Dietary Studies Related to the United States Diet Prior to World War II: A Bibliography for the Study of Changing American Food Habits over Time

Abstract

Dietary studies from the early part of the 20th century are a rich source of information about the dietary habits of the people and the science of nutrition. This annotated bibliography is meant to facilitate access to this part of the historical literature for further study.

Changes in the geography of Brazilian diet diversity

“…Concerns about human eating habits are not recent, but the food patterns have recently aroused more interest in research (Duran, 2000; Schulze et al , 2001; Dixon et al , 2007; Hinrichs and Charles, 2012; Sy et al , 2013; Abbade and Dewes, 2015). Examples of issues of interest are as follows: how the food supply patterns evolve in the world, what causes food habit changes, nutritional aspects related to health issues (obesity and chronic diseases) and sociodemographic features that affect dietary intakes.…”

Early History and Evolution of Nutrition Science in the United States of America

“…As Nancy Duran points out “many of the earliest dietary researchers were chemists, especially agricultural chemists (2000, p.1882).” Atwater is credited with initiating American household field investigations (now called dietary recalls) on dietary practices during the late 19th century (Dirks & Duran, 1998). As a matter of course, field scientists that kept detailed laboratory records on family households’ dietary patterns inadvertently produced cultural history by recording normative eating patterns and social habits, albeit Atwater’s findings may not have been representative of the entire country.…”