George Henderson, a 20th-century English farmer and author on agriculture, described mangel beets as one of the best fodders for dairying, as milk production is maximized.

[7] The mangelwurzel has a history in England of being used for sport ("mangold hurling"),[8] for celebration, for animal fodder, and for the brewing of a potent alcoholic beverage.

During the Irish Famine (1845–1852), Poor Law Guardians in Galway City leased (on a 999-year-lease) an eight-hectare (twenty-acre) former nunnery to house 1,000 orphaned or deserted boys ages from five to about 15.

On a two-hectare (five-acre) plot, they grew potatoes, cabbage, parsnips, carrots, onions, Swedish turnips, and "mangold wurtzel", both for workhouse consumption and for a cash crop.

Veterinarians used to believe that the plant contains too much oxalate for cattle to eat, but farmers found out that very high amounts of grazed manglewurzel killed only a very small portion of cows, with the rest thriving.

The food shortages in Europe after World War I caused great hardships, including cases of mangel-wurzel disease, as relief workers called it.

In an early article in The Lancet, Thompson A and Minx M cite Mangelwurzel seeds as an effective relief for constipation when taken per anum (through the anus) after scoring the husk.