Protein alternatives to meat for vegetarians

More and more people are being converted to vegetarianism. Sometimes this involves not only removing meat from their diet, but also all other reap benefits promoted for following vegetarian diets. Meat, however plays a prominent role in providing nutritional sufficiency in the present Caribbean diet, so eliminating it from the diet could affect the intake of iron, B vitamins and protein

Biological evaluation of protein quality of sorghum as affected by insect infestation

Protein quality of sorghum grains having 25, 50 and 75 percent infestation caused by mixed population of Trogoderma granarium Everts and Rhizopertha dominica Fabricius was biologically evaluated by rat growth and nitrogen balance studies. Feeding of diet containing insect infested sorghum grains (50 and 75 percent) resulted in marked decrease in food intake, protein intake, gain in body weight, food efficiency ratio, protein efficiency ratio, nitrogen consumption, nitrogen absorption, biological value, net protein utilization, dry matter digestibility, net protein retention and protein retention efficiency. These parameters showed negative association with insect infestation levels. However, 25 percent level of grain infestation did not affect these parameters significantly (AU)

Characteristics of a rural area community mental health programme County Caroni

The paper describes characteristics and trends in a rural area Community Mental Health programme. Research done by the mental health team supports some of the previously held notions on alcoholism and dispels some myths about parasuicide and suicide. Education at all levels continues to be an important preventative measure in the fight against drug abuse. The effort to set up an Alcohol and Referral Center is partly thwarted by poor community resources. The mental health team has had to enlist the support of service organisations in their educationl programmes. More work needs to be done in the area of psychogeriatrics, rehabilitation and family life. The need for closer links between governmental agencies and the community is emphasized. (AU)

Plasma zinc, rate of weight gain, and the energy cost of tissue deposition in children recovering from severe malnutrition on a cow's milk or soya protein based diet

Thirty-four malnourished children were rehabilitated on either a cow's milk or a soya protein based formula diet. The soya diet contained 25 percent less zinc than the cow's milk diet and 1.33 mmol/1 phytic acid. When the marasmic children were given either of these diets they had a dramatic fall in their plasma zinc concentration. Children given the soya formula had an even more profound drop in plasma zinc, to levels associated with acrodermatitis enteropathica. Plasma zinc remained low throughout the phase of rapid weight gain, but rose when a mixed diet was given and the children ceased gaining weight. There was a negative correlation between the rate of weight gain and the plasma zinc concentration, the rate of new tissue synthesis being the predominant modulator of the plasma zinc concentration. The energy cost of tissue deposition was initially low on the cow's milk diet and relatively high on the soya diet. Later, the energy costs rose in the cow's milk fed children. The rate of weight gain was less on the soya diet; however, the appetite, as measured by the ad libitum dietary intakes, did not differ between the diets, or correlate with the plasma zinc concentration. This may due to the relatively low protein content of the diets used. It is concluded that dietary zinc may limit the rate of weight gain during periods of recovery in body mass and may be a cause for the excessive deposition of adipose tissue. (AU)

The absorption and retention of nitrogen from leaf protein by infants recovering from malnutrition

Nitrogen balance studies were made on ten Jamaican infants who were recovering from malnutrition but were still seriously underweight. Three diets were used: (A) mixtures of leaf-protein concentrates and milk, providing daily 3-5 g protein/kg body-weight, in which one-half to one-third of the N was derived from the leaf protein; (B) a milk diet of equal protein content; (C) an unsupplemented milk diet providing daily 0.9-1.6 g protein/kg. The mean gains in weight of the babies on leaf protein-milk mixtures were as good as those of babies on milk equal protein levels. There was evidence that N from leaf protein was less well absorbed than that from milk; there was no significant difference in retention of N from the two sources. The results suggest that leaf protein could act as a valuable supplement to marginal intakes of milk. The errors involved in balance studies of this kind are discussed.(AU)