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

ABSTRACT

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)