From hunger to malnutrition : the political economy of scientific knowledge in Europe, 1818-1960

Hunger and nutrition are central to public health, social stability and a balanced economy. A powerful interdisciplinary field has recently emerged among demographers, cultural, economic and science historians around food studies. This book is a study of the historical interactions between diet, hunger and health in contemporary Europe. The author uses archival sources from the League of Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, the Rockefeller Foundation and the World Health Organisation to show the impact of food shortages on the health of the European population during the first half of the twentieth century. In the context of the international diplomatic reaction and national health and nutritional policies, the book shows how these exceptional circumstances led to new scientific research, the production and circulation of scientific knowledge, and the political role of experts, as a new political economy of scientific knowledge about food and diet was developed during the central decades of the twentieth century. Contents......Page 11 Acknowledgements......Page 13 Hunger and Health: a Discussion......Page 17 From Demographic to Nutritional Transition......Page 19 Nutrition and Organic Development......Page 28 The Politics of Hunger in the 20th century......Page 32 Circulating Knowledge......Page 36 Dimensions......Page 44 A New Historical Context......Page 47 The Political and Economic Landscape......Page 57 Nutrition, Health and European Citizenship......Page 68 The Political Economy of Scientific Knowledge......Page 70 Hunger at the Crossroads......Page 81 New Experts and new Institutions in the Fight against Hunger......Page 87 Nutrition and Public Health......Page 92 Nutritional Status: Health, Physiology and Clinics......Page 95 The Physiology of Nutrition and Optimum Diet......Page 99 Rural Dietaries and the Problem of Feeding Habits......Page 110 Agriculture at the Service of Nutrition......Page 117 Peasants, the Unemployed and other Risk Groups: the Effects of War and Depression......Page 123 Coping with Nutritional Deficiencies and Malnutrition......Page 126 Looking for Standards of Food Quality......Page 137 The Impact of the Civil War on the Spanish Nutritional Condition......Page 141 Famine and Nutritional Deficiencies during World War II......Page 149 Food Rationing Systems during World War II......Page 154 Food Consumption Levels during the War......Page 157 Starvation, Malnutrition and Experimental Research in the Camps......Page 165 CHAPTER 6. The Post-war Food Crisis and the Impairment of Health Conditions......Page 187 Levels of Food Consumption in 1946......Page 192 Post-war Food Relief......Page 195 Negative Effects of Famine upon the Public Health of the European Population......Page 200 The Origins of the International Institute of Agriculture......Page 209 First Steps for the Foundation of the FAO......Page 212 Boyd Orr and the failed World Food Board......Page 213 CHAPTER 8. World Food Surveys (1946-1960): Economy, Science, and Politics......Page 227 The First World Food Survey (1946): The Pre-war Food Picture and Strategies for the Short Term......Page 230 Surveys on the State of Food and Agriculture in Europe (1948-1949)......Page 238 The Second World Food Survey (1952)......Page 248 Consumption, Nutrition and Health......Page 252 Food Consumption Targets for 1960......Page 254 CHAPTER 9. Joint FAO/WHO Nutrition Committee......Page 265 First Steps towards a Joint FAO/WHO Nutrition Committee......Page 266 Severe Malnutrition in Times of Disaster......Page 278 Food Management......Page 279 Malnutrition: Physiological, Clinical and Therapeutic Aspects......Page 285 Experiments on Fermented Food......Page 295 CHAPTER 10. Nutrition, Public Health and Education......Page 297 Burnet and Aykroyd – Nutrition in Public Health......Page 300 Education in Nutrition in Schools......Page 302 Educational Work among Rural Populations......Page 304 Nutrition in Public Health Programmes......Page 309 Education and Training in Nutrition......Page 311 Conclusions......Page 329 Archival Sources......Page 335 Selected Bibliography......Page 352