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The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rlp3{at}psu.edu.
Helen Oldham was a scientist whose research contributed to the literature on nutritional requirements, a mentor who provided invaluable guidance to students, and an administrator who supported the work of nutritionists across the country. She retained an intellectual vigor and interest in nutrition throughout her long life.
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EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION
Helen was born on a family farm in Monroe, Iowa on January 7, 1903. Her mother was a school teacher who taught her to read. Helen remembered sitting next to her mother and announcing that she had just finished reading her first primer. She was then 3 years of age; throughout her life, she continued to be an avid reader of history and biography. Shortly before her death, at the age of 101, she was reading the autobiography of Madeline Albright. Helen attended a 1-room school through 8th grade. To attend high school, she would have had to travel some distance by horse and buggy or leave home and board with another family. She was too young for this when she first finished grade 8; instead, she attended the grade for 2 more years before entering high school. Helen graduated as high school valedictorian in 1921 and entered Iowa State College (now University), as a chemistry major. She became a member of the honor societies in chemistry, mathematics, and music. When she graduated in 1925, there were no jobs for women chemists, so she traveled around Iowa for a year as the drummer in a girls' band. She also took correspondence courses to be eligible for a teaching license. In 1926 she became a mathematics teacher in Fredericksburg, Iowa; in 1928 she was appointed high school principal and mathematics teacher in Dunlap, Iowa.
Helen was thinking seriously about continuing graduate studies, and in 1930 she decided to go to Chicago. She had no job there and no connection with graduate programs. When she arrived, she was advised to return to Iowa because of the depression and scarcity of jobs. However, she did find a job at the University of Chicago bookstore and was later referred to Dr. Lydia Roberts who had recently been appointed chairman of the Department of Home Economics. Helen's meeting with Dr. Roberts was fortuitous. The University of Chicago was the preeminent institution for young women interested in nutrition graduate studies. As a graduate student, Helen Oldham became one of a strong group of women scientists who conducted important human nutrition research under the aegis of home economics at a time when women were not generally welcomed into either biochemistry or medicine. Dr. Roberts was impressed with Helen's background in chemistry and introduced her to Dr. F.W. Schlutz, Head of Pediatrics. Dr. Schlutz hired Helen as a research technician with responsibilities for mineral analysis of biologic materials. While holding a full-time position as a technician in Dr. Schlutz's laboratory, she completed the requirements for the Master's degree in 1936 and the Ph.D. degree in 1939.
TEACHING AND RESEARCH CAREER
Helen was appointed as a Research Associate in Pediatrics and Instructor in Home Economics at the University of Chicago in 1940. Her position was designed as a liaison between the Departments of Pediatrics and Home Economics for purposes of cooperative research. She was promoted to Assistant Professor of Home Economics in 1945 and Associate Professor in 1948. She taught courses in child and infant nutrition and nutritional biochemistry and supervised the research of graduate students. Helen was an outstanding mentor. In a letter supporting Helen's nomination to be made a Fellow of the American Institute of Nutrition, Doris H. Calloway wrote, "Dr. Oldham guided students compassionately but uncompromisingly." A particularly telling example of her uncompromising standards relates to a graduate course she taught in which the top 3 grades were 99, 98, and 97. Only the top 2 of these were assigned an "A" grade with 97 earning a "B." Helen never wavered in her belief that "A" was meant for only the very best. Her standards clearly preceded contemporary concerns about grade inflation.
Helen had 3 research foci during her graduate studies and academic career at Chicago. The meticulous research on infant iron requirements was the basis of her first professional publication (1) and was cited in the 1945 edition of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA). She subsequently conducted a series of studies on B-vitamin requirements of young children (2), pregnant women (3), and younger and older adults (4–6). The publications on B-vitamin requirements have become classics. Several were used in the formulation of early RDA and were cited in the most recent (1998) Dietary Reference Intakes. Perhaps the most seminal of Dr. Oldham's research studies were those on the effect of energy intake on nitrogen utilization during pregnancy (7–9). At a time when obstetricians restricted pregnant women to low energy intakes, Dr. Oldham clearly pointed out the lower limit of energy intake required for adequate utilization of protein during pregnancy. Twenty-five years later this important information found its way into the 1974 RDA. Almost nothing has been added conceptually since the publication of her Chicago study of pregnant women.
When the University of Chicago elected to phase out home economics, Helen continued to lend wise counsel to the course of nutrition at the USDA from 1952 until her retirement in 1965. She served first as Research Nutrition Specialist with the Nutrition and Consumer Use Programs at Beltsville where she was a coordinator of contract research. From 1962 to 1964 with the reorganization of the Division, she was chief of the Biological Evaluation of the Foods Laboratory. During her last year, she was leader of Nutrition Status Investigators. Helen worked closely with research nutritionists all over the country including Ruth Leverton, Marion Swenseid, Hellen Linkswiler, Helen Clarke, and Hans Kaunig. She participated in the design of studies, the laboratory methods employed, interpretation and presentation of the data, and preparation of manuscripts. Policy at this time did not permit the names of Government employees to appear on publications; as a result, many significant contributions were identified with Dr. Oldham only in the memories of the nutritionists with whom she collaborated on problems of both amino acid and lipid utilization.
FOOD MISSION TO GERMANY
In 1945 at the end of World War II, the United States had the responsibility for an assigned zone of operation in Germany. In 1947 the required amount of wheat could not be met to feed the people, and corn had to be substituted. The Commander in Chief of the American Zone informed the Secretary of War for occupied areas that corn was an unacceptable substitute because it was considered by Germans to be an animal food only. Accordingly, to remedy this notion, a Food Mission was set up by the U.S. Army Office of the Quartermaster General to assist the Commander in Chief with emergency food matters. The mission was led by Jane Ebbs, Nutrition Adviser to the Secretary of War, Office of the Quartermaster General; Vera States also from that office acted as Secretary. Dr. Esther Batchelder, Head of the Foods and Nutrition Division of the Bureau of Human Nutrition of USDA and Dr. Helen Oldham of the University of Chicago were appointed members of the Commission.
The immediate task of the Mission was to improve the utilization of corn. Work with the millers was a first priority. The problem of milling was solved when it was discovered that the Bavarian millers were familiar with producing whole corn meal but were following orders that has been issued to them that produced corn flour and inedible bread. The situation was clarified, the order rescinded, and whole corn meal was then produced.
The group enlisted the help of Margot Schubert of Heidelberg, a German newspaper woman and author of a popular garden book, and Professor Dr. Hubertus Strughold, Director of the Physiological Institute of the University of Heidelberg. Frau Schubert tested recipes using whole corn meal and prepared a pamphlet, CORN IS THE PEOPLE'S FOOD. It appeared as a German publication authorized by R. Dietrich, Reichminister, with a preface by Dr. Strughold, and was distributed through German channels.
Another problem that appeared to be of immediate concern to the members of the Mission was the preservation of fruits and vegetables obtained from home gardens. During the war, Miss Batchelder's division of USDA had developed methods for food dehydration in the home. The problem was to adapt these methods to the conditions in Germany. Dr. Strughold provided laboratory space and 2 technicians for the experimental work. Margot Schubert assisted with practical ways to achieve the mission's goal with the very limited equipment available to the German housewife resulting in the booklet, BETTER WINTER STOCKS, NEW WAYS OF PRESERVING VEGETABLES AND FRUITS. It contained explicit directions for the construction of drying racks using available materials, means of providing an even and proper temperature when fuel was in short supply and thermometers were not available, and tables with specific instructions for dehydrating a variety of fruits and vegetables.
In recognition of her work as a member of the Mission and of subsequent efforts in arranging for shipments of lard and dried milk to Heidelberg, as well as much needed clothing, Helen received an illuminated scroll:
"The Coalition of Friends of the Student Body of the University of Heidelberg proclaims Miss Professor Helen Oldham as an Honorary Member. Miss Oldham has earned great respect through her economic promotion of the Heidelberg students. She has collected large amounts of food in the USA and in so doing has contributed substantially to alleviating the distress of the students. Her name will live on in our memory. (Heidelberg, May 1950)"
Helen became a member of American Institute of Nutrition in 1946 and was selected to be a Fellow in 1985. Her own work and the influence she had on the work of others is of lasting nutritional importance. Her interest in nutrition remained strong throughout her long life. Helen died at her home in State College, PA on March 27, 2004. Our lives were enriched by her friendship and mentorship.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We express appreciation to Jane C. Ebbs who provided information for this article.
Manuscript received 19 August 2005.
LITERATURE CITED
1. Oldham HG, Schlutz FW, Morse M. Utilization of organic and inorganic iron by the normal infant. Am J Dis Child. 1937;54:252–64.
2. Oldham HG, Johnston F, Kleiger S, Arismendi HH. A study of the riboflavin and thiamine requirements of children of preschool age. J Nutr. 1944;27:435–46.
3. Oldham HG, Sheft BB, Porter T. Thiamine and riboflavin intakes and excretions during pregnancy. J Nutr. 1950;41:231–46.
4. Oldham HG, Davis MV, Roberts LJ. Thiamine excretions and blood levels of young women on diets containing varying levels of the B vitamins, with some observations on niacin and pantothenic acid. J Nutr. 1946;32:163–80.
5. Oldham HG, Lounds E, Porter T. Riboflavin excretions and test dose returns of young women during periods of positive and negative nitrogen balance. J Nutr. 1947;34:69–80.
6. Oldham HG. Thiamine requirements of women. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1962;98:542–9.[Medline]
7. Oldham H, Sheft BB. Effect of caloric intake on nitrogen utilization during pregnancy. J Am Diet Assoc. 1951;27:847–54.[Medline]
8. Sheft BB, Oldham HG. Amino acid intakes and excretions during pregnancy. J Am Diet Assoc. 1952;28:313–8.[Medline]
9. Oldham HG. Role of calories in protein utilization during pregnancy. Bull. Matern Welfare. 1957;4:10–1.
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