This is what US diet recommendations looked like 85 years ago:
If the housewife is a dietetic genius, 3,500 calories per man per day purchased in the market may be enough.
Why so high? Because the average man was laboring with “pick and shovel, felling trees, or carrying a load uphill” for 2+ hours per day.
3,000 calories was considered the low limit to be consumed by a completely sedentary, 154 lb man who engaged in “no moderate work”. In 1929, this is what qualified as no moderate work:
- 9 hours of light work (washing clothes, shopping with a load, carpentry, cannery work, tailoring, walking)
- 5 hours of very light work (seated and standing activities, painting trades, driving, typing, sewing and ironing)
The only time I ever engaged in 14 hours / day of walking, painting, carpentry, and shopping with a load was when I was on a work crew building a Habitat for Humanity home.
It’s humbling to realize that the hardest day of laboring in my life (in 1994), would only have qualified me as “completely sedentary” in 1929.
4 Responses to “3500-4500 calories / day used to be the recommended caloric intake for men in 1929”
February 7
Luke CockerhamNo obesity problems. Drop dead at 54.
February 7
Marius van VoordenI have to point out here that recently it was shown that the American daily recommended calories are based on objectively incorrect data. It’s based on self-reporting, and it was shown that it’s literally impossible to do the reported activities with just the reported calories. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0076632
The European guidelines are much more reasonable: a man between 19 and 30 with a not very active lifestyle gets 2700 calories. Also personally drinking Soylent, I’ve found the American guidelines to be pretty badly underestimating the requirements.
February 8
James Ting-EdwardsThese higher caloric intakes likely imply better nutrition overall. I would guess that home-grown vegetables were as cheap as bulk calories from pasta or flour. We moderns may be missing out on the vitamins and minerals there supplied, even if our calorie needs are lower!
February 8
Louie HelmI expect some version of that argument carries.
Although super high iron intake and certain other minerals probably aren’t all that great for men.