Nutrition Resurvey in Bataan, Philippines, 1950

Abstract

A nutrition resurvey by microchemical methods and a dietary and clinical study have been made in Bataan on 200 persons. Sixty-four per cent of these were examined in both 1948 and 1950. Results of chemical analyses of blood and urine in 1948 and 1950 are informative concerning the effects of current intake of certain of the vitamins and minerals. The marked increases in blood and urinary thiamine and in hemoglobin indicate a major change in the intake of thiamine and iron in the diet. These increases are mainly attributable to the consumption of enriched rice, since its introduction constituted the only major dietary change in this isolated agricultural peninsula where the pattern of food intake was well established. Indirectly, the finding of undesirably low urinary riboflavin in 1950 contributes to the evidence that the increases in thiamine levels were due to rice enrichment, since riboflavin and thiamine often occur together in foods. The findings point toward the need for the further enrichment of rice by adding riboflavin. The findings revealed no significant change in the low concentration of vitamin C in serum. This would indicate that consumption of foods rich in vitamin C, such as leafy vegetables, tomatoes and citrus fruits, had not changed. Likewise the serum carotene values remained low, a finding attributable also to the continued low intake of vegetables and fruits The serum vitamin A and protein remained in a satisfactory range. The results of the dietary study are for the most part in accord with the chemical findings. They also point toward satisfactory intakes of thiamine and iron and toward lack of ascorbic acid and riboflavin. In addition, they reveal a critical lack of calcium. The chemical findings on changes in thiamine levels and in hemoglobin concur with the clinical reports on the improvement in health of the people following the inauguration of the enriched rice program in Bataan.