Price statistics and, in particular, food price statistics are much more abundant that those of consumption. In this article we use price statistics to analyze the qualitative variations in consumption and, specifically, the diet composition, a variable which is difficult to observe, but has remarkable implications in the evolution of living standards, health and mortality. Our analysis focuses on the years between 1910 and 1912, in a period of important changes in Spanish mortality, in order to analyze the provincial variation in the level and structure of food prices. The estimated relative price indexes suggest significant regional differences in diets which should be taken into account in living standards and mortality studies.

In this article we analyse the time course of the consumption of fresh milk in different regions of Europe between the 1870s and 1930s. Working from the case of Catalonia, we affirm that the increasing consumption of milk in that period must be especially linked to the spreading of new scientific knowledge in microbiology and nutrition that followed Pasteur's discoveries. We particularly highlight the information dissemination activities in this direction carried out by health sector professionals (medical doctors and pharmacists), governing local institutions and the milk industry. The initiatives developed by these groups changed people's preferences-fresh milk became accepted as a necessary foodstuff , and demand for it increased. However, the evolution of consumption was not the same in all regions of Europe due to their different environmental and agronomic conditions.

The study of the nutritional transition in Spain must combine sources concerning the health conditions and the nutritional profile of the population. Such an approximation to the issue is, as a rule, not possible until the two final decades of the 20th century. However, the report on the nutritional status of the Spanish army, undertaken by the American Interdepartmental Committee on Nutrition for National Defence (ICNND) in 1958, combines both approaches. The report is based on the medical examination of 10727 army drafts. First, the article contextualised the report’s sample geographically and demographically; second, it validated the variables used statistically; and third, it explored the relationship between the diseases diagnosed, the biomarkers yielded by blood and urine tests, and the diet. The main results were as follows: (a) the report confirmed that the military population under examination did not suffer from severe dietary shortcomings; (b) the sample presents a double bias, geographical (overrepresentation of southern provinces) and institutional (underrepresentation of the land forces).

RESUMENEn este artículo se reconstruye el consumo de proteínas animales en la ciudad de Barcelona entre las décadas de 1830 y 1930, centrando la atención en dos cuestiones: (a) las circunstancias que propiciaron su expansión; y (b) los diferentes factores que alteraron su composición.Se discuten, así, las relaciones de tales procesos con los cambios en la renta, las innovaciones tecnológicas, los progresos científicos y las condiciones de vida en las ciudades, y se plantean principalmente dos conclusiones. La primera es que las relaciones entre ingresos y alimentación han variado en el tiempo por la incidencia de las demás variables citadas. La segunda estriba en que, por este mismo motivo, no se pueden utilizar conceptos como el de la elasticidad de la demanda respecto de la renta para explicar la evolución del consumo. ABSTRACTThis article reconstructs the consumption of animal proteins in the city of Barcelona from the 1830s to the 1930s, focusing on: (a) the circumstances that favoured the expansion of this consumption; and (b) the factors accounting for its changing internal structure. It is considered the influence of four variables: income changes, technological innovations, scientific progress, and living conditions in urban environments. Two main conclusions are proposed. First, the relation between income and consumption has varied overtime, due to the increasing weight of the other variables included in the study. Second, as a consequence of that, concepts such as income elasticity of demand cannot be used to account for the evolution of consumption.

RESUMEN:Este artículo presenta los primeros resultados de un proyecto de investigación sobre la salud de los soldados del Ejército español, en época de paz, entre 1860 y 1936, con especial atención a la mortalidad y la morbilidad y a la tipología de las enfermedades con mayor incidencia en este colectivo. Aquí se abordan dos objetivos de naturaleza metodológica: en primer lugar, una introducción a las posibilidades y limitaciones de las fuentes históricas sanitarias militares para el estudio de la salud del colectivo militar; y, en segundo lugar, un análisis de la evolución de los efectivos y las características del colectivo masculino en edad de recluta y su grado de representatividad respecto a toda la población masculina del mismo grupo de edad. Así mismo, se avanzan unos primeros resultados provisionales sobre algunos indicadores de mortalidad y morbilidad de los soldados y de la población civil que pueden estimarse a partir de las fuentes sanitarias militares. PALABRAS CLAVE:Morbilidad; Mortalidad; Ejército; Población; España.ABSTRACT: This article presents the first results of a research project aimed at studying the state of health of Spanish army troops in peacetime between 1860 and 1936. Special attention is paid to mortality, morbidity, and the typology of the diseases which had the greatest impact on this group. Two methodological objectives are pursued: first, an introduction to the possibilities and limitations of historical sanitary records for the study of the state of health of the military class is carried out; second, the number of military recruits and their collective features as a group, and to what degree this group is representative of their age and gender group as a whole, are examined. Similarly, the initial results on some indicators of mortality and morbidity among both the drafted troops and the civilian population, as reflected in sanitary records, are also set forth.