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38
The B.M.A. Committee deliberately adopted figures which
were higher than those of the Advisory Committee of the Minister
on the grounds that in assessing the 3,000 calories sufficient allowance
had not been made for wastage, and accepted the 50 grammes
of first-class protein as being the mean of the 62 grammes which
is allowed in the standard ration of the Army troops in peace time
and the 37 grammes more generally accepted. The divergence
of opinion on the minimum of the daily calorie requirement is
not a matter of great importance as calories as such can be easily
provided—for instance, 1 lb. bread possesses a calorie value of
1,000, 1 lb. sugar a value of 1,800 and 1 lb. margarine a value of
3,500. A 25 per cent, increase in the daily allowance of first-class
protein is of more importance as the foods providing these requirements
are ordinarily more expensive. There are, however, suitable
low-priced sources such as cheese (with 110 grammes protein per
lb.) and herrings, articles of diet of which little use appears to be
made in this district.
The first part of this report is to determine the minimum
weekly expenditure on foodstuffs in the Dagenham Urban District
necessary to maintain the health and working capacity of families
of varying sizes on (1) the basis of the standard recommended
in the report of the B.M.A. Committee and (2) the basis of the
standard recommended in the report of the Minister's Advisory
Committee on Nutrition.
It will be noted the wording follows the terms of reference
of the B.M.A. Committee, but that that of the Minister's Committee
is not similar, and in the latter report, no actual diets are given.
It is proposed then, to study the cost of the diets submitted in the
B.M.A. report.
The following diet is an example of that suggested by the
B.M.A. Committee for a family of man, wife and one child aged
1 to 2 years beef 1½ lb., minced meat 1 lb., bacon 1 lb., corned
beef 1 lb., liver ½ 1b., eggs Jib., cheese ljlb., milk 10½ pints, fish
(cod) ½ lb., butter ½ lb., suet ½ lb., lard ½ lb., bread 20¾ lb., sugar
l½ 1b)., jam 1 lb)., potatoes 7 lb., peas ½ lb., tea ½ lb., oatmeal ½ lb
rice ½ lb., treacle ½ lb., butter beans ½ lb., and fresh fruit and green
vegetables. The man value of this diet is 2.13. Its cost locally
is 13s. 10d. compared with a figure of 13s. 6d. as mean of the
B.M.A. investigations, and 11s. 3½d. of the Stockton figures.
As another example, the following is the diet suggested for
a family consisting of a man, wife and three children, aged
years, 10-12 years and 12-14 years:—beef 3 lb., mutton 2 lb.,
minced meat 1 lb., bacon 1 lb., corned beef 2 lb., cheese 3 lb.,