Progress of the Science of Nutrition in Japan.

Abstract

The problems of food and nutrition are of vital importance for Japan. It is not a big country, nor are its agricultural advantages abundant; it has a large population, so that the pressure of food needs is one of national concern. As a recent writer has reviewed the situation, in the past Japan was entirely dependent on food supplies from abroad, and famine with all its consequences was of frequent occurrence; but during the last fifty years the modern development of the country, its agriculture and industry, has to a large extent rendered it independent of foreign supplies, and food conditions have considerably improved. At present the food resources of the country consist of 400 varieties of common foodstuffs, to which must be added about 500 varieties of foodstuffs which can be employed in time of emergency. All these foodstuffs—those which are commonly used by the people and those which