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Stunting affects 16% of children under 5 years old, in Latin America. This is a cumulative effect of poor diets and repeated episodes of infectious diseases. Our aim was to analyze the impact of nutrition programs oriented to increase food availability at the family level on the growth of under fives in Latin America. We included all evaluated and published interventions on food availability. An electronic and manual search of papers published between 1995-2005 in PUBMED, LILACS, SCIELO and international organizations, was performed. Three type of programs were identified: Conditioned Economical Transference Programs (CETP) (n= ), Complementary Feeding Programs (CFP) (n= ), and Food Security Programs (FSP) (n=). Operational deficiencies were reported, some of them being participants attrition, non acceptance of the food supplement or its dilution among other members of the family. Beneficiaries of CETP (<36 months) gained up to 1 cm while the CFP registered impact but only in the low socioeconomic children. Conversely, the (FSP) did not show the expected effects on growth. This reduced impact is understandable because in order to permit the development of the children's growth potential interventions should be directed to strike on poverty as the main mechanism of the children's hampered growth. Hence, the best results are obtained by coordinated programs that combat poverty optimizing the intervention's continuity and management and give priority to the most vulnerable groups.

Many recent papers show the important role of bioactive phytochemicals to maintain a good health status. Among them the carotenoids are the best known. About 637 have been described and possibly 70 of them could have an important role in human health, 16 have been found in human brain in high amounts. Most of the studies have found relations between the carotenoids and chronic non-communicable diseases like several types of cancer, atherogenic disease and some degenerative pathology of the eye. This relation is mediated by genes and age. Studies of carotenoids are of scientific and economic interest for Latin America as many tropical products are high sources of these compounds. Therefore the first task is to analyze them and iniciate some evaluation on its metabolic availability. A coordinated regional work is proposed, in which 40 or 50 fruits and vegetables are analyzed in terms of the seven carotenoids most related to human health. At the same time it will be important to start epidemiological studies that will compare groups with different levels of consumption of fruits and vegetables and make chronic disease risk analysis. In some countries of the Latin American region, with the support of FAO and INFOODS, some courses and meetings are taking place so that in a short time period the carotenoid composition of the important regional foods will be completed and a carotenoid regional food composition table be published.

Governments in Latin American countries invest large amounts of resources in school feeding programmes, part of educational and social strategies to reach highly vulnerable group within the respective societies. We analysed the criteria used in selecting the beneficiaries of these programmes, the food distributed, management structures and lessons that have been learned from these processes. Differences found among development strategies in each country were also considered. At present, these strategies are centred on the efficient use of resources, focusing interventions on the neediest groups, and leaving aside the idea of universal benefits. In general, countries provide most types of food, such as breakfast lunch, snacks or just a glass of milk, free of charge. Recipients receive up to 1.000 calories and 30 g of selected protein per day. About execution; Latin American States have generally abandoned the integral management of these programmes, a former characteristic that included the purchasing of or production, reparation and delivery of specific food stuffs. Instead, the respective States have only maintained the organisational functions of planning and control of priority actions whilst the private sector has progressively taken an active part in developing strategies. Community participation is restricted to a minimum. We expect that this paper will be taken into consideration by those who bear the responsibility of formulating, executing and evaluating nutritional interventions directed at schoolchildren in selected Latin American regions.

Post-harvest problems are important constraints to the expansion of production of food in many Latin American countries. Besides problems of bulkiness, perishability and seasonal production patterns, the necessity of reducing transportation costs, increasing rural employment, and finding new markets for processed products, requires the development of processing technologies. Possible processed products include a vast range of alternatives. Given limited time and resources, it is not always feasible to carry out detailed studies. Hence a practical, low-cost methodology is needed to evaluate the available options. This paper presents a series of methods to evaluate different processing possibilities. It describes in detail each method including a rapid initial assessment, market and consumer research, farm-oriented research, costs and returns analysis and finally, some marketing and promotion strategies.

This paper analyzes the methodology proposed by FAO/WHO/UNU 1985 to determine energy requirements and recommendations for population groups. The physiological basis for individual requirements and the components to estimate the energy expenditure of population groups, are presented. This new approach requires a detailed knowledge of the distribution of the population by sex, age and level of physical activity. In the absence of physical activity data the distribution by employment category may be used. Our study suggests characterizing the population through the use of biotypes, according to sex, age and level of physical activity. This new approach also requires the knowledge of weight and height of a representative sample of the population. The planner should also consider a desirable level of physical activity for the population, and decide if the energy recommendation should optimize the weight and height of individuals to promote improved physical well being and health status. The application of this approach to a specific country in Latin America revealed that the available data are insufficient for an adequate estimation of energy needs of the population. Nevertheless, results suggest that the energy gaps for urban sedentary groups are less than those calculated using the traditional FAO/WHO 1973 reference pattern. The energy needs of the countries in the Region will increase as the infant population improves physical development more in accordance with the full expression of their genetic endowment. Further increases in energy needs are estimated as the general population increases the level of discretionary physical activity.

The list of vitamins recognized as essential in human nutrition is extensive. Only some of them, however, are attributed an important role in public health. The present paper deals with three of these selected because their deficiencies still prevail in important sectors of population in the Latin American Region: vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin D. For each vitamin the paper discusses the scientific bases for their requirements, as well as pragmatic considerations to be taken into account for the derivation of recommended dietary intakes. Reference is made to the logic of applying the concepts of nutrient density when developing guidelines for the design of diets for the family and the community. Adequate nutrient density means that when a diet is consumed in sufficient amounts to satisfy energy requirements, the needs for essential nutrients are also being met. For the above reasons, the principle of expressing the recommended levels of intake of vitamin A and C per 1,000 kilocalories has been followed. This is not the case with vitamin D which, in view of its special feature of being synthesized endogenously, is not really a vitamin in the strict sense of the term and, therefore, a rational and consistent relationship with the energy of the diet cannot be established.

The thrust of this paper is an analysis of the environmental and sociocultural parameters affecting dietary patterns in Third World countries. The author utilizes data from several studies to emphasize her thesis that malnutrition in developing societies is not an entity caused simply by income constraints, or food availability, but rather that malnutrition constitutes a critical entity resulting from a constellation of problems, ranging from environmental stresses, to social inequities to cultural factors. Special discussion is given to the variables of income distribution, social stratification and food beliefs as major contributing influences of malnutrition in Third World countries. The problems facing newly migrating urban squatters--or what is known as "societies in transition" in the context of high unemployment and new demands for food--are also dealt with in the Latin American setting. The author discusses the importance to recognize that since the etiology of malnutrition is ecologically-based; therefore, the approaches to solve this problem should--also by definition--be of an ecological nature. The need to further develop meaningful conceptual models--in contrast to utilizing "imported" ones--in order to study and understand the nature and magnitude of malnutrition problems in Third World countries is also stressed.