Enough to eat? The nutrition film (1936)

This film deals with malnutrition in Britain. It focuses on the relationship between income and nutrition and suggests that government schemes can improve the current situation. It shows that people on low incomes are likely to be consuming insufficient nutrients, for instance, not enough calcium or iron and, as a result, are prone to diseases such as rickets and anaemia. This video was made from material preserved by the BFI National Archive. Find out more: catalogue.wellcomelibrary.org/...

[@OnlyThe1Son]

1936, my grandparents were young children here. They grew up essentially on diets like this from their mothers. they went through the war where food was rationed and times were tough. others went through the depression in usa... but. my grandparents lived into their 90s and pretty much stuck with this diet.. milk.. cheese, bread, meat, fish, tea, some cookies, fruits and veges.. lived to 96 and died of natural causes..

[@YamiKisara]

Bless their souls! I know plenty of people from that time period who lived to be around that age or are still around. Clearly this diet is beneficial to us.

[@Bonzibuddy4ever2]

The man narrating this film is the brother of Aldous Huxley, famous author of Brave New World. Julian might be less famous than his brother, but arguably more distinguished. He was the first director of UNESCO, a founding member of the WWF, and first president of the British Humanist Association.

[@ringpop6177]

Bonzi Jaquarius That’s interesting I must say

[@GodEmperorSuperStar]

I'm a bit confused. I thought he and his brother were brothers or something.

[@dominicesquivel3901]

Thanks for the fact!

[@xanderalijah3708]

I guess Im asking randomly but does any of you know of a trick to log back into an Instagram account?? I was stupid forgot my account password. I would appreciate any tips you can offer me!

[@haydenahmir3823]

@Xander Alijah Instablaster =)

[@tonyboloni64]

Vicious cycle. Not enough good food and your teeth go bad, then, if you get some decent food...your teeth are bad and it's difficult to eat it. The older I get the more I realize how fortunate I was: three meals a day of good solid food and plenty of fresh air and sunshine.

[@BadWolfSilence]

I’m an American and I remember when I was in elementary school all we could have was chocolate or white milk for lunch as a drink. It’s great to have milk in schools, but I hated that when I was thirsty at lunch there was never water available. Kids should get both in schools for lunch.

[@Mr.SLovesTheSacredHeartofJesus]

No water in your school? No drinking fountains?

[@tamaraanthony7624]

@@Mr.SLovesTheSacredHeartofJesus lots of schools in older areas have lead in pipes.

[@Mr.SLovesTheSacredHeartofJesus]

@@tamaraanthony7624 Never heard of a school not having water for children.

[@MikeGreenwood51]

We had water mixed with tea. Or evening cocoa. It was in the jungle juice also. It flowed to about 300 tap outlets through out the school. I remember often cupping my hand for a cup full or 2. If that wasn't enough we had to bathe in it or shower. Wash every morning and brush out teeth with paste and water.

[@janetslater129]

A lot of schools nowadays have water bottle refill stations. The high school I use to work at had a water bottle station right in the cafeteria itself.

[@nicolesvrcinova1482]

I find it interesting that Britain actually largely solved this problem by going to war and creating a nutrition-focused ration system. Apparently, the years of rationing was when the British population was at its healthiest ever.

[@mrpotatohead6264]

Yes, and how things slowly declined again, but to excess this time, when things went over the crest of the hill. Like how fridges and then freezers became common from the late 50s through the 60s, and then microwaves in the 80s.

[@leechowning2712]

Imagine if the US food stamps program was run based on the same principles of budgeting and nutrition as the war time rationing system. Yes I am aware that many people would disagree with being forced to buy certain products or certain classes of products, but the present health concerns in the US suggest that not everyone does as well planning their diet as we wish. Yes obviously it would be very annoying having x amount of money for this item and x amount of money for bread or whatever categories that came up with, but if we're going to argue that the government is responsible for People's health then maybe we should actually do something.

[@Maria-uh2ss]

All the kids also got a bottle of milk in the morning from their school. It was full fat 8 oz - I remember it vividly in the early 80’s - I’m not sure what year that stopped but it was the best part of the day because we were poor.

[@pattycake8272]

@@Maria-uh2ss we had the small cartons of milk. Two kids were sent off to get our class milk. I remember the smell of the fridge still.

[@YamiKisara]

I find that hard to believe because of the nature of rationing. Perhaps it was the initial idea behind it, but achieving that for every single person while in an extreme shortage of workers, in a time where options of keeping fresh fruits and vegetables year-round were smaller than today, it's really hard to imagine. However, the people back there definitely ate better and were healthier than today's British - if nothing else, their food was closer to actual food, it had far more nutrients, and the believe themselves lived a more active lifestyle that promoted their wellbeing even if they lacked some nutrition (there're also studies that confirm a lack of resources for a time being promotes longevity - of course this was never tested on large human populations, but WWII survivors seem to confirm it).

[@brysonhann3610]

"The national consumption of butter is too low" - 1930's doctor

[@luisah6663]

I mean butter has nutritional value :)

[@qwertasdcfghjklmo24z]

@@luisah6663 Butter contains Vitamin A.

[@luisah6663]

@@qwertasdcfghjklmo24z I know!

[@rosrychaplet]

Butter has necessary fat to keep body going. They were underfed and lacking enough fat.

[@nsoul4296]

​@@luisah6663 Butter is full of fat soluble vitamins, fatty acids, and minerals. It's a super healthly food.

[@michaelcrawford1556]

A stunning rendering of malnutrition and its consequences. Note the attention given to the expectant and nursing mother. This attention would have led to the provision of milk, orange jouce and cod liver oil given free them during the war which broke out some 3 years after the film. Although we now know more about the specifics, it is a downright disgrace that the same malnutrition exists today in our own country with the prevalence of low birthweight, preterm birth hardly changed since 1950. We still have the socio-economic divide and the ignorance at all levels due to the elimination of home economics and any form of nutrition and health from the school curriculum.

[@alexcarter8807]

This is obvious in the USA. Those of us who grew up chronically malnourished are quite a bit smaller than the well-fed of higher classes.

[@shelteredknowledge2150]

I agree, but what is worse, people are obese and malnourished which is something that has not been seen before

[@bjohnson9221]

Yes, well said. By the time I was entering secondary, Home Economics was no longer offered. It certainly would have been of great help! It took several years of self teaching through books, and hard lessons, before I became an adept manager of our home. My Mother worked 6 days a week, 10 hours a day, ( we owned a store), and her teaching time was severely limited, though she was a wonderful and loving Mom. I worked for 30 years as a nurse, but my shifts enabled me to be home much more, and I learned quickly to multitask many things! Cheers!

[@emte4236]

So true! I was born much smaller and almost never drank milk or had nutritious meals when young and I'm now only 5'2", male. My older sister would finish a gallon of milk a week, but with the same unnutritious diet I had. She's 5'10" now and my other sisters are 5'6 and 7, all taller than me. I was never taught about nutrition from my family or school. Now, in my 30's, I've taught myself about nutrition, have lost 50 lbs, exercise regularly, and am healthier than I've been my whole life. I just have a deficiency on calcium and iron I am working on. My sisters still do not eat nutritious meals and are fatter than ever and unhealthy. Even my tall sister has oily aged skin. With covid shortages, I've been learning how ration, substitute, and grow my own garden. 💙

[@reecetaylor2626]

People overeat the worst things. A malnourished overweight population should be a paradox, but it's simply the reality of things at the moment

[@curlyyasmin181]

Poor children. I pray that no child goes hungry

[@rollandjoeseph]

Stop praying, it's not helping unfortunately.. they'll always be starving children sadly

[@dezbiggs6363]

@@rollandjoeseph there's no reason to be. We make more than enough to feed the entire world. It's just logistics and greed

[@karenblackadder1183]

Post War, us kids knew it the food put on the table was all there was. You are it. Parents today need to grow a backbone. Stop pandering to the kids.

[@MikeGreenwood51]

@@karenblackadder1183 That which you wrote does not make sense. 'You are it'? You are the food when there is not enough put on the table? Also besides in the post war years when food for the masses was still rationed and meat allowances may be as little as a pound of sausages a week along with every thing else which was rationed. Times were recognised by many to be hard, or very difficult. Yet you critisize the more liberated affluent present tewnty-twenty generation as if you some how have mistaken your poverty as better. There are some who may say you can have your poverty. Keep it too your self. But let others have their wealth and enjoy the benefits of their age.

[@norabradley9108]

@@MikeGreenwood51 Karen obviously meant, "You ate it."

[@archaicamusement3871]

The boy been measure at 3: 15 seems like 35 years old 🙄

[@mustangsally5051]

This should be taught in schools..,since we never know what is coming,learning to feed our family good food even if some things are missing,it would surely help...I love these videos..and I watch Clara on KZbin who lived throu the great depression and has wonderful recipes!

[@YamiKisara]

Kids do get it in schools, but it's the bastardized food pyramid/plate thing that promotes malnutrition and diseases like diabetes and cancer, so we would need to go back to proper science shown in this video.

[@qbatmobile]

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

[@taskmaster83]

seminal and significant..especially today

[@fponick]

The two women interviewed about their limited funds for food-Notice how bad their teeth are. Sad.

[@leannemayor5755]

It’s a shame they don’t this across the commonwealth today . Sad really that 90 yrs ago they understood this clearly .

[@christopherellis2663]

Free milk was a thing at school in the 1950s. Mandatory!

[@MikeGreenwood51]

Mandatory? LOL Sounds so funny.

[@susanmintzer5144]

I never heard of it and that was in my school uears

[@Lilly-ud6qs]

Yes and then that old hellhound Thatcher stopped the free milk programs and the children went into decline health-wise, especially those from less well off areas.

[@Mr.SLovesTheSacredHeartofJesus]

@@Lilly-ud6qs What total BS!

[@rodentary]

I think this is very interesting considering the US and Canada are suffering through the depression.

[@GeorgeHenderson]

Graham Greene brought me here. His positive review of this short for Night and Day magazine can be found in the collection "The Pleasure Dome". The 3 food groups at 4:00 is my favourite part, also the advice on feeding children near the end.

[@PennyBluebottle]

This is fascinating. I drink coffee made only with milk to the horror from my colleagues. What happened to the Milk Marketing Board?

[@PennyBluebottle]

@fat cabbage yes you are right it is full of bacteria: good bacteria. I can't agree with you about milk not being as healthy for you: the benefits far outweigh any concerns which by the way have proved inconclusive. And are you referring to cow's milk? Some people may have difficulty digesting it but goat's milk is easily digestible apparently.

[@kansuii9024]

there's also oat milk which is apparently most nutritious. milk is just good for you as it is designed to sustain growing young. humans have human milk, so there's that too lol

[@karenblackadder1183]

@@kansuii9024 There is no such thing as 'oat milk' It's nothing more than the tap water in which oats have been soaked. Only lactating mammals can produce milk!!!!!

[@MikeGreenwood51]

@@kansuii9024 Not sure about that. Not at all. Oats are not high on any of my lists as high in Vitamins or Minerals. They are high in fiber. They are not good in excess (nothingevery really is) but too much results in too much acid attempting to break the oats down. They seem fine in moderation or occasionally such as once or twice a weeek along with other foods.

[@Lilly-ud6qs]

@@kansuii9024 No such thing as oat "milk". Oat juice would be the appropriate fitting term.

[@elizabethlovesalbert]

4:40 Then we have the “PRO-tee-ins” lol

[@jackuzi8252]

My dad, who was born in 1930 in the US, pronounced it the same way. Apparently, it was a 3-syllable word until the second half of the 20th century.

[@elizabethlovesalbert]

@@jackuzi8252 haha that’s so funny how it’s evolved

[@desertigloo2383]

PRO teens

[@MikeGreenwood51]

@@jackuzi8252 Prot-ein. Proteus would be three syllables. As it is a combination of three word parts. Proton-two syllables. protocol three syllables.

[@PhantomQueenOne]

They forgot how nourishing beans and pulses can be. If a person doesn't have enough to buy meat, dried or canned beans are a good substitute. Like lentils, white beans, black beans, and kidney beans

[@pixelfu623]

They were common then. Beans were commonly used in recipes of the time and throughout WW2. They knew (beans and pulses were a staple part of our diet for centuries). My Grandmother was sick to the back teeth of beans by the end of rationing in the UK.

[@YamiKisara]

That's because beans are better than not eating no meat and no beans, but they are not a fullfledged alternative to meat - meat exclusive vitamins and significantly higher amounts of minerals come to mind, it's nearly impossible to achieve a sufficient intake without meat consumption (or aritifical substitutes, which weren't avaiable back then) and the makers of this video knew it.

[@rosrychaplet]

modern day #Hollywood needs to watch this film #JoaquinPhoenix

[@BadWolfSilence]

Rosrychaplet And modeling companies. So many models are incredibly undernourished and it’s considered beautiful for some stupid reason. Sad.

[@mordeys]

this is school milk , free or reduced lunch.and WIC here in the USA.

[@marcoantonioretamoza]

Estas tomas de que año son??😮

[@marcoantonioretamoza]

Que lindos los niños!!! 😊

[@Art4ArtsSakeVideo]

I've been researching this period, and find it revealing that this film made no mention whatsoever of the root cause of the working man's poverty and thus the problems the housewife has feeding her family: low wages. Wages insufficient to support even a small family in good health, providing adequate purchasing power in the market. How little we have evolved, economically speaking, when 2023's federal minimum wage is not enough to buy food and shelter and energy and clothing.

[@pauldiezcanseco2978]

I can't hear sit

[@rosrychaplet]

4:00, 4:57, 5:30, 6:00, 7:30 parts that interest me. Thank you for sharing.

[@disboygotdabeat]

The video scene comparisons of the boys from the well fed group and the poorly fed group appear to be skewed. The well fed group are clearly high school age and the poor fed group are clearly elementary level.

[@CaptchaNeon]

The people listening and being interviewed look absolutely bored to pieces. There’s a dead look in their eyes (no pun intended). I imagine it was quite difficult to afford a lot of food and consumption was much lower in more restricted income households.

[@curlyyasmin181]

Captcha Neon who are you talking about?

[@rosrychaplet]

@@curlyyasmin181 the mothers at 9:00 minutes. They are tired and hungry. They are malnourished.

[@alexcarter8807]

@@rosrychaplet Yep when you're malnourished your mind kind of goes dead. It's hard to concentrate and you doze off in class.

[@teeniequeenie8369]

Here I am in canada in 2023 and living under Castro im now 106 pounds at the drs last week with my boots and 2 pairs of clothes on, today we got hit with Trudeaus new carbon tax so it’s about to get a lot worse here.

[@gavinmillar7519]

The basic nutritional ideas still obtain but in the UK we have regressed to this period.

[@Bookworm-ye9qi]

Three well balanced meals. Who would have thunk it? 😮

[@gabrielking1247]

did they use onions for fruit 5:22

[@snoodledumpling4486]

Those are apples. If you look really hard you can see the stem on two of them near the back.

[@basitk12]

Real smart you are buffoon

[@breathedarlingokay]

foodstuffs

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

1:25 - Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins looked as if he could have used three square meals a day himself.

[@JM-xz2pz]

They could quit taxing us all to death and stop interfering with our local farmers. People would have more money and access to real and nutritious foods. It could have been true then and it could work now!

[@tinker651]

Well, we've come a little ways in diet. 😆

[@evelynsaungikar3553]

Origins of the slogan, “Drinka pinta milka day”

[@rollandjoeseph]

At min 17:00 , the guy says that the average women "doesn't know the difference between a vitamin and a bus ticket" ! Wtf, that's some messed up insult!!

[@Mr.SLovesTheSacredHeartofJesus]

Consider when this was made. Most of these people hardly had even an elementary school education.

[@pixelfu623]

Just a bit of humour. Calm down.

[@thomaswipf7986]

cod liver oil. nothing has changed

[@superbman4088]

16:53 This Doctor roasts these women

[@marcoantonioretamoza]

La mejor medicina ( los alimentos) 😂 Ya lo dijo Hopocrates Verdad?? 😅

[@gavinmillar7519]

Astor - preaching about poverty. Oh dear.

[@rizsarwar2713]

can you tell me which part and full name.

[@emgex]

Then: "ppl are not properly fed" Today: "ppl are overfed"

[@PhantomQueenOne]

That would fall under the "not property fed". Too much junk, not enough good food. Sadly, healthy food is expensive.

[@evelynsaungikar3553]

@@PhantomQueenOne Not really. You can buy nutritious groceries cheap: oatmeal, peanut butter, beans, cabbage etc.

[@PhantomQueenOne]

@@evelynsaungikar3553A lot of which many people can't eat.

[@xusmico187]

poor suffer rich thrive. nature.

[@Ghargr18]

We should have 7 pints of milk per week each? Really?? That seems excessive, but that could just be because we *don't* drink enough...

[@mrpotatohead6264]

There used to be posters up in doctor offices etc in the 50s, with the *Drinka pinta milka day* slogan. I don't drink nearly that much, I'm guessing about 2 pints a week plus a bit of cheese, butter and chocolate. Maybe I'll try drinking a pint a day for a little while and see if it makes a difference.

[@janehrahan5116]

One serving of cheese or yogurt will mostly mimic milk nutrition wise.

[@lazaruscharity1121]

2 cup dairy equivalent daily.

[@YourCRTube]

Back then: We must give children quality food. Now: We must give children gender affirmation care.

[@davidtaliaferro]

British scientists discovered that without food, you die; what a breakthrough.

[@davids8449]

Not like today just think today how we all benefit from Chinese takeaways , and fish & chip shops... people are so healthy now they wheeled around in wheel barrows to the next fish & chip shop

[@vickanden7816]

I always imagined that the loot they were bringing in from the colonies was funneled to make their own people richer & more healthy. But seems like more than half of their own population was quite poor, even by their own admission. If the plunder from colonies was not even being used for improving their own people, then what was even the point !? What was all the colonial revenues used for!!? Whom was it all going to!? Just the royal family and their friends, I suppose!

[@karenblackadder1183]

Why don't you actually learn about the Merchant Navy? Life was tough for everyone after the end of Napoleonic Wars. Also the same great hardship that comes after most wars reappeared between the World Wars

[@vickanden7816]

@@karenblackadder1183 ok, Karen

[@MikeGreenwood51]

As far as I know the income from taxation in Commonwealth Countries goss to the Goverment with in that country.

[@kelrogers8480]

Have you ever heard of two World Wars? You need to read, my dear!

[@vickanden7816]

@@kelrogers8480 Oh I have read, my dear, about the infamous workhouses of Victorian Britain - a period certainly before the two world wars, AND when the colonial loot coming in was at its peak - and I’ve read in depth about the mass squalor, slums, mass poverty and epidemics during this period, and during the Georgian era prior to this. Before coming down on others with your ‘my dear’ condescensions, may be do some reading yourself first so you don’t make a complete fool of yourself

[@redwingfan9393]

Was all this research paid for by dairy farmers?

[@bobofat2545]

cheap source of essential animal protein

[@Mr.SLovesTheSacredHeartofJesus]

Nothing wrong with organic dairy.

[@reecetaylor2626]

Far better for you than grain

[@PennyBluebottle]

You obviously were not listening: The Milk Marketing Board was backed by government and through generous subsidies encouraged dairy farming to play a part in shaping the modern diet. The dairy industry was more or less non existent before then.

[@nsoul4296]

​@@Mr.SLovesTheSacredHeartofJesus Even better raw grass fed milk from organic farms.

[@rollandjoeseph]

In 1936 they just discovered the benefits of veggies? Yikes!

[@karenblackadder1183]

This is basically kids in big cities. Most of Britain was rural and those kids had a much more balanced diet.

[@marshhen]

This is when it was still possible to talk about a national approach to a problem without right wingers freaking out and screaming socialism. Before the cold war it was okay to talk about the national good and national problems. Why is it so moral wrong to want to look out for the whole community? It isn't, it just gets in the way of somebody's profits, that's all.

[@ringpop6177]

marshhen Grow your own food and be Independent!

[@brazillady5119]

Completely agree.

[@ringpop6177]

Tom Sanders A pot

[@ringpop6177]

gang-gang How do u know?

[@rosrychaplet]

@Tom Sanders many cities and towns have open lands set aside for ppl to grow fruits and vegetables. Many banded together to grow foods then exchange evenly 1:1 for veggies.