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Stare, Fredrick J. (Fredrick John), 1910-2002

 Person

Biography

Fredrick John Stare (1910–2002) was an American nutritionist regarded as one of the country's most influential teachers of nutrition. In 1942, Stare founded the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, which was the first such program in the country not to be associated with an agriculture school. He served as Chairman until his retirement at age 65 in 1976. Stare also fought to improve nutrition for children in developing nations and supported the process of fluoridating public drinking water to prevent tooth decay. He defended food preservatives and chemical additives as beneficial and necessary at a time when naturalists countered that additives were detrimental. He was a firm believer in the essential goodness of the typical American diet, holding that "prudence and moderation" were the key to healthy eating. He was also an early advocate of the benefits of regularly drinking water throughout the day. From 1945 onwards, Stare wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column Food and Your Health. His books included Living Nutrition; Eat OK - Feel OK; Food for Today's Teens; The Executive Diet; Food for Fitness after Fifty; Dear Dr Stare: What Shall I Eat?; Panic in the Pantry; and Fad-Free Nutrition. Stare also co-founded and served as chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Council on Science and Health. At the height of McCarthyism, Stare won notoriety for hiring Bernard Lown, a cardiologist who had been accused of holding communist sympathies. Lown went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985 as one of the leaders of a group opposing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. After his retirement, he organized the Harvard Human Nutrition Program.

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

Jean Mayer papers

Collection Identifier: H MS c354
Overview: Records in the Jean Mayer Papers were created by Mayer during the course of his career as a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and as a researcher and author from 1953 to 1975. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence, but it also includes records related to Mayer’s activities as a research scientist, a consultant on issues of nutrition and diet, and an author. Mayer’s main areas of professional work and research interests were in human nutrition, diet,...

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