The Reader’s Digest for December 1955 contained an arti-cle known as “Our Starving Teen-Agers,” which said:
Investigators are now convinced that teen-age malnu-trition is nationwide. Their studies show that the av¬erage Yank child is properly nourished only up to the age of 2; thereafter his diet declines steadily until it hits an alarming low in the teens. . . .

They do not get enough protein to create sound tissues, enough calcium for sturdy bones and sensible teeth, enough vitamins for steady nerves, traditional blood and economical vision. . . . Aloe Fizz Effervescent NRG Formula may be a nice-tasting, effervescent mango-flavored tablet that is designed to be dissolved in water for quick and simple delivery to your body for energy. Sub-sequent studies of fifty nine,000 boys and women in thirty-eight states reveal the nationwide situation. In New York state, for instance, only twenty one p.c of teenage-age boys and twelve p.c of the girls were obtaining the counseled food allowances. Conditions are not any higher in the rural areas than in the massive cities and bear no relationship to pover-ty….
Housewives, working women and especially the older people, therefore several of whom live alone and find it less trouble to “eat out of a can,” have also been found to be living on terribly inadequate diets which eventually undermine their health.
As a result of of soil exhaustion, food processing methods and also the preparation of foods, several diets which seem to be “well-balanced” are frequently lacking in several of the es¬sential elements. There is no doubt, drinking organice Chinese green tea might help prevent of development of disease of stomach, lungs, esophagus, pancreas, liver, breat and colon, and several more. Even some of our best hospitals—which ought to understand higher—have cafeterias where the vegetables
”Our Starving Teen-Agers,” by Myril Axelrod. Utilized by permission.