CARL E. GUTHE

The story of the Committee on Food Habits of the National Research Council is one which relates an incident in the government defense program that reflects the foresight and vision of certain government officials, and demonstrates the efforts made by scientists to pool their knowledge and experience within a restricted subject for the benefit of the government agencies requesting their assistance and advice.

Late in November of 1940, well over a year prior to the Pearl Harbor incident, officials of the National Research Council, at the request of the National Defense Advisory Commission, undertook a series of conversations with Dr. M. L. Wilson, of the Department of Agriculture, who was also chairman of the Federal Interdepartmental Nutrition Coordinating Committee, concerning ways and means by which the National Research Council could aid in studying problems of nutrition. Dr. Wilson pointed out that one aspect of national defense was concerned with the physical fitness of the entire population of our country. Nutrition, of course, must play an important part in this problem. It was known that an appreciable portion of the population suffered from malnutrition. The questions immediately arose as to what could be done to improve the nutritional status of the population and as to how this could be accomplished on the basis of the best scientific judgment, derived not only from our knowledge of the scientific facts of nutrition, but also from the technical study and interpretation of the socio-cultural factors affecting the food folkways throughout the nation.

As a result of these negotiations, the National Research Council, early in December of 1940, established two interdivisional committees in the life sciences on which the chairmen of the Divisions of the Medical Sciences, of Biology and Agriculture, and of Anthropology and Psychology, are ex officio members. One of the committees was the Committee on Food Habits, which was assigned for administrative purposes to the Division of Anthropology and Psychology. The other sister-committee was the Committee on Food and Nutrition, which later became known as the Food and Nutrition Board, and which was assigned for administrative purposes to the Division of Biology and Agriculture.

The first meeting of the Committee on Food Habits was held on January 3 and 4, 1941. Dr. John M. Cooper, of the Catholic University of America, had accepted the chairmanship of the Committee. During the spring, members of this Committee were in two groups : scientists not connected with the government, whose special interests and experience related to the Committee's objectives, and experts in government service who were concerned in one way or another with problems relating to the food situation in this country. The members of the Committee at this time were as follows :

The immediate task which confronted the Committee was that of formulating a plan of action. Following two meetings and some correspondence, a program was established under date of February 28. The introductory paragraph to this statement follows :

“In appointing a Committee on Food Habits in addition to the Committee on Food and Nutrition, the National Research Council has acted on the assumption that, while the first step toward achieving an adequate national nutritional level is the securing of scientific information on what constitutes proper diets, there remains the second step, requiring an equally scientific approach, of finding the most effective ways and means of adjusting habits to needs, of getting people to wish what they need. This Committee, in undertaking its assignment, agrees wholeheartedly with this point of view and feels that governmental agencies as well have a similar twofold responsibility.”

The program was provisional in the sense that it was based upon the knowledge and assembled data then available to the Committee members. The Committee, of course, planned to continue to gather, coordinate, and appraise the existing and scattered data and to promote, in so far as possible, a limited number of research projects.

This provisional program of action was divided into four sections, formulated in the form of questions :

“The recommended practical program of action is broken down into the following sections. First, where are the major weaknesses and deficiencies in our national dietary habits, and who therefore need most to be reached in either a short-range or long-range campaign ? Second, what major causes are responsible for such weaknesses and deficiencies, and what should be gotten to the poor-diet groups to enable them to bring their dietary habits into conformity with dietary needs ? Third, who are best equipped for undertaking the task of reaching the poor-diet groups ? Fourth, by what procedures and media can such groups be most effectively reached ?”

After considering the first question, the Committee recommended :

“1.

That the whole population of the United States be reached with, however, particular attention to :

“a.

The low income non-farm groups, largely concentrated in the eastern Industrial Belt ;

“b.

The low income groups of the Southeast, including especially the farm and negro population thereof.

“2.

That regional and state agencies devote special attention to those racial, national, and cultural groups in isolated areas, whose diets may be or are known to be deficient.

“3.

That every effort be made to reach adequately the women, especially mothers and wives.”

In considering the second question, the Committee came to the conclusion that it “should advocate diets that are believed to be satisfactory, developing methods suitable for all levels of the population ; the understanding being that other agencies will consider the means of economic production and distribution, while this Committee concentrates upon the diffusion of knowledge and the improvement of food habits.” It further stated that : “To be successful, the nutrition educational campaign must achieve the following : a) create interest in nutrition ; b) educate people to know and wish the necessary changes in their diet ; c) produce these changes and establish them as habits ; d) firmly establish these adequate habits in the culture as food folkways. To stop short of d), especially at a) or b), will mean that the program will fail, because the people will almost certainly lapse into their old food habits. While, therefore, a short-time intensive emergency educational campaign is desirable and can accomplish much, long-range educational work will also have definitely to be planned for.”

In answering the third question, the Committee made the following statements : “So far as possible, already existing and functioning organized groups and agencies, public and private, should undertake or take part in the execution of the nutrition education program. . . . . While it is highly desirable in a national campaign to make full use of technically trained individuals and organized groups in the field of nutrition at the local, state, and national level, and while they should guide and advise, it seems undesirable, especially at the local level, for them to have exclusive management of the educational program. . . . . It is of paramount importance to secure as full and democratic participation as possible on the part of the leaders and general membership of the organizations of women. On the women, more than on anyone else, depends, in the short run and in the long run, the family's diet, both as to choice of food and as to preparation thereof. But the man should not be left out of the picture, even at the local level, as the men too have a voice, and sometimes the deciding voice, in choice and preparation of the family food.”

In dealing with the fourth question, the Committee recommended that the fullest possible use be made of leaflets, booklets, posters, and nutrition films, and that the program of the National Nutrition Education Campaign “be tried out experimentally in selected test localities before being put into operation on a nationwide scale.”

The essential points of this provisional program of action have been incorporated in this statement, because they reveal most adequately the attitude of mind of the Committee during the first months of its existence, and form a frame of reference or charter which tended to control the subsequent activities of the Committee during the coming two years. About this time two sub-committees were created to investigate the potential activities which might be undertaken in two special fields. One was the Subcommittee on Changing Children's Food Habits, of which Miss Mary Sweeny was chairman, and the other the Subcommittee on Publicity, of which Dr. W. H. Sebrell was chairman.

Unfortunately, about April 1, 1941, the severe illness of Dr. Cooper forced him to abandon the active leadership of the Committee. Within a few weeks the Committee was fortunate in securing the services of Dr. Rensis Likert, of the Department of Agriculture, as acting chairman, a post which he held until the close of the fiscal year on June 30, when he became seriously ill and unable to direct the affairs of the Committee during the summer months of 1941. The latter part of the spring of 1941 was devoted largely to exploratory activities. Close contact was maintained with Dr. Wilson's office in the office of the Hon. Paul McNutt, Coordinator of Health, Welfare, and Related Defense Activities. Preliminary arrangements were made toward formulating a series of research projects for the Committee and toward securing governmental support for the work of the Committee during the coming fiscal year of 1941-42. It became increasingly evident that a large number of civilian and government organizations were actively interested in various socio-cultural aspects of the nutrition problem. The Committee needed to familiarize itself with many of these activities. Therefore, under the leadership of Dr. Likert, two conferences ^* were held late in the spring.

The first of these conferences was held in Washington on May 23 and 24, immediately preceding the National Nutrition Conference called by President Roosevelt. These two days were devoted to brief reports from 15 individuals upon a variety of investigations into the problems of food habits conducted throughout the country by several colleges, universities, and research centers, as well as by some of the government departments, such as the Department of Agriculture, the Office of Education, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In choosing the participants, special consideration was given to studies being conducted in the southern and southeastern part of the country, since this area seemed to be of special significance from the nutritional standpoint.

The second conference also occupied two days, and was held a month later on June 27 and 28. On the first day reports from the field of market research were given by representatives of the American Meat Institute, the Evaporated Milk Association, and the National Livestock and Meat Board. The second day was given over to reports from nine individuals representing various research centers which had been carrying on investigations into children's food habits, and to statements by six persons upon studies of educational programs and their orientation made by government and civilian groups.

These informative conferences performed several functions. First, they demonstrated the need for giving due consideration to the psychological and socio-cultural factors which are involved in carrying out any national nutrition campaign. Second, they offered the participants an opportunity to exchange ideas and familiarize themselves in more detail with the work done by their colleagues in other institutions. Third, they furnished the members of the Committee factual data upon the great variety of subjects for study in the field of food habits, and the diversity of methods used in their investigation.

At the closed meeting of the Committee, held on June 29, immediately following the second of the large conferences, which Dr. Likert as acting chairman was unable to attend because of illness, considerable time was given to a discussion of a number of proposals for investigations and studies to be undertaken under the auspices of the Committee. These varied considerably in objectives and in methods, and some would have required considerable sums for their prosecution. A few were approved tentatively subject to securing the necessary funds. Among these was one suggested by Miss Genoeffa Nizzardini, calling for a study of the food habits of minority nationality groups in this country, beginning with the Italian group.

The reports of the two subcommittees led to an extended discussion of the potential relationship between the Committee on Food Habits and the government organizations it sought to serve. This resulted in the following resolution :

“Regarding itself as a committee of the National Research Council established to give aid, by means of advice and research, in improving the food habits of the American people at a time of national emergency, the Committee on Food Habits recommends :

“a.

That it reaffirm its early unanimous action calling for the mobilization of such resources as will make the necessary foods available and will unite existing federal, state, and private agencies in the promotion of an effective plan for improving food habits ;

“b.

That it be informed of the governmental personnel and program set up to implement the improvement of food habits in order that the Food Habits Committee may be guided in its advisory and research functions, for example in recommending surveys of present conditions, the evaluation of proposed undertakings, and measures of the effectiveness of programs ;

“c.

That its action calling for the evaluation of educational programs and related researches be recognized by adequate actions and appropriations within the designated governmental agency ;

—all with the understanding that the total nutritional program shall be conceived consistently with the nation-wide scope of the problem, and with a further understanding that the Food Habits Committee shall continue to function, not in administrative action, but in consultation and research recommendation.”

Because of the illness of both Dr. Cooper and Dr. Likert, it was necessary for the Committee to consider the matter of another chairman. In the discussion, it was recognized that the potential usefulness of the Committee could not be approximated by depending solely upon the spare time of the Committee members, who without exception have obligations to their respective institutions and organizations. The suggestion was made at this meeting that the Committee attempt to secure either a full time chairman or a full time executive secretary to work toward the objectives for which the Committee was created.

During the first six months of 1941, which constituted the formative stage in the Committee's existence, a considerable amount of progress had been made. A program of action had been established. Studies had been made and conferences held as means of exploring the fields of interest of the Committee. Through its deliberations, the Committee succeeded in pointing out the importance of recognition of the variable food habits of the people of our nation, and the significance of the variety of problems connected therewith. However, the Committee was not yet fully integrated, nor was its status in the nutrition program of the national defense organizations clearly defined.

During the summer of 1941 the work of the Committee progressed slowly, due to the unavoidable lack of active leadership and the equally unavoidable delay in the appointment of a new chairman. However, the work upon the study of the food habits of the Italians in this country was carried forward by Miss Nizzardini. In addition, an important step was taken concerning the future of the Committee. During the summer the National Academy of Sciences signed a contract with the office of the Coordinator of Health, Welfare and Related Defense Activities in the Federal Security Agency, covering the financial support by the latter of the work of the Committee on Food Habits and the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council, for the fiscal year 1941-42. The Academy, acting for the National Research Council, agreed to use this sum “to conduct studies and investigations and prepare reports, with the aid of technical experts, utilizing committees and subcommittees and other facilities available, upon : food, nutrition, and food habits,” and “to keep the coordinator informed by means of such reports and other communications or advice as the coordinator may need or request, in regard to the progress of the studies or other activities which it may undertake in accordance with this contract.”

In October, Dr. Carl E. Guthe, of the University of Michigan, accepted the chairmanship of the Committee, and undertook its reorganization and the redefinition of its policies. On November 3, the members of the Committee residing in the Washington area were called together to discuss the plans of the chairman. In November, the chairman issued a memorandum based upon the principles expressed in the provisional program of action adopted by the Committee the previous spring. In preparing this memorandum he took into account the nature of the contract signed during the summer and information he had secured in the early fall while attending a meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Nutrition. This memorandum, looking toward the redefinition of the Committee's policies, contained the following statements :

“The government agencies, working through a coordinating committee, have taken the responsibility for studying, through surveys and field work, the varieties, the distribution, and the extent of dietary practices in the nation, and for the organization of various campaigns looking toward the influencing of public opinion upon nutritional subjects.

“The Food and Nutrition Board of the Division of Biology and Agriculture has taken the responsibility for studying the nutritional values of the elements of diet, and for making recommendations upon various foods and food elements in terms of nutritional needs.

“The Committee on Food Habits . . . . should supplement rather than duplicate the activities of these other agencies. . . . . It should concentrate upon folkways and not upon diet and nutrition, in order to prepare itself to assume the responsibility of making recommendations upon the use or misuse of the forces which affect changes in food habits.

“Phenomena of cultural change have been studied in several disciplines, from different viewpoints, and with varying results. Students of biology, physiology, psychology, anthropology, sociology, public relations, public health, and education have all given attention to these phenomena, have accumulated data and formulated various correlations, deductions, and conclusions, which are being transmitted in the academic and scientific world to other students through the media of teaching and publications.

“The membership of the Committee has been chosen in terms of breadth of viewpoint and of experience in the several disciplines concerned. The Committee faces an unusual challenge. The opportunity exists to play an important part in the improvement of national health through nutrition. The opportunity is offered to demonstrate that students of culture are able to furnish practical advice upon current problems in our own culture.

“The Committee on Food Habits should assume the responsibility of making scientifically sound recommendations to the appropriate governmental agencies upon the characteristics of the variety of food habits throughout our nation, and upon the methods of controlling the cultural forces which cause them to change.”

The reorganization recommended by the chairman involved three changes of policy. In the first place, it was strongly urged that a full time paid executive secretary be employed and placed in charge of a Washington office of the Committee. In the second place, it was recommended that the Committee proper, later known as the Executive Members of the Committee, consist only of scientists and scholars interested in food habits who are not connected with the government service. In the third place, it was recommended that liaison members of the Committee be officially appointed by the proper authorities in each of the Government agencies potentially interested in the work of the Committee, and that these liaison members act, not as Committee members, but as liaison advisors to the executive secretary in maintaining continuous and informal contact between the Committee and the several government agencies represented.

The executive membership of the newly organized Committee was as follows, representing the fields of anthropology, psychology, sociology, home economics, physiological psychology, and public health :

From this time on, the membership of the Committee has remained constant with the single exception of the resignation of Dr. Curt Richter in the summer of 1942. He was replaced by Dr. Warren T. Vaughan, who brought to the Committee a knowledge of the medical sciences.

At a meeting of the reorganized Committee on December 6, 1941, the recommendations of the chairman were approved and he was authorized to invite Dr. Margaret Mead to become executive secretary and take charge of the office in Washington. The Committee further agreed that objectives were twofold : first, to analyze and interpret existing technical knowledge upon the methods and principles of the several disciplines represented by its membership in such a way that this technical knowledge may be applied specifically to the field of food habits, and second, to establish research projects which will furnish information upon methods and principles applicable to the field of food habits, concerning which the Committee does not now possess sufficient knowledge.

Dr. Margaret Mead, to the great good fortune of the Committee, accepted the post of executive secretary, at first on a part time, non-resident basis for the month of January, 1942. On February 1, having been granted a wartime leave of absence from the American Museum of Natural History, she came to Washington to take charge of the office of the Committee on a full time basis.

At a meeting of the Committee held on February 14 and 15, 1942, Dr. Mead presented a series of plans for investigations based upon the principle of decentralizing research and thereby using the facilities of many colleagues in various parts of the country. The several recommendations of the executive secretary which were approved by the Committee at this meeting were :

a.

Plan for organizing qualitative opinion sampling squads among social science students on a volunteer basis, particularly in non-land-grant colleges.

b.

Plan for the coordination of local research at several research centers with the active cooperation of members of the Committee whenever possible.

c.

Plan for utilization of secondary sources and using experts as informants.

d.

Plan for coordination of local universities and colleges with ongoing community experiments in nutrition campaigns.

e.

Plan for developing a standard series of research leads.

All of these proposals had value from at least two standpoints. They made it possible for the Committee to secure rapidly and with little expense definitive information from various parts of the country upon current attitudes toward nutrition and existing food habits. They also enabled the Committee to keep in touch with experts in all parts of the country and thereby represent more adequately in its relations with the various government agencies the opinion of these scholars and scientists.

The results obtained since February 1942, in carrying out this research program are dealt with elsewhere in this volume. It is sufficient to indicate here that most of these plans were carried out and expanded as opportunity offered, thereby bringing to the Committee a quantity of information which has enabled it to issue at various times mimeographed reports upon the results of the use of these several research mechanisms.

In the Washington office, Dr. Mead was given the services of two technical assistants to collate and analyze the research data received by the office from these several sources. During the spring of 1942, Dr. Mead established contact and liaison relations with seventeen government agencies actively concerned with the nutrition program through Dr. Wilson in the Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services of the Federal Security Agency. Dr. Mead has maintained a useful and efficient relationship with all interested government agencies, thereby meeting most satisfactorily one of the objectives of the Committee.

During the spring of 1942, a program was inaugurated by which at each meeting of the Executive Members of the Committee, at least one half day was devoted to a liaison session, to which were invited all of the Liaison Members of the Committee and any other guests who would be interested in the proceedings. These liaison sessions ^* were devoted to informal discussions of matters of current interest in the nutrition campaign, thereby enabling the Executive Members of the Committee and the Liaison Members to become acquainted and to exchange knowledge of their activities and points of view. The sessions were usually constructed around a series of reports by specially invited guests.

In the course of the development of the work of the Committee, Dr. Mead found opportunity, frequently at the suggestion of Dr. Wilson, to undertake trips to various parts of the country in order to evaluate at first hand local conditions affecting food habits and to consult directly with colleagues who had undertaken various research projects under the auspices of the Committee.

In the summer of 1942, the contract between the National Academy of Sciences and the Federal Security Agency was renewed for the fiscal year 1942-43, but this time without any provision for research funds such as had been contained in the previous contract. This required the Committee to seek additional research funds from non-governmental sources. Such a program, which had already started in the spring of 1942, was carried forward successfully and several additional research projects were established under funds granted by several non-governmental agencies.

With the entry of the United States into the war, the interests and objectives of the nutrition campaign have, of course, been changed to some extent. Correspondingly, the Committee has become more interested in problems of food habits which relate to the rationing of food in this country and to the distribution of foods to various parts of the world under the lend-lease program. In connection with these interests, the Committee has tended to broaden its association with government agencies through contacts which the executive secretary has made with the Office of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation Operations and the Office of War Information.

It is evident, as the fiscal year 1942-43 draws to a close, that the work of the Committee has expanded and become increasingly complex. Yet its achievements are all closely related and in their entirety constitute an integrated approach to the factual problems of definition and description of dietary patterns, to the psychological problems involved in the individual conformity or non-conformity to cultural norms, and to the applied science problems of bringing traditional dietary patterns into conformity with the findings of the science of nutrition. The technical details included in the reports and releases which have been issued demonstrate the complementary nature of the work of the Committee to that of the Food and Nutrition Board. The studies and investigations being conducted by the Committee on Food Habits furnish the necessary data and constitute the technical basis for the immediate and useful services it is now rendering the wartime food program.

This statement, taken from the chairman's most recent annual report, constitutes a summary of the principles which have governed the work of the Committee during the second phase of its existence which began with the employment of Dr. Mead as executive secretary in January of 1942. The fundamental guiding policy is still the same as that laid down in the provisional program of action adopted by the Committee in the spring of 1941. The work which has been done has clarified and made specific the methods used and the results obtained through attempting to answer the four questions around which this original program of action was formulated.

During the spring of 1943, reorganization within the Federal Government transferred the nutrition program from the Federal Security Agency to the United States Department of Agriculture. However, this change in administration did not affect the Committee or its relationship to the nutrition program, which now operates under the Nutrition and Food Conservation Branch of the Food Distribution Administration. The function of the Committee has become satisfactorily clear, both as an advisory body to the nutrition program of the Federal Government and as one of the interdivisional committees in the life sciences of the National Research Council.

Within itself, the Committee on Food Habits has become integrated and has grown into a closely knit, smoothly functioning group of scientists who have contributed generously and without reservation their technical knowledge and experience to the discussion and the attempted solution of the problems presented to the Committee.

The story of the Committee on Food Habits records a reasonably successful attempt on the part of a body of scientists chosen from several disciplines to work together for the purpose of aiding government officials with vision in their desire to take advantage of scientific knowledge in furthering the interests of the people of our country.