Inadequacies of a polished rice and fish diet and recommendations for its improvement in the Philippines

1. Rice constitutes the chief staple food of the Philippines. Several varieties of rice are consumed by the Filipinos. Studies by other workers have shown that the actual compositon of these varieties do not differ very much, but the methods of treatment cause considerable alteration in their composition. Biologically, several systems of classification have been proposed by several workers2. Polished rice is to a great extent used in the Philippines. Dietetically, several reasons are advanced to show the defects of polished rice3. The addition of fish to polished rice undoubtedly improves the protein, the fat, and to a slight extent, the fat soluble vitamin content: yet the minerals, especially calcium and water soluble vitamins, particularly vitamin B are still deficient4. In supplementing a diet consisting of polished rice and fish, one has to take into consideration the social and economic conditions of the masses. The question of supply and distribution of food of right quality but cheaper in price should be considered also5. Suggestions for getting the people to supplement a diet consisting of polished rice and fish are (a) encouragement in the use of green leafy and yellow colored vegetables and fruits to supply the deficiency of vitamin A, B, calcium and iron; (b) promoting the use of pork and glandular organs to supply the deficiency of animal fat and vitamin B1 and minerals, especially iron; (c) encouraging the use of eggs whenever possible in order to supplement the low biologic value of rice protein and to furnish vitamin A, iron and phosphorus; (d) discouraging the use of white polished rice and recommending the use of under-milled rice or hand-pounded rice instead; (e) popularizing the use of mongo beans, soy-beans, and bean products as cheap sources of proteins; (f) explaining the advantage of fresh Philippine vegetables and fruits which are found rich in vitamin C. The feasibility of using powdered skimmed milk as a supplement to the diet of growing Filipino children, pregnant and lactating mothers, should be studied. Caution is surely needed here, since the handling of powdered milk in a totally sanitary manner is difficult. (Summary)

A biochemical evaluation of the UNICEF School lunch program given to malnourished children of San Andres Elementary School

An evaluation of the UNICEF School Feeding Program by microchemical methods was made on about 200 selected school children. One-half served as control and the other half received school lunch for one school year which consisted of one-third the daily carolie allowance recommended by the National Research Council of the PhilippinesThe mean hemoglobin level and serum protein are within the normal range. A significant increase in hemoglobin and a slight rise in serum protein may be attributed to the de-worming of the children, the consumption of undermilled rice, milk and in general to a more balanced school lunch of the childrenResults from the control group showed that in this study the greatest deficiency appeared to be in Vitamin A and carotene. The school lunch given during the feeding program did not improve on the vitamin A levels of the subjects. There is apparently a great need for whole milk and more leafy, green and yellow vegetables in the diet of these childrenThe findings showed that vitamin c is within a satisfactory ranged. It would seen that the vitamin C derived from the limited intake of fruits and vegetables in the childrens diet is enough to give a good blood serum levels of vitamin C or that the children had fruits in between meals which were not recordedThe low consumption of milk is reflected clearly in the low urinary riboflavin excretion of the control. Striking results were obtained from the subjects receiving one glass of milk on school days. A corresponding high value in serum riboflavin was noted among the subjectsAlthough a better thiamine level of excretion was obtained in comparison with urinary riboflavin, the fact still remains that more than one-third of the children failed to reach at least the "critical" level of urinary thiamine. The school lunch program which provided undermilled rice gave a 10 percent improvement in urinary excretion for thiamine. (Summary)

Studies on the thiamine content of rice, vegetables and other foods in Bataan Province

Studies on the thiamine content of rice, vegetables, and other foods from animal sources in Bataan Province were made. Effects of washing on rice thiamine and of cooking on thiamine values of vegetables were investigated. The data obtained from these studies correlated with the dietary practices of rice-eaters in Bataan Province may explain why beriberi was prevalent in Bataan previous to the introduction of artificially enriched rice. (Summary)

Studies on vitamin C, III: The blood ascorbic acid content in pregnancy and lactation

The ascorbic acid content of blood in 109 pregnant Filipino women and forty-four lactating mothers was determined, using the Pijoan and Eddy method. Our results may be summarized as follows: 1. There is a tendency for the ascorbic acid content of blood plasma to diminish as pregnancy advances, although this tendency is not consistent throughout the course of pregnancy2. The ascorbic acid content of the corpuscles does not diminish as pregnancy advances, as observed by other authors3. The figures we obtained in both plasma and corpuscles at the time of delivery are very much higher than the figures reported so far by other authors either in Europe or in America, except those found by Meulemans and De Haas among the natives of Batavia and the Chinese residents of Java4. The ascorbic acid content of both plasma and corpuscles during the first seven days of puerperium is very much higher than that reported of Ingalss, et al. A possible explanation for this discrepancy in the two findings has been offered5. In view of the fact that there is a tendency for the ascorbic acid content of blood to decrease during pregnancy and lactation it is recommended that mothers of breast-fed infants should receive an adequate diet containing plenty of vitamin C in the form of fruits and fresh vegetables, e.g., papaya, orange juice, guava, tomato, malungay, and kale. (Summary and recommendations)

Hematologic studies of Filipino children, I: hemoglobin estimation by the iron method

The blood iron content of 156 boys and 100 girls was determined, using Duprays method, and from this the hemoglobin content was calculatedThe mean iron content found in 156 boys was 44.77 + 0.08776 mg. per 100 cc., with a standard deviation of 1.625 and a coefficient of variation of 3.629. This is equivalent to 13.35 + 0.02498 gm. in terms of hemoglobin per 100 cc., with a standard deviation of 0.4626 and a coefficient of variation of 3.465. The mean iron found for 100 girls was 44.65 + 0.12701 mg. per 100 cc., with a standard deviation of 1.883 and a coefficient of variation of 4.217. This is equivalent to 13.31 + 0.03484 gm. hemoglobin per 100 cc., with a standard deviation of 0.5166 and a coefficient of variation of 4.345We did not find any correlation between age and hemoglobin content in this series nor in the series reported by Osgood and Baker. We found also that sex has no influence at all on the hemoglobin content. This is quite in agreement with the conclusion of Mengrave and Andersen and also with that of Winocur. Neither has underweight any effect on the hemoglobin content. The same conclusion has been reached by WinocurIn comparing the results obtained with the iron method with those obtained with the Talquist method, we found that the figures are very close to each other provided that the sample is taken from the vein.(Summary and Conclusions)