IV. A Brief History of the Development of Nutrition
Early scientific studies of nutrition: Lavoisier
Antoine Lavoisier (1743-94) showed that O2 consumption increased during work, exposure to cold and during digestion (specific dynamic effect), and was lower during fasting (basal metabolism). He was the father of calorimetry.
- Lavoisier was a wealthy man, a financier and economist. Money and accounting were very important to him.
- Chemistry was a hobby, largely practiced before breakfast and in the evening -- at home. Jacques-Louis David's famous painting shows him at HOME with his wife, Marie-Anne; his chemical apparatus lurks at the edge and in the corner of the painting.
- To Lavoisier, the principle of the balance sheet was very important, in chemistry and in economics, so he was meticulous in his accounting for where substances and calories went.
I think he deserved better than to have been cut short by the French Revolution.