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News/Event Item
Rationing meant children in 1950 ate better than today
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
30 November 1999
Young children in the Fifties had a better diet than children of the same age living in the Nineties, according to a study of how eating habits have changed over 40 years.
Children who were four in 1950 had a more balanced diet than four year olds today, despite living in a poorer society with a more limited range of food. The post-war austerity and food rationing of the early Fifties created a more conducive climate for a balanced and healthy diet, say scientists funded by the Medical Research Council.
In a comparison of the typical diets of two groups of four-year-olds, the MRC scientists concluded that what children ate in the Fifties was closer to the present-day recommendations for a healthy diet. Professor Michael Wadsworth, who leads the National Survey of Health and Development at University College London, says the study provides unambiguous evidence for a general decline in children's nutrition, despite increasing wealth: "In 1950 the average diet was still influenced by post-war austerity but this study shows that the food and nutrient intake of young children at that time was better than today."
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category: News from Other Sources : General Health News
contributed by WebMaster on 30 November 1999
North America : United States
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