Time Magazine Turns 88 Years Old. A look at Food and Nutrition through the Pages of Time

TIME was first published on March 3, 1923 as a newsmagazine which summarized and organized the news. Here are some articles and cover stories form Time Magazine focusing on Food and Nutrition.

Monday, Oct. 08, 1923, Medicine: Vitamin X
Discovered by Dr. Herbert M. Evans and Dr. Katharine S. Bishop, of the University of California.* They call it ";Vitamin X." "Vitamins," now so popular, were unknown ten years ago. They cannot be seen or weighed. They came to light only when it was found diets are not providing proper nourishment and in some cases deficiencies would occur, such as scurvy, beriberi and pellagra.

Monday, Mar. 31, 1924, Medicine: Vitamin D
Dr. Walter H. Eddy, Professor of Physiological Chemistry in Teachers' College, Columbia University showed a group of his colleagues four test tubes containing 70 milligrams of a crystalline substance, Vitamine D. Their work may lay a basis for future synthetic foods to form a scientific diet, though the authentic vitamin scientists have nothing but condemnation for the various commercial tablets, cakes, etc., now on the market. The best diet can still be secured from natural foods.

Monday, Jun. 09, 1941, Medicine: The Nation's Food
Nine hundred doctors, dietitians, chemists, industrialists met in Washington last week to tackle an immense problem: the U.S. diet. As a whole the U.S. today is probably better fed than any other nation, but at least 45,000,000 people in the U.S. are undernourished. Another 50,000,000 people drag along on four cylinders, but cut a good five years off their work-life by not eating the right foods. Of the 35,000,000 remaining, quite a few suffer from overeating.

Monday, Aug. 06, 1956, Medicine: Crazy About Reducing

U.S. experts on diets and reducing are in a tizzy. For years they had been preaching the gospel that the only way to reduce is to cut down the amount of fuel (expressed as the number of calories) stoked into the body.

Friday, Nov. 25, 1966, Food: Everyone's in the Kitchen

Julia Child, 54, is the 6-ft.-2-in.-tall star of the Emmy-winning half-hour program, The French Chef. Her viewers on 104 educational TV stations across the U.S. watch her every move, forgive her every gaffe and, in a word, adore her.

Dec 18, 1972, The Perils of Eating, American Style

Whether they are simply trying to get thin, or whether they are pursuing health or even salvation through diet, Americans are perhaps more preoccupied than any other nation with what to eat, what not to eat, how to eat and even when.

Monday, Sep. 17, 1973, FOOD: The Burger That Conquered the Country

The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they nourish themselves. - The Physiology of Taste, Jean Brillat-Savarin (1826).  If so, America's destiny manifestly depends to no small degree on the hamburgers, French fries and milkshakes served beneath the golden arches of Mc Donald's. Last year the chain of drive-ins and restaurants rang up sales of $1.03 billion, passing the U.S. Army ( 1972 food volume: $909 million) as the nation's biggest dispenser of meals.

Monday, Nov. 02, 1981, Diet and Exercise Dangers
Regular exercise is good for the heart rate, blood pressure, respiration and metabolism. Says Jim Barnard, research cardiologist at U.C.L.A.: "It's similar to tuning up your car's engine to make the car run more efficiently." Vigorous physical effort helps release tension too. But it can also do a lot of damage, especially if the athlete is a neophyte or weekend warrior, both of whom tend to try to do too much too soon.

Dieting poses a whole set of different hazards, especially the quickie weight-losing schemes that separate U.S. dieters from a few pounds each year. Among the current In diets are the Pritikin, the Atkins and the Beverly Hills Diet. Nutrition experts insist that many fad diets are not really diets at all but bizarre and temporary ways of depriving the subject of adequate nutrition.

Mar 15, 1982, Salt: A New Villain?
KILLER SALT screams the book cover from a huge display of volumes with titles like Shake the Salt Habit!, Cooking Without a Grain of Salt and Halt! No Salt. These days they are selling in the the hundreds of thousands.

Mar 26, 1984, Hold the Eggs and Butter
Cholesterol is proved deadly, and our diet may never be the same This year began with the announcement by the Federal Government of the results of the broadest and most expensive research project in medical history. Its subject was cholesterol.

Dec 24, 1990, Health: Red Alert on Red Meat
The link between high-fat diets and colon cancer gets stronger.

Jul 15, 1991, The Fight over Food Labels
By launching a holy war against misleading claims, the government could clear up some of the confusion on supermarket shelves and help Americans become healthier consumers

Apr 06, 1992, The New Scoop On Vitamins
They may be much more important than doctors thought in warding off cancer, heart disease and the ravages of aging and, no, you may not be getting enough of these crucial nutrients in your diet

Jan 08, 1996, HEALTH: ARE WE READY FOR FAT-FREE FAT?

The FDA is about to decide whether you can eat these chips. They are fried in a fake oil that can't make you fat. Dip, Anyone?

Nov 01, 1999, The Low-Carb Diet Craze
Fad diets come and go, but this one is exploding. Can you really lose weight by feasting on beef, eggs and bacon? And should you?

Jan 21, 2002, 10 Foods That Pack A Wallop
Eat, drink and be healthy! Scientists are rapidly identifying the natural chemicals that give preventive punch to a rainbow of ordinary edibles.

Jul 15, 2002, Should We All Be Vegetarians?
Would we be healthier? Would the planet? The risks and benefits of a meat-free life.

Jul 07, 2003, Cracking The Fat Riddle
Should you count calories or carbs? Is dietary fat your biggest enemy? The latest research may surprise you.

Oct 20, 2003, Health: How to Eat Smarter
In a world that is raining food, making healthy choices about what and how to eat is not easy. Here are some rules to live by.

Jun 07, 2004, America's Obesity Crisis: Activists: The Obesity Warriors
What will it take to end this epidemic? These experts are very glad you asked