Could you survive on the WW2 diet? | 91TV
Transcript
- If you're watching this
- whilst tucking into a lunchtime sandwich
- made with avocados from Peru and prawns from Thailand,
- it's probably hard to imagine a scenario
- where Britain could only eat food grown in the country.
- On top of that, you were limited to one egg a week
- and just a handful of sugar.
- But that's the diet that was tested by two nutritionists
- in a unique experiment devised during the early days
- of the Second World War.
- And arguably, it was healthier than the average diet today.
- In the late 1930s,
- Britain imported 70% of its food from overseas,
- often relying on shipping routes vulnerable to German U-boat attack.
- By January 1940,
- supplies were so scarce that food rationing was introduced,
- but the government was fearful
- that the country would be completely cut off by the U-boats
- and would have to keep its population fed and healthy,
- using only food produced in the UK.
- Before the war, nutritionists Elsie Widdowson and Robert McCance
- had developed a set of food tables looking at the nutritional value
- of meat, fish, fruit, bread, sweets and dairy.
- They were no strangers to self-experimentation,
- even going so far as injecting themselves
- with iron and strontium lactate
- to test how they were processed by the body -
- an act that left them rolling around the floor in misery.
- Together, they calculated the amount of food that would be available
- if Germany was able to cut off British ports,
- and then divided it into a weekly allowance.
- The rations were meagre, to say the least.
- As well as that solitary egg and 140g of sugar a week,
- you could only have 450g of meat and fish combined,
- 113g of fats, the same with cheese,
- 170g of fruit - that's around two apples -
- and a quarter of a pint of milk a day.
- British-grown vegetables and bread weren't restricted,
- but the rationed foods represented less than half -
- and in some cases less than a third -
- of the average weekly consumption in Britain before the war began.
- It was enough to survive,
- but would it be enough to maintain fitness in the long term?
- Widdowson and McCance put their bodies on the line to find out.
- In January 1940, they headed to the Lake District,
- where they tested the diet whilst on a rigorous regime
- of cycling and mountain climbing.
- On their return, they delivered a report to the government,
- confirming that health and fitness could be maintained
- under this severe diet.
- They did, however, note a remarkable increase in flatulence.
- The extreme diet Widdowson and McCance tested
- wasn't actually needed in the end,
- because sufficient imports from the US
- managed to get to Britain throughout the war.
- But it proved that the population would be able to manage on it,
- and their findings were a key influence
- behind the government's decision
- to leave bread and vegetables unrationed.
- Happy days if you liked potato sandwiches.
- The rationing that was introduced
- delivered around 3,000 calories a person a day,
- with some manual labourers receiving extra.
- Nevertheless, the diet was often bland.
- Thanks to the Ministry of Food, households were inspired to create
- such culinary delights as a Woolton pie -
- a mix of swede, turnip and cauliflower
- covered with shortcrust pastry or mashed potato.
- It's fair to say it wasn't much-loved.
- Blandness wasn't the only issue.
- In further studies, Widdowson and McCance realised
- that people wouldn't get as much calcium as they needed
- if milk and cheese were to be severely rationed.
- This might prove disastrous,
- as a lack of calcium can lead to the bone disease rickets.
- In 1941, based on their advice,
- the government brought in the fortification of bread with calcium
- in the form of powdered chalk.
- This ensured people got enough of the mineral in their diet
- despite the restrictions on dairy.
- Food rationing lasted until 1954 but, even after it ended,
- bread continued to be fortified with calcium.
- It's still the case in the UK today,
- if you're wondering who to thank for your healthy bones.
- Whilst rationing wasn't easy for Britain,
- it got the nation through a wartime crisis in pretty good shape.
- And arguably even McCance and Widdowson's extreme diet
- was healthier than our average diet today,
- so dominated by high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt foods.
- The pair continued to demonstrate that they were prepared
- to go the extra mile in the name of science.
- Widdowson famously found a dead baby seal on a beach in Scotland,
- which he drove back to Cambridge in the boot of her car
- in order to further her research into body fat composition.
- Widdowson's and McCance's legacies live on,
- and not just in terms of nutrition.
- When she died, Widdowson left money to enable female scientists
- to balance their research with family life,
- supporting the next generation of pioneering women
- to help solve our complex scientific problems today.
Rationing introduced in the Second World War meant diets were restricted. But were they healthier than the average diet today? Made in partnership with @bbcideas
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