It is interesting that the author repeatedly refers to Takaki's opponents as following an empirical, scientific approach, as the evidence in the article shows that they were doing the opposite. They ignored both the empirical evidence from the cruise of the Tsukuba and the more rigorously-controlled experiments showing the need for protein, and instead clung to a theory of infection, for which there was no evidence. In the absence of evidence, the Army made up a just-so story about ships' hygiene - pseudo-scientific nonsense of the sort that Feynman warned against in his "cargo cult" talk.

This should be a cautionary tale for this era of evidence-based medicine. I know of at least one case where a prominent cardiologist has claimed that cardiac stents are useless on the basis of one small and narrow study. I'm all for evidence-based medicine, but it must be proper evidence.

Medicine is doomed to forever remain in a primitive state.The reason it's called the "practice" of medicine is because they're just practicing.

I think this really shows some of the problems in Japanese society. Even with empirical proof and evidence, it literally took decades to finally make a change. Sadly, Japan is still like this today. But one good thing is that once a positive policy is finally recognized and enforced, changing it would be equally difficult. Thanks to Takaki, people today in Japan generally eat healthy, balanced meals.

Look up how long it took two US doctors who were treating ulcers successfully with anti-biotics to convince the rest of the medical community to do so
.

One of them drank contaminated water and gave himself ulcers just to prove that he was right.

Your two US doctors are both actually Australian. Just sayin'.

You are correct.

This reminds me of the 20th Century Pellagra epidemic in the American South, caused by a lack of B3.

All things in moderation.

I wonder exactly what moderation in all things has to do with this subject? Do you really think a more moderate amount of rice would have solved their problem? You do understand a vitamin deficiency that was the cause, don't you?

They ate TOO MUCH WHITE RICE !

It was the proportion, not the portion, that did them in. It's not that they ate too much white rice, but didn't eat enough protein to metabolize it.

Write more articles like these. I like reading these type of articles, great job by the staff members.

And less garbage promoting war and the military industrial complex.

This is an extremely interesting and well written article. It reinforces the idea that proper nutrition is essential to good health and the well being of society in peace time and times of war. There are no short cuts when it comes to nutrition.

keep eating, 'hot dogs'....

Hot dogs have way too much fat and salt in them. Recent Articles in New England Medical Journal report that "over processed foods" are bad because they lead to increased rates of Cancer and cardiovascular deaths. Milk products, fresh meat, beans and egg whites are much better sources of protein that junk food and prepackaged meals. Also there is too much fructose and corn syrup in foods. This use in soft drinks, desserts, bread, jams, etc, is related to fatty liver, gout, childhood obesity and diabetes. Too see a child eating a corndog being washed down with a supersized soft drink while playing a video game is the ultimate pediatric horror story.

It's not the fat and salt that is bad with hotdogs. It's all the unnecessary additives, and most of all the sugar/starch/carbs in the bread and all the other things you put on the hot dog. Cancer cells feed on sugar, and
cardiovascular deaths are also caused by eating large amounts of carbs, not by fat or salt. So, your second part about the problem being things like fructose, corn syrup and other forms of sugar is absolutely correct.

Proper nutrition is essential to good health.

hamburger is lethal for american society too but the superpower survives.

It's not the hamburger, that is just meat, which is healthy food. It's the bread, the fries, the sugar filled condiments and the huge soda/soft drink you have with the hamburger that is the problem.

Hamburger is protein, you dolt.

Hamburger is mostly carbs, the American diet carb to fat/protein ratio is way too high which leads to statistically having such huge rates of metabolic diseases like diabetes, an other diseases that result from thick layers of extra fat around internal organs. Americans don't even have to be or look obese to get sick and die from heart disease and diabetes, which are well known to be caused by eating way way too many carbs in the diet.

Eating hamburgers often leads to obesity, heart disease, stroke and even death.