Food and freedom

The question of fat substitutes offers, on the other hand, a somewhat more complicated prob- lem. The peculiar or subtle difference in com- position between vegetable fats and some of the fats of animal origin, more particularly the sig- nificant dietary importance of butter fat, is some- thing that demands attention, especially in the homes where there are children: "Associated with fat in certain food materials, especially in the fat of milk and eggs, are minute quantities of recently discovered and as yet un- named substances most important in nutrition. These are sometimes referred to as 'growth determinants.' We do not know yet exactly ^ United States Food Administration. 44 FOOD AND FREEDOM how much of these substances is found in dif- ferent kinds of fat, or how much is needed by children or adults, but it is now impossible to' consider the question of fat in the diet without considering them. Conditions in the warring nations of Europe, where the fat ration has been cut to the lowest limit, have shown that such a practice hinders the normal growth of children, the maintenance of health in adults, and the repair of body tissue after wounds.",* "The appeal of the Food Administration to reduce the use of fats is of serious national im- portance," but the added appeal, "and especially to limit butter to free use on the table rather than in cooking," is of equal national importance. Let us cut out all the butter in cooking if we will and should, but let us not be blind in our patriotism or sense of economy and omit to serve butter on the table — unless we are very sure that the ex- tremely necessary food elements specifically at- tributed to and normally derived from butter fat are supplied in some other way. Where the quantity of butter normally served at table is consistently reduced, milk, cream, cheese, egg yolks, and the green-leaf vegetables or salad plants should be freely used. So nationally important, in fact, is this whole question of fats, both economically and dieteti- *"Ten Lessons on Food Conservation," United States Food Administration. THE WORLD ON A DIET 45 cally, that the United States Food Administra- tion issued the following, shortly after it was first organized : • " It is perhaps well to understand first of all just which fats are vegetable fats and which are ani- mal fats. Cream, butter, oleomargarine, lard, beef and bacon drippings, suet, chicken fat, are all of animal origin; olive oil, cottonseed, corn, and nut oils are, of course, of vegetable origin. Oc- casionally one finds on the market a product which is a combination of a vegetable and animal fat. The housekeeper should learn the uses of all fats, so that she may not be limited when any commonly used fat has gone up in price or has been put on the list of those foods to be con- served.*' ^ Doctor McCoUum, nutrition authority of the United States Food Administration, added the following to the above statement: