The Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics completed on June 30, 1948, its first quarter century of research on behalf of the Nation's homemakers.

In June 1923 the Secretary of Agriculture announced that "pursuant to provisions contained in the Agricultural Appropriations Act for the fiscal year 1924" the Office of Home Economics would…

Food consumption is a subject of universal and perennial interest. About half of the income of families in the lowest third of the income scale goes for food. Even those in the highest third put more than a fifth of their incomes into this item of the budget. The way food money is spent, the choices that families make, is of much concern to all…

Food-consumption patterns of different population groups are of interest not only to families wishing to improve their levels of living and to persons engaged in the production and marketing of food materials, but to all that are concerned with the Nation's broad social and economic problems. Diet can play an important role in the conservation of…

Family diets may vary considerably in cost and still be satisfactory for good nutrition. They may vary, too, in the type and the quality of foods they contain and still be desirable, provided the assortment is wisely selected. A good diet depends not so much on the amount of money it costs as on the nutritive value of the different foods selected…

WE CAN MEASURE OUR COUNTRY'S FOOD HABITS

The nutritive quality of diets in the United States varies greatly. This is shown by an analysis of family food supplies recently made by the United States Department of Agriculture.

The analysis was based chiefly on facts collected by the Departments of Agriculture and Labor in 1936-37 as part of a…