Patrick Holford and Berthelot’s Food Dispensary

Professor Patrick Holford of Teesside University and Head of Science and Education at Biocare may be still living out a boyish enthusiasm for the space race of his youth, or part of a tradition of thinking that adequate or appropriate nutrition for all is only possible with supplements.

jdc325 recently commented:

According to the Soil Association, in 2003 a prisoner’s lunch cost 60p and a child’s school dinner could cost as little as 31p. In 2005, the government announced an increase in school dinner spending to 50p and 60p (primary and secondary schools, respectively). A well-known supplement company sells fish oil pills for about 15p per pill and recommends 2-6 daily (30-90p per day). Surely that money would be better spent on an improved diet rather than focussing on the latest ‘trend’ in nutrients?

I have more than a sneaking fondness for the pleasures of the plate and can not imagine that pills could hope to match the rituals of hospitality and comfort that are implicit in preparing, serving and sharing food. However, it seems as if jdc325 and I may be rather luddite in such matters. Historically, visions of a brave new world seem to mandate food substitutes rather than imagining a system where we can produce enough food to sustain a large population.

Back in July, Holford appeared in the Trevor MacDonald programme that presented the Food for the Brain results. At one point in the programme, Holford expressed disatisfaction when presented with the children’s revamped lunchboxes that included 2 pieces of fruit and other dietary desirables. Throughout the programme, he emphasised that the children needed supplements. Some of the children had diets and supplements that were tailored following a variety of blood tests for food intolerance and various biomarkers.

The tailoring of supplements is an idea with a venerable tradition. Berthelot forecast that by 2000, the wonders of organic chemistry would allow us to abandon traditional food and replace it with nutritive tablets [1]. Paleo-Future has reproduced a fascinating clipping on this topic from Indiana Progress 1896.

When the food of the future is once in vogue, the food dispensary, licensed by the government, will long since have supplanted the butcher shop and the grocery store. We’ll breakfast and lunch and dine by prescription at a cost of 10 or 15 cents per day per capita….[T]he chemical or artificial food of the future is already a moral certainty. For does not Flammarion describe it in “Omega,” and has not Bertholot [sic], its chief apostle, been elevated from the laboratory to the foreign office of France?

Given the formula for our food, says Berthelot, the father of the artificial food idea, and why not prescribe it from the chemist’s?…When the area [sic] of chemical food comes, we shall have done with symposia and supper parties, Welsh rabbits and golden bucks.

…When the era of the chemical food sets in, we’ll all be in the habit of stopping morning and evening at our favorite dispensaries for a bracer of salt.

The cultural aspects of food, plus the widespread and successful implementation of food preservation and distribution, have probably circumvented the more utilitarian aspect of this vision. However, it does seem as if there is a long tradition in proposing that our nutritional needs can be met by food tablets and energy pills; of course, in the nineteenth century, the energy was supplied by cocaine and various psychotropic substances.

Several scientists continued to develop the idea that people could meet their nutritional needs and optimise their physical condition and mental acuity with supplements. Some of this line of enquiry was made explicit with commonplace references. E.g., in Hitchcock’s Lifeboat, Willy, the U-Boat Captain, is described as an Iron Man; he is notable as the only man on the boat who has the mental and physical resources to ensure his own survival and that of the others. The other survivors speculate about why he is able to row the boat for hours on end while others can only row for minutes. It is only later that Willy confesses that he has a stash of food tablets and energy pills.[2]

The idea has remarkable stamina. It is interesting to note that in the UK, there is an expanding market for functional foods in which the nutritional density of various foods is enhanced by the addition of say, Omega 3 to milk, or vitamins and minerals to Coke and Pepsi. There is widespread media coverage of the substantial market in the Energy-Drink Buzz; energy drinks offer the promise of an energy boost, increased stamina or mental sharpness. As such, they are marketed to appeal to the thrill-seeking or the flagging.

Energy drinks increasingly are formulated with fruit juices, teas and dietary supplements like ginseng and glucosamine that appeal to older, health-minded consumers. Taurine, an amino acid essential to growth in infants, is a frequent additive, though scientists say large amounts provide no advantage to ordinary adults.

Despite exotic formulations, the energy boost in these drinks is delivered via a whopping dose of common caffeine.

Holford Watch has previously expressed surpise at Holford’s advice that his readers should “search the web for US suppliers” of smart drugs. However, having looked into the matter further, it seems as if some of these drugs have a resemblance to the ingredients of the above drinks.

Biocare has continued the Holford range of Brain Food, Mood Food and Chill Food that also contain familiar ingredients to tune the mind and mood. With the Holford emphasis on supplementation as the only way to achieve his recommendations for optimal nutritional status and this range of mind and mood pills, it seems as if we may not be that far from a Food Dispensary that Berthelot would recognise. However, a personal prescription of the sort typically advocated by Holford is substantially more costly than the 15 cents per person per day that was quoted in the 1896 article above.

Of course, food pills were common currency when Holford was young. There was a lot of research into food concentrates and how they would facilitate space exploration. Many children were enraptured by the excitement around the space race and found it to be inspirational in their interest in science. Similarly, the young Holford may have been exposed to children’s stories and programmes in which food tablets and concentrated sleep were both immiment and desirable. Maybe, just maybe.

[1] Berthelot MP (1894) Science et Morale. Paris, France: Calmann–Lévy.
[2] Holford makes some remarkable claims for the longevity and health that is achievable with optimum nutrition.

What age do you think people could currently live to, with new medical advances and healthy eating?

[PH answer] 110 will become increasingly common. More is possible. Most people who adopt optimum nutrition principles early in life can expect to reach 100 with the same level of health as someone twenty years younger. I hit the big 50 in a couple of months. The only sign of ageing I’ve noticed is an inability to read the small A to Z of London and a few grey hairs.