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Vitamin A food supplementation programs?
I've been trying to track this down, when did the food industry start to supplement foods with vitamin A, for instance dairy. But it's included in other foods, such as soups now.
@chris-4
General food fortification began around 1941, though vitamin D fortification in milk began around 1932 in the USA according to this 2012 paper called: "Vitamin food fortification today"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3319130/
Here is also a post on the Rockefeller Foundation in regard to the "Institute for Enzyme Research" (founded in 1947) and its connection to Dr. Charles Glen King (1896-1988), from the picture, and the University of Wisconsin & Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (1925-). Dr. Charles Glen King discovered vitamin C around the same time as the Nobel prize winner Albert Szent-Györgyi (1893-1986).
I found a PDF about the Institute of Enzyme Research that quotes a 1942 letter from Dr. Charles Glen King to the Rockefeller Foundation:
https://fpmphysicalplant.wiscweb.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2017/01/InstituteEnzymeResearch.pdf
"The germ of the idea for a world class research institute to investigate the fundamental chemistry of biological life, came in a letter to the Rockefeller Foundation, from Dr. C. G. King, biochemist, and discoverer of vitamin C. Dr. King set forth the opinion of leading biochemists and cancer researchers that a central institute for enzymology was needed to replace the great research centers in that field destroyed in Europe during WW II. Dr. King further suggested that the University of Wisconsin "seemed to offer the best promise for the development of such an institute, and I am sure that Dr. C. A. Elvehjem and Dr. Van Potter would be interested in such a project and could give it excellent supervision." This letter was written in October 1945. Dean Fred found university faculty enthusiastic about such an institute.1
After the Rockefeller Foundation asked for information concerning developments in the field of enzymology, Fred asked Conrad Elvehjem to prepare a statement."
The Rockefeller Foundation funding research into different types of Molecular Biology is expected since it was one of their directors, Warren Weaver, who first coined the term:
https://resource.rockarch.org/story/birth-and-development-of-molecular-biology-field-rockefeller-foundation/
Just from looking at the wikipedia page of Charles Glen King we see that he was complicit in causing genereal food fortification and in creating the Recommended Dietary Allowances among other things:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Glen_King
"He remained in Pittsburgh as a professor until 1942 when he left to become the first scientific director of the Nutrition Foundation, Inc., which worked to promote scientific and public health research, both in the U.S. and internationally."
"King later established the important functional role of vitamin B, and throughout his 40-year research career made many significant contributions in the areas of fats, enzymes and vitamins. King authored over 200 articles on good nutritional practices and the positive effects of vitamins."
"Apart from his work with the Nutrition Foundation, King's public service activities involved creation of the USDA's Plant, Soil, and Nutrition Laboratory in Ithaca, New York. He helped establish the Food and Nutrition Board, dealing with food and nutrition problems in military and civilian populations, beginning in World War II and continuing through 1970. He also helped create the Food Protection Committee, the Recommended Dietary Allowances, the Protein Advisory Group, and the International Union of Nutritional Sciences. He also served on the advisory council to the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases. King officially retired from the Nutrition Foundation in 1963, only to begin a second career as Associate Director of the Institute of Nutrition Sciences and a consultant to the Rockefeller Foundation."
The Nutrition Foundation, Inc. seems to have been at the forefront of pushing vitamins since its creation around 1942, originally having Charles Glen King as the director.
With a generic name as "The Nutrition Foundation, Inc." I found it a little bit difficult to find any information on its history.
Though I found this very telling excerpt from the journal "Science" in 1942, volume 95, page 2455. Available at sci-hub through the DOI: http://doi.org/10.1126/science.95.2455.64
The paper mentions how the Nutrition Foundation, Inc. was started and heavily funded by 15 major U. S. food industry companies and it mentions them all by name! See the excerpt below:
"THE NUTRITION FOUNDATION, INC.
ACCORDING to an announceinent recently made by Dr. Karl T. Compton, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, fifteen leaders in the U. S. food industry are sponsoring a Nutrition Foundation to help to build American health and energy.
Dr. Compton has been elected chairman of the board of trustees of the foundation—which will be operated on a non-profit basis to distribute freely all scientific discoveries in foods and diet. The Nutrition Foundation, Inc., has been incorporated at Albany under the membership corporations law of the State of New York. The fifteen prominent manufacturers, who have contributed an operating fund amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars for the establishment of the first cooperative scientific research laboratories created by the food manufacturing industry, are the American Can, Beechnut, California Packing, Campbell Soup, Continental Can, Corn Products, General Foods, H. J. Heinz, Libby McNeill and Libby, National Biscuit, Owens-Illinois Glass, Quaker Oats, Standard Brands, Swift and United Fruit.
The board of trustees will include officers of these companies, together with Americans prominent in government, business and national life, as well as representatives of other companies which later may join the foundation. Leaders in scientific and related fields will be invited to serve in various important capacities in the work. Dr. Compton stated that the Nutrition Foundation had been underwritten by a group of leading manufacturers in the food industry and allied fields as a needed public service."
There are more historic information on the Nutrition Foundation, Inc. Apperently the whole idea of creating the Nutrition Foundation, Inc. came from the big food industry according to this paper: "THE NUTRITION FOUNDATION: 1942-1982" by William J. Darby. Available at sci-hub through the DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-4887.1982.tb05253.x
"Dr. Charles Glen King, first Scientific Director and full-time President of The Nutrition Foundation, prepared a comprehensive history of the first three decades of the Foundation in the book entitled A Good ldea (The Nutrition Foundation, New York, 1976). The idea of a new kind of organization entirely in the public interest was the brainchild of Clarence Francis, then President of General Foods Corporation, and Charles Wesley Dunn, General Counsel of the Associated Grocery Manufacturers of America. The goal was a program of active service in nutrition research and education under the leadership of emminent scientists in universities and government agencies in the U.S. and Canada and supported by companies in the food and food-related industry which recognized their responsibility to the well-being of the public."
How well the food industry owned by the richest of rich have served the public, who know how bad it would have been otherwise? [sarcasm]
Source of the image of Dr. Charles Glen King:
https://recipe-cpsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/cgk.png
I also found a 1978 book review of Charles Glen King's book, A Good Idea, from 1976 which is quite hard on him and the Nutrition Foundation.
Available through sci-hub using the link:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/27848629
Here is a great excerpt from that review about how The Nutrition Foundation (funded by food industry) avoids to talk about food additives and environmental pollution:
"The summary of appropriations for such grants during the first decade [1942-1952] impresses one with the quality of research and education received for an expenditure of less than three million dollars.
In many respects, the record of the Foundation—based on contributions from the food industry for its support—is impressive. Nevertheless, it is disappointing that leading spokesmen for the Foundation not only have failed to anticipate problem areas in nutrition, such as those related to additives and environmental pollutants, but have served as apologists for the status quo. Unfortunately, the Foundation has not shown the same leadership in this area of protective nutrition that it has shown in supporting better understanding of vitamins, amino acids, and trace minerals.
—Aaron J. Ihde, Chemistry and History of Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison"
This part from the excerpt above is especially telling about what might have been the main objective of the Nutrition Foundation all along, a status quo tool for the food industry and their shareholders:
"[The Nutrition Foundation lead by Charles Glen King] ...have served as apologists for the status quo."
In general, notice what someone is talking about, but take extra special notice on what they will never talk seriously about.
Uploaded files:
spoken part: "We are very concerned about the food we provide!"
unspoken part: (in ways that don't affect the bottom line)
Price noticed a big change in his dental patients, and went on his epic journey. I wonder what actually caused the change, did it have to do with meddling with the food industry? He said it happened in a generation in the US, and that it happened also where "modern" foods were shipped. He published his book in 1938.
I have sometimes wondered if it also had to do with meddling with changes in animal feeds.
@chris-4
I missed to answer your question about vitamin A and food fortification more fully, it seems to have happen at around 1940 in many parts of Europe. Around that time vitamin A fortification in margarine was made compulsatory. I found this 2004 document by the International Margarine Association of the Countries of Europe, linked at the English wikipedia article on margarine. Margarine seems to be the first food needing compulsatory food fortification. This document is attached in the comment and is called:
"CODE OF PRACTICE ON VITAMIN A & D FORTIFICATION OF MARGARINES AND FAT SPREADS"
https://web.archive.org/web/20111003222930/http://www.imace.org/margarine/pdf/vitamin.pdf
EXCERPT: "
1. HISTORY OF FORTIFICATION OF MARGARINE AND SPREADS WITH
VITAMINS A AND D
Voluntary fortification of margarine with vitamins has been practiced by manufacturers since 1925, but in 1940 with the advent of the war, certain Governments’ took action to safeguard the nutritional status of the nation by making the addition of vitamin A and D compulsory. This mandatory fortification was justified in the view that margarine was being used to replace butter in the diet.
Indeed if margarine had not been fortified there was evidence that a large proportion of the population, particularly children, were at risk of deficiencies. Vitamin A and D were added at that time to equate to the levels found in butter.
Most countries in the EU no longer produce only margarine but also produce lower fat spreads as an alternative to margarine and butter. Annex 1 gives an overview of the current legislation and practices in the different Member States.
The nutritional need for fortification of margarines and fat spreads has been reviewed by a number of countries (ref UK, Finland, Netherlands 2). In UK (margarine only), Belgium and Sweden mandatory fortification is still seen as crucial whereas in the UK (fat spreads) and in the Netherlands fortification is now on a voluntary basis. In the latter country, the margarine industry and retailers have signed an agreement with the government to ensure the addition of vitamin A and D to margarine and fat spreads."
Uploaded files:And with that change (the advent of products margarine and its cousin, crisco) you also saw people drop lard (a meat fat, that I don't believe was full of VA's and maybe had natural vit D) like a hot potato, the most prevalent fat used historically in Europe, the Americas and Asia. My Canadian French ancestors used to compete to have the biggest pig each year. Pantries were called larders.
You might be interested in this article, a lot of phytosterol fortification seems to occur in margarine.
Plant sterol enriched functional food and atherosclerosis
It's hard to know whether the vitamin fortification program is motivated by genuine concern, malice, or hubris. On the surface, mimicking butter and adding equal amounts of vitamin A and D to margerine sounds reasonable. But nature is immeasurably more complex than anything we could ever hope to copy. There are so many things at play that we simply don't know. And then there are the unintended consequences. Margerine replaces lard, as little chick pointed out, which in hindsight is the healthier fat in so many ways. And our little community here is aware of the disastrous effects of vitamin A. So it would have been better to just drop the vitamin A altogether, probably the D as well. A little humility would serve us well as a human race.
Here is a link to a scanned pdf of Dr. Charles Glen King's 1976 book "A Good Idea" which is a biography of the Nutrition Foundation Inc. [its size is 105 MB, scanned images]:
https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HMS.COUNT:101504079
Here is a telling quote from page 15 of the book about how the merger of state and industry in the USA has been going on for a long time, remember that these mentioned Foundations are there for these ultra rich families to avoid to pay any taxes and to make it easier for them to accumulate more and more power and control over everyone else while hiding behind their Foundations that just are legal constructions:
"Compared with the contract sums from government agencies in support of the war effort or with the sums provided in later years from federal agencies, grants from the Foundation [Nutrition Foundation Inc.] seemed very small, yet in may instances they have been highly significant. Grants were planned in close cooperation with the respective scientific staff members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Public Health Service, Department of Agriculture, the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council, and some of the other foundations, including especially the Milbank Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Macy Foundation, the Kelloff Foundation and the Williams-Waterman Fund of the Research Corporation. Advisory Committee members who served two or more organizations provided a desirable liaison. In many instances the prompt action that could be taken by the Foundation enabled scientists to initiate research that later expanded with support from slower acting government agencies."
@christian
General medication forced on almost everyone without knowing how much one person might need or how much they might then take in of that general medication, I think, is simply retarded in most cases no matter the what the underlying motives are.
I recently saw this quote from Dr. Christopher Exley's post on water flouridation and hopefully he can be an ally against all the uncontrolled food fortification that are happening now, just like we are repeating what happen 100 years ago when they first began to synthesize vitamins:
"Fluoridation of potable water has been mired in controversy for decades. Personally I do not find the subject controversial since I am wholly against all forms of (unnatural) mass medication."
https://drchristopherexley.substack.com/p/water-fluoridation-again