The mystery of the dying dutch: Can micronutrient deficiencies explain the difference between danish and dutch wartime mortality?

From the spring of 1940, both Denmark and the Netherlands were occupied by Nazi Germany for a period of almost exactly five years. During these years, mortality rates in the Netherlands rose significantly, whereas mortality in Denmark was only marginally affected. Since the wartime experience of both countries was in many other respects similar, a comparative investigation into the causes of these different outcomes is an intriguing project. The outcome of that comparison, this chapter argues, is that the most likely cause for the observed difference was the different diet prevailing in each of the two countries. Such a conclusion, of course, can only be arrived at when both a clear biomedical explanation can be given, and when possible alternative explanations can be shown to have had little or no impact. As a consequence, the analysis begins by testing other possible causes of mortality and assessing their limited relevance. Only in the last section will the main explanatory suspect, mild micronutrient deficiency, be brought to the fore.