier classes almost everywhere among white peoples. 1 



When the requirements in the three outstanding constituents 

 of the normal diet are separately examined, it is found that the 

 carbohydrates are derived almost entirely from plant foodstuffs, 2 

 while under average European conditions a large part of the protein 

 and of the fat is obtained from animal foodstuffs and from fish. 



The question arises whether an appreciable part of the protein 

 and fat requirements, obtained at present in the form of animal 

 foodstuffs, cannot almost as well (without causing noticeable in- 

 convenience or impairment of efficiency to consumers) be got from 

 plant foodstuffs directly. In the countries of Europe in earlier 

 times, as at the present day in many less advanced parts of the 

 globe, the masses of the populations lived largely upon plant food- 

 stuffs ; but the standard of living for them was low, as it is in the 

 uncivilised parts of the world at present. The populations of 

 Europe and of the newly developed countries can have no desire 

 to reduce their standards of living and efficiency to such a level. 

 The problem at the present juncture is to effect a part substitution 

 of plant for animal foodstuffs, while at the same time maintaining, 

 or possibly even raising in some cases, the general standard of 

 living. 3 A simpler form of the same problem appears in the sub- 



1 The fact that the consumption of meat among the people of the United 

 ..Kingdom has ranged from about 1 Ib. per day among the wealthier classes 



to 1 Ib. per week among the poorest, points to excessive consumption by the 

 former in spite of under-consumption by the latter. 



Compare also the following quotations from a Columbia University Re- 

 search Paper entitled " Marketing Perishable Farm Products," 1916. " The 

 indications are that we, as a nation, must depend less and less upon beef and 

 pork as our main diet, and more and more upon vegetables, fruits and domestic 

 fowls." p. 28. 



" If we, as a nation, are to have a cheap food supply in the future, it must 

 come largely from the plant kingdom rather than from the animal." p. 29. 



2 Meats of various kinds contain practically no carbohydrates which, 

 however, are found in small proportion in milk and cheese, the respective 

 percentages being 5% and 2-4%. 



3 This is partly also a social problem arising from the wide difference in the 

 purchasing-power of different groups in modern communities. Obviously a 

 limited supply of concentrated, that is, animal foodstuffs, could be more 

 efficiently used from the national point of view if the per capita distribution 

 were more equal than it has been. It is doubtful, however, apart from war 

 measures, whether much will be done in the direction of reducing such in- 

 equalities of distribution, and in considering minimum normal requirements 

 an allowance must be made for exce?;sivc consumption by certain classes. 



