Od słowa do liczby i z powrotem: refleksja na marginesie dziejów statystyki i nauki o żywieniu

The first part of the essay is devoted to the historical roots of quantitative perception of reality in Europe. Three preconditions of the evolution from qualitative to quantitative description of the surrounding world have evolved until the end of the 17th century. The first was the emergence of easy to use digits. The second consisted of designing devices,which simplify calculations. The third was the awareness that reality can be described efficiently only in quantitative terms. The second part of the essay describes the process of quantification of medicine and the science of nutrition. The first step was accomplished by Padua professor Santorio Santorio in the first half of the 17th century. Santorio regularly weighed his body, as well as all his food, drinks and excrements. After 30 years of meticulous experiments, Santorio discovered the process of metabolism. The next leap forward occurred in the 18th century by Lavoisier. Lavoisier explained the role of oxygen in metabolism and developed the first calorimeter that enabled the quantification of metabolism. Since the invention of the term „calorie” in the 19th century quantitative discourse has dominated the science of nutrition. As a result such features of food as taste have been supplanted by abstract physical quantities. Numbers have substituted quality and food has been equated with fodder. At first calculations of calorie intake were used in order to formulate a fundamental precept „eat more”. Since the 1970s, with the beginning of the obesity epidemics, the same quantitative discourse has been used to argue „eat less”. Media campaigns guided by nutritionists and labels informing about calorie contents in various foods proved ineffective. The obesity epidemic snowballs throughout the developed world. Quantitative discourse seems helplessly unconvincing.