EAT YOUR VEGETABLES: Nutrition & the NC Extension Service

In America, scientific research into the chemical components of food took off in the 1880s and 1890s under the direction of Wilbur Atwater, who built upon decades of work by German researchers to uncover the inner workings of food. Atwater used modern methods of chemistry to investigate the composition of food. In 1896, the USDA published much of Atwater’s research results in The Chemical Composition of American Food Materials, a listing of the content ratios and fuel values of hundreds of food products. The bulletin listed the percentage of water, protein, fat, carbohydrates, and ash in everything from cream of asparagus soup to chicken livers to apple pie. As a resource for nutritionists, this and similar publications became the basis for dietary guidelines issued by federal and state governments starting in the 1910s.

Published in 1916, and possibly the first nutrition guide issued by the Agricultural Extension Service, Plans for Community Club Work in the Study of Foods and Household Conveniences begins with a “Classification of Foods” that directly mirrors Atwater breakdown of foodstuffs:

In this early nutrition guide, foods were grouped according to their composition and ultimately, their function. Some foods even appeared in more than one food group—meat, for instance, was described as good a source of both proteins and fats. Published in 1917, the USDA’s Office of Home Economics’ How to Select Foods organized foods similarly, again with a focus on function: “[This bulletin] tells very simply what the body needs to obtain from its food for buildings its tissues, keeping it in good working order, and providing it with fuel or energy for its muscular work. It shows in a general way how the different food materials meet these needs and groups them according to their uses in the body.”