2022: Dr Muriel Bell and the story of school milk in New Zealand

Have you heard of pioneering nutritionist Muriel Bell?

She had a profound effect on the health of New Zealanders.

Appointed New Zealand’s first state nutritionist in 1940, a position she held for almost quarter of a century, Muriel Bell was behind ground-breaking public health schemes including milk in schools, iodised salt and water fluoridation.

Bell’s early research into fats and cholesterol tackled the complexity of nutrition- related aspects of coronary heart disease.

At the base of her commitment to science lay a deep social concern, especially for women and children. In service to this cause Muriel Bell worked tirelessly. Her nutritional advice – common sense to us today but revolutionary at the time – was to eat more fruit, vegetables, wholegrains and milk products and to cut down on sugar, fat and meat.

She was a trailblazer by anyone’s definition, unswervingly committed to the understanding that ‘we are what we eat’; that nutrition is a cornerstone of individual and public health.

Sent by The University of Waikato Library.