Daily intakes of tea and coffee of a representative sample of adult New Zealanders (865 men and 1100 women) were calculated from 24-h dietary recalls. The mineral concentrations in tea and coffee samples were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry and used to estimate daily mineral intakes from these beverages. More than 80% consumed tea and about 60% consumed coffee on the day of the recall. The men drank significantly more tea than the women (p less than 0.001), but coffee intakes were similar. The results indicate that for New Zealand adults tea is a very good source of manganese and it also contains appreciable amounts of potassium. Coffee is a better source of potassium than tea, has appreciable amounts of magnesium, and may contribute significantly to manganese intakes in some instances. The amounts of copper, zinc, sodium, calcium, and iron extracted from tea leaves and coffee beans in the brewing processes are too low to be of any nutritional significance but minerals in the water used in their preparation may make a significant contribution to dietary intakes.

SUMMARY Serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol levels were measured longitudinally in a series of breast-feeding mothers and their healthy, term infants for up to 6 months after birth. Although levels both in mothers and infants were lower at 6 weeks' postpartum than at delivery and in cord blood, there was little change thereafter with unsupplemented breast feeding.

The stature of 987 representative Dunedin 7 year olds was measured and some factors contributing to stature were studied in 666 children for whom complete data were available. Dunedin children were of similar stature to American children but were about 1 cm taller than British children. Socio-economic stature (SES), birth weight and maternal stature were significantly correlated with stature, while the sex of the child, gestational age, maternal age, ordinal position of the child in the family and number of children in the family were not significantly correlated. The effect of SES in Dunedin was much less than that reported for the United Kingdom. It was concluded that in this population SES and family structural factors are probably less important as determinants of child growth than they are in Britain and are of considerably less importance than the mother's stature and the child's birth weight

Height, weight, height velocity and skeletal maturity information was collected on a group of 94 juvenile diabetics in a mixed longitudinal study, and compared to a control population. Familial growth trends were taken into consideration where possible. Although the hormonal environment in the juvenile diabetic is probably unusual and fluctuating, there is no evidence that juvenile diabetes is likely to interfere with growth provided that a reasonable degree of control is maintained.