The Cost of Subsistence

LABORATE investigations have been made of the adequacy of diets at various income levels, and a considerable number of low-cost, moderate, and expensive diets have been recommended to consumers. Yet, so far as I know, no one has determined the minimum cost of obtaining the amounts of calories, protein, minerals, and vitamins which these studies accept as adequate or optimum. This will be done in the present paper, not only for its own interest but because it sheds much light on the meaning of conventional low-cost diets. This paper is organized under five headings, devoted to 1. The quantities of the various nutrients which should be contained in an average person's diet. 2. The quantities of these nutrients which are found in certain common foods.