The Moleschott Figures
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/ppc.29694Keywords:
to followAbstract
We are all familiar with the idea that the nutritional needs of human beings can be quantified. Figures for 'recommended daily intakes' of the various nutrients are published by international and national authorities and often appear on the labels of packaged foods. When did all this begin?
In this essay Dr Jane O'Hara-May, author of An Elizabethan Dyetary of Health, draws attention to the pioneer work in this field of Jacob Moleschott and to a paradox: the figures he worked out were frequently quoted over a period of seventy years and more, yet hardly anyone grasped the significance of his method of calculation.
References
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Jane O'Hara-May, 'Measuring Man's Needs', a paper delivered to the British Society for the History of Science in 1970, published in the Journal of the History of Biology, vol4, nr 2, Harvard MASS, 1971.
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