Clark Wolf is the host and organizer. The panel—on food and politics—includes me, talking about my memoir, Slow Cooked, An Unexpected Life in Food Politics; Chloe Sorvino, author of Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat; Alex Prud’homme, author of Dinner With The President: Food, Politics and the History of Breaking Bread at the White House; and Tanya Holland, author of Tanya Holland’s California Soul. Free, but register here. It starts at 5:00 p.m. and lasts one hour.
by Marion Nestle
Jan
31
2022
Industry-funded study from 1930: meat is good for you!
I am indebted to David Ludwig for passing along this bit of nutritional history.
The study: PROLONGED MEAT DIETS WITH A STUDY OF KIDNEY FUNCTION AND KETOSIS.*
BY WALTERS. McCLELLAN AND EUGENE F. Du BOIS. Journal of Biological Chemistry Volume 87, Issue 3, 1 July 1930, Pages 651-668
Method: Several men agreed to eat nothing but meat for a year. The meats included beef, lamb, veal, pork, and chicken, in various parts. This was a high-fat, low-carb diet. The men lived at home mostly.
Conclusion: In these trained subjects, the clinical observations and laboratory studies gave no evidence that any ill effects had occurred from the prolonged use of the exclusive meat diet.
Funder: These studies were supported in part by a research grant from the Institute of American Meat Packers.
Comment: I did not realize that industry sponsorship of favorable studies went back that far. I’ll bet there are lots more. Researchers: start digging!