A medical survey of nutrition in British Guiana (abstract only)

ABSTRACT

The survey was commenced in January, 1958 and continued in the months of February and March. It was limited to the members of labouring class families in the rural areas of Demerara and Essequibo. Over 2,00 individuals of all age-groups were examined. Random samples of adults, adolescents, school children, pre-schools, young children and infants were medically examined to ascertain and determine the usual clinical signs diagnostic of malnutrition. The most frequent observable signs were pigmentation of the conjunctivae, xerosis conjunctivae (almost exclusively in adults), atrophy and fissuring of the mucous membrane of the tongue, xerosis and loss of elasticity of the skin (mainly of the back of the legs), and follicular keratosis of the skin. There was a total absence of these signs in all of the infants examined. Clinical signs of rickets were recognised in only one young child examined. The dentition of over 00 school children was charted. A fairly high incidence of dental caries was revealed as estimated by the caries figure. A remarkable improvement in the health of elementary school children was revealed from comparative studies with the findings of similar surveys conducted by the author in 1950, 1951 and 1952. The improvement is to be largely attributed to the beneficial effects of the distribution of a nutritious snack meal comprised of skimmed milk, food yeast enriched biscuits, and fish-liver oil capsules. The programme was introduce in the latter part of 1954. Dietary studies of approximately 350 families were conducted. The food consumption of each family for a period of one week was studied. All foods were weighed and measured by specially trained health visitors who visited the homes each day. Assessment of the daily per capita dietary nutrients revealed a deficiency of vitamin A and the B-vitamins which is to be correlated with the most outstanding clinical defects discovered (AU)