The discovery of carnitine as an essential nutrient for one species of insect led rapidly to the elucidation of its central role in fat oxidation and its function in mitochondria. The history of this discovery illustrates how an unexpected result in one extremely narrow area of nutrition can lead to the opening up of an …
During World War Two, conscientious objectors in the US and the UK were asked to volunteer for medical research. In one project in the US, young men were starved for six months to help experts decide how to treat victims of mass starvation in Europe…The experiment started in November 1944 and for the first three …
Joseph Sicker, chairman of the International Apple Shippers’ Association, had an idea: Why not use the apples to help unemployed men? He worked with members of the produce industry to fund the purchase of $10,000 worth of surplus apples to sell to unemployed men. The business model was simple: Men would buy the apples from …
How Apples Became a Weapon Against the Great Depression Read More »
“Diet,” says anthropologist John Hawks, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, “has been a fundamental story throughout our evolutionary history. Over the last million years there have been changes in human anatomy, teeth and the skull, that we think are probably related to changes in diet.” From “How Cheese, Wheat and Alcohol Shaped Human Evolution: Over …
How Cheese, Wheat and Alcohol Shaped Human Evolution Read More »
The turn of the 20th century saw the emergence of Chop Suey joints as hip and affordable places for young urbanites to spend a night out. Like most popular Chinese dishes in the United States, this particular mélange of meat, egg and vegetable wasn’t actually Chinese. In the 1920s American eaters were shocked when they …
What Gayelord Hauser managed to do was capitalize on the fears and desires of women in postwar America. Unlike women of previous generations, those in the first half of the 20th century had fewer children, better health, longer lives, and more disposable income. Middle age, in particular, no longer meant retreating into a housecoat and …
American women’s obsession with being thin began with this ‘scientist’ Read More »
After putting the stomach contents through a battery of tests, the researchers determined the ice mummy’s final meal: dried ibex meat and fat, red deer, einkorn wheat, and traces of toxic fern. The results offer a stunningly detailed peek into an ancient diet and hint at possible food preparation methods. From: “5,300 Years Ago, Ötzi the …
Insects, specifically termites, could have accounted for almost half the diet of hominins about 1.8 million years ago, according to researchers at Heriot Watt-University in the UK and Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
Did IQ scores go up for some men after the introduction of iodized salt in 1924? Researchers analyzed data from World War I and World War II to try to find out.
Cornelia Kennedy was the first person to call vitamins by letters of the alphabet, though today she is given little credit for it. In her master’s thesis in 1916, Kennedy referred to “fat-soluble A” and “water-soluble B” for the first time. Researchers later realized that “A” and “B” consisted of more than one compound and …
Cornelia Kennedy (1880-1969), the first person to name vitamins with letters Read More »
The Doughnut Corporation of American introduced this vitamin B-1 fortified donut in 1941, but it lasted only a few years.
Sugar Information, Inc., was the division of the Sugar Association that focused on public education and communication. The Sugar Research Foundation, the other division, developed and supported basic and applied scientific research. The Sugar Association, founded by members of the U.S. cane and beet sugar industry, began in 1943 as the Sugar Research Foundation, which …
La Choy was founded in 1922 by a young Korean immigrant to the United States, Ilhan New, and Detroit grocer Wally Smith to sell bean sprouts to local consumers. The company was bought by ConAgra in 1990. La Choy: Going on Seventy-five by Jacqueline M. Newman http://www.flavorandfortune.com/dataaccess/article.php?ID=463 La Choy Food Products Inc. History http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/la-choy-food-products-inc-history/
Rainier brand beer was brewed by the Seattle Brewing and Malting Company in Seattle, Washington, beginning in 1893. The brand is now owned by the Pabst Brewing Company. In 1914, Washington State citizens voted to prohibit the manufacture and sale of alcohol, including beer, six years before national Prohibition took effect. The History of Rainier …
