The amounts and adequacy of food rations in Finland during 1941-46

Owing to the impossibility of obtaining reliable information on the food consumption of the »self-providers,» only the food rations and nutrition of the ordinary »consumers» are discussed in this paper. The daily amounts of calories, protein, fat, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and ascorbic acid have been calculated on the basis of the rations of bread flour, fats, milk, sugar, and meat. Of the ration-free foodstuffs only potatoes had greater importance in the diets; their contents of different constituents have been taken into consideration in using approximate values of the daily consumption of potatoes. Inadequacy of calories is a common feature in the diets of adults and also of adolescent children. Distinct deficiencies can also be noticed in the amounts of calcium and vitamin A, a slight deficiency in riboflavin. The intake of other constituents discussed can be regarded as being nutritionally adequate, although the amounts of protein and particularly those of niacin have been in many cases rather scanty. The nutrition of children has been remarkably better than that of the adults owing, above all, to the greater share of milk in the children’s dietary. The nutrition situation was the worst in 1942 and very poor again in 1945. In 1946 and later it has been continually improving.