Atwater initiative in food consumption

Trained as an agricultural chemist by the great German scientists of that time, Atwater applied this knowledge to understanding what people ate and the factors that effected food selection. He addressed many of the questions that are still important today. He wanted to use knowledge of food composition to help people make sound food choices within their economic constraints. In carrying out the first true dietary studies in the United States, he recognized many of the important criteria for such studies that impact on the accuracy and precision of the resulting data. Today, we still struggle with ways to improve the accuracy of food consumption studies while at the same time increasing the utility of the data for many users.