A comparative study of the diets, and results of some blood analyses, of children living in different environments in Jogjakarta (Central Java)

Abstract

The majority of the people living in the Jogjakarta area (Central Java) suffer from a type of chronic malnutrition which generally does not interfere with their ability to perform heavy labour. Studies of the eye changes in this type of chronic malnutrition have led to a comparative study of the diets and blood chemistry of children living in different economic environments. The chemical values can only be considered within certain limits as reliable in the appraisal of the nutritional status, owing to the possible presence of chronic infectious diseases such as malaria and intestinal worms, yet it seemed useful to carry out this comparative study in order to obtain a 'normal' local pattern. The investigation comprises (a) a study of the food intake of groups of children living in different economic environments, and (b) the determination of the concentration of serum albumin and globulin, and the levels of haemoglobin, vitamin A, carotene and calcium in the blood. EXPERIMENTALSubjects. The boys and girls who were the subjects of this study were drawn from three groups: (I) twenty-five doctors' children, aged 6-17 years (mean 1 2 years); (2) thirty-three children living in an orphanage (not all orphans), aged 6-18 years (mean 14 years); (3) twenty-one children, aged 6-18 years (mean 13 years) living in a poor subdistrict of Jogjakarta, where the people show obvious stigmata of malnutrition. All children were of Indonesian origin.Diet. The staple food of all the children was rice, the doctors' and the orphanage children having about 350 and the poor-area children about 175 g daily. The customary diet of the doctors' children included legumes, nuts, soya-bean products, https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi