On August 1, it will be 60 years since I came to Cornell University to do graduate studies in nutritional biochemistry on the topic of food and health. What a journey this became!
In my early days, the focus on good nutrition emphasized the consumption of protein. So it was with me and my professors. The more protein the better. Even better, the more so-called ‘high quality’ protein from animal sources was consumed, the more health we would have. That was consistent with my personal background on the farm milking cows, with my graduate research devoted to a more efficient way of producing animal-based protein and my early career helping to resolve childhood malnutrition in the Philippines by making sure that they got more protein. Lots of people thought that there was a protein gap in the world, especially in poor countries.