从大约1850年到1980年，英国的标准疗法是，对于任何无法通过热毛巾治愈的儿童疾病，都会服用一茶匙鳕鱼肝油。

在许多家庭中，这种油每天都会被服用。由那些负担不起医生费用、遵循远早于NHS的民间传统的母亲们服用。从1942年起，由英国政府免费提供给国内每位五岁以下儿童和每位孕妇，直至战时配给结束，并一直持续到20世纪70年代。

每茶匙油含有大约5000 IU维生素A、400 IU维生素D，以及显著剂量的EPA和DHA。这些正是现代补充剂行业如今以胶囊形式高价卖回给民众的相同的欧米伽-3脂肪酸。

1955年的英国儿童，每天服用一茶匙鳕鱼肝油，将拥有：

- 大约是2026年英国儿童维生素D摄入量的十倍。- 大约是2026年英国儿童维生素A摄入量的五倍。- 以人体实际可利用形式提供的可测量剂量的长链欧米伽-3。- 牙齿、骨骼和免疫系统发育所需的可溶性维生素的充足供应。

2026年的英国儿童拥有：

- 一种强化早餐谷物，含有生物利用率存疑的合成维生素D2。- 如果父母被告知的话，一种维生素D补充剂。- 在大约1/4的成年病例中，医疗机构分类为特发性的自身免疫状况。

鳕鱼肝油于1971年被爱德华·希思政府以成本为由撤回。

如今，这种自身免疫状况平均需要对每位受影响个体进行多种药物干预，NHS的年度成本高达数十亿英镑。

迄今为止，原先决定的成本效益分析尚未公布。

From approximately 1850 to 1980, the standard British remedy for any childhood ailment that could not be cured by a hot flannel was a teaspoon of cod liver oil.

The oil was administered, in many households, daily. By mothers who could not afford a doctor and were operating on a folk tradition that long predated the NHS. By the British government from 1942, which issued cod liver oil free to every child under five and every pregnant woman in the country for the duration of wartime rationing and well into the 1970s.

The oil contained, per teaspoon, around 5,000 IU of vitamin A, 400 IU of vitamin D, and a significant dose of EPA and DHA. The same omega-3 fats the modern supplement industry now sells back to the population in capsule form for considerable money.

The British child of 1955, given a daily teaspoon of cod liver oil, had:

- Roughly ten times the vitamin D intake of the British child of 2026.- Roughly five times the vitamin A intake of the British child of 2026.- A measurable dose of long-chain omega-3 in the form the body actually uses.- A healthy supply of the fat-soluble vitamins required for the development of teeth, bones, and the immune system.

The British child of 2026 has:

- A fortified breakfast cereal containing synthetic vitamin D2 of debatable bioavailability.- A vitamin D supplement, if the parents have been told about it.- An autoimmune profile, in roughly 1 in 4 cases by adulthood, that the medical establishmentifies as idiopathic.

The cod liver oil was withdrawn by Edward Heath's government in 1971, on grounds of cost.

The autoimmune profile is now managed, on average, with multiple pharmaceutical interventions per affected individual, at an NHS cost running into billions annually.

The cost-benefit analysis on the original decision has, to date, not been published.