Vegetables and fruit. Table 74 shows the relation of prominence of vegetables and fruit in the food budget to its other items and to the cost and food value of the diet as a whole. It will be seen that this combined item becomes more prominent in the dietaries of higher cost and that increasing prominence of vegetables and fruits is accompanied by increasing prominence of fats and decreasing prominence of meats and grain products. With increasing prominence of vegetables and fruits there is increase in the energy, phosphorus, calcium, and iron values, and it is safe to infer in the vitamin values also, of the diet, while the protein remains practically unchanged. It will be noted that prominence of fruit and vegetables improves the food value of the diet at every point at which the American dietary is likely to need improvement.

TABLE 74.

RELATION OF THE PROMINENCE OF VEGETABLES AND FRUIT
IN THE DIETARY TO THE PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF COST
AND TO FOOD VALUE

Milk, vegetables, and fruit. The relation of the prominence in the food budget of milk, vegetables, and fruit taken together,

upon the other expenditures for food and upon the food value of the resulting diet is shown in Table 75. With increasing prominence of milk, vegetables, and fruit there is decreasing prominence of meats and grain products, the expenditures for eggs, fats, and sugar remaining essentially unchanged. The dietaries low in milk, vegetables, and fruit include most, if not all, of the poverty dietaries, the American poor tending, as a rule, to underestimate the value of milk, vegetables, and fruit and to overestimate the value of meat (largely no doubt because their more prosperous and more highly educated neighbors so often make the same mistake).

TABLE 75. RELATION OF THE PROMINENCE OF MILK, VEGETABLES, AND FRUIT IN THE DIETARY TO THE PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION

The dietaries low in milk, vegetables, and fruit were low in total calories, phosphorus, calcium, and iron and we may be sure that they were low in vitamin values also. Compared with the "medium" dietaries those higher in milk, vegetables, and

fruit were lower in cost, higher in calories, protein, phosphorus, calcium, and iron and unquestionably in vitamins A, B, and C also.

Thus increased prominence of milk, vegetables, and fruit combined (over that of the average or "medium" dietaries) had the effect of improving the diet materially in every known factor of food value without any increase in its cost.

Suggestions for Family Food Budgets

It does not lie within the scope of this work to offer suggestions regarding the planning of nutritionally well-balanced meals from day to day. This has been done most admirably and interestingly by Professor Mary S. Rose in her book entitled Feeding the Family.

Those who for any reason do not thus plan the daily meals with conscious reference to the food value of each may yet make use of the newer knowledge of nutrition and food values and be reasonably assured of a well-balanced diet by assigning to each important article or type of food its proper place in the food budget and "checking up" the budget monthly in connection with the paying of the bills. From the data examined in the preceding section it is plain that our present knowledge very clearly indicates that the average or typical American food budget can be easily improved by giving greater prominence to milk, vegetables, and fruit, the money needed for this being obtained if necessary by reducing the expenditure for meat.

In the writer's own household one fourth or more of the money spent for food is spent for milk, about one fifth for vegetables and fruit, and less than one sixth for meats, poultry, and fish.

Based apparently upon the experience of Miss Gillett in her work upon family nutrition problems for the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, the Food Administration issued, as a part of its educational program, a simple suggested family food budget essentially as follows:

Divide your food money into fifths:

One fifth, more or less, for vegetables and fruit;

One fifth, or more, for milk and cheese;

One fifth, or less, for meats, fish, and eggs;

One fifth, or more, for bread and cereals;

One fifth, or less, for fats, sugar, and other groceries and food adjuncts.

The recommendation that a fifth or more of the total foodmoney be spent for bread and cereals aims at making a dietary more economical than the American average.

In the writer's opinion the proportion spent for bread and cereals may well vary with the need for strict economy. It must be high in an extremely low-cost dietary and may be considerably lower where the level of expenditure is more liberal. No one fixed percentage for this item, therefore, would seem best for all cases. The same seems true of butter and eggs, which naturally will occupy a larger place in dietaries on a comfortable plane of expenditure than in those which must be held to the minimum cost which is consistent with adequate nutrition. Whatever the level of expenditure, however, it seems wise to observe the two "rules" that

(1) at least as much should be spent for milk (including cream and cheese if used) as for meats, poultry, and fish, and

(2) at least as much should be spent for fruits and vegetables as for meats, poultry, and fish.

These simple "rules," suggested by the writer many years ago, are said to have been found useful as a guide in both low-cost and liberal-cost food budgets, and can obviously be used in all cases in which even the simplest of records of expenditure are kept. They tend to make milk, vegetables, and fruits more prominent and meat somewhat less prominent than in the average American dietary for reasons which have been discussed in this and in previous chapters. The food budget of the writer's household for over twenty years, in the course of which time the dietary needs both of adults and of children in all stages of growth and devel

opment has been provided for, has always met or more than met these " rules," and there has never been any reason to doubt their desirability, or any desire for a dietary such as is represented by the average food budget shown in the first column of Table 65 and which has been considered typical in the past.

From among the 224 American dietary records above discussed, 25 were taken at random and a calculation was made to see how their nutritive values would have been affected if, with no change in the amount of money spent or in the nature of the foods selected, the quantities had been simply readjusted in accordance with the two "rules" just given. It was found that such readjustment without change in cost would leave the protein practically unchanged in amount while the Calories and iron would be slightly increased and the calcium and phosphorus materially increased and brought into better quantitative relations with each other. There is also ample evidence that the dietaries thus adjusted would be improved in their content of all three of the vitamins.

In summarizing nutritive requirements we usually follow the order which seems to offer the best sequence for study, namely, energy (or calories), protein, mineral elements, and vitamins. In the actual purchase of food, however, it is usually best to begin by providing the requisite amounts of those articles of food upon which we are chiefly dependent for vitamins and mineral elements, after which the remainder of the protein and energy required may be obtained from the other types of food with few limitations other than those imposed by appetite, purse, and individual digestive powers. In accordance with this principle, Lusk pronounced the dictum which has been widely quoted that "the housewife having a family of five to feed should buy three quarts of milk a day before she buys a pound of meat."

Combining the principle of providing first of all for an adequate milk supply, with that of a simple budgetary division of