METABOLISM OF UNDERNOURISHED CHILDREN

Abstract

In the earlier papers of this series, the gain in weight while under care in the hospital,¹ the basal metabolism,² and the output of certain urinary constituents³ of a group of undernourished children compared with that of a group of vigorous normal children were discussed. In the present paper, data concerning the calcium metabolism of ten normal and fifty undernourished children will be presented. While the literature abounds with studies of the calcium metabolism of infants and its relation to the phosphorus and vitamin contents of the diet, little work has been reported on the calcium metabolism of undernourished children. In their study of calcium and phosphorus metabolism in childhood, Sherman and Hawley⁴ summarized their own and the results of other investigators in a table which shows the average calcium retention of normal children to be 0.055 Gm. of calcium oxide per kilogram at the age