The Overfed and the Under-nourished (1941)

From the June 1941 issue of the Socialist Standard

Under the headings “War Diet Makes Us Healthier” and “We Were Overfed,” the Evening Standard (May 6th, 1941) had the following: —

“Dietitians who used to urge the public to eat more fruit, to-day applauded the statement of Lord Horder that ‘there is nothing essential in fruit juices that cannot be obtained from vegetables.”

This prompts the question whether the dietitians are experts in diet or only experts in advertising.

Lower down in the article we are told that “so far, health reports show that our war-time diet privations do nothing but good.”

That some people were overfed before the war is undoubtedly true, but they were not to be found among the millions of wage-earners who were getting 50s. a week or thereabouts. It should not be forgotten that unchallenged inquiries before the war showed, in the words of the Manchester Guardian (February 17th, 1941), that “a third of our population is under-nourished.”