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Background: Lysine affects diarrhea and anxiety via effects on serotonin receptors, enhanced intestinal repair, and sodium chloride-dependent opioid peptide transport. Objective: The objective was to investigate the effects of lysine supplementation on morbidity, growth, and anxiety in children and adults of peri-urban areas of Accra, Ghana. Design: In a double-blind randomized trial, the effect of lysine supplementation (1 g lysine/d) compared with that of placebo was examined in 2 groups of men, women, and children (n = 271). Primary outcomes included diarrheal and respiratory morbidity, growth, and anxiety and complement C3, C-reactive protein, serum cortisol, transferrin, and ferritin values. Independent-sample t tests, odds ratios, generalized estimating equations, 4-parameter sinusoid regression, and generalized linear models were used. Results: Thirty percent of men, 50% of women, and 15% of children were at risk of lysine inadequacy. Supplementation in children reduced diarrheal episodes [19 lysine, 35 placebo; odds ratio (OR): 0.52; 95% CI: 0.29, 0.92; P = 0.046] and the total number of days ill (21 lysine, 47 placebo; OR: 0.44; 95% CI: 0.26, 0.74; P = 0.034). Mean days ill per child per week (0.058 [+ or -] 0.039 lysine, 0.132 [+ or -] 0.063 placebo; P = 0.017) were negatively associated with weight gain with control for baseline weight and study group (P = 0.04). Men had fewer coryza episodes (23 lysine, 39 placebo; OR: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.36, 1.01; P = 0.05), total number of days ill (lysine: 130; placebo: 266; OR: 0.51; 95% CI: 0.28, 0.93; P = 0.03), and mean days ill per person per week (lysine: 0.21 [+ or -] 0.23; placebo: 0.41 [+ or -] 0.35; P = 0.04). Serum ferritin (P = 0.045) and C-reactive protein (P = 0.018) decreased in lysine-supplemented women but increased in placebo-supplemented women. Conclusion: Lysine supplementation reduced diarrheal morbidity in children and respiratory morbidity in men in Ghana. Am J Clin Nutr 2010;92:928-39. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2009.28834.

Infections, no matter how mild, have adverse effects on nutritional status. The significance of these effects depends on the previous nutritional status of the individual, the nature and duration of the infection, and the diet during the recovery period. Conversely, almost any nutrient deficiency, if sufficiently severe, will impair resistance to infection. Iron deficiency and protein-energy malnutrition, both highly prevalent, have the greatest public health importance in this regard. Remarkable advances in immunology of recent decades have increased insights into the mechanisms responsible for the effects of infection. These include impaired antibody formation; loss of delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity; reduced immunoglobulin concentrations; decreased thymic and splenic lymphocytes; reduced complement formation, secretory immunoglobulin A, and interferon; and lower T cells and T cell subsets (helper, suppressor-cytotoxic, and natural killer cells) and interleukin 2 receptors. The effects observed with single or multiple nutrient deficiencies are due to some combination of these responses. In general, cell-mediated and nonspecific immunity are more sensitive than humoral immunity. Am J Clin Nutr 1997;66:464S-77S.

A 1983 conference organized by United Nations University proposed an international network of food data systems (INFOODS) to address the need for and limitations of food-composition databases. Concerns of INFOODS include the acquisition and interchange of quality data on the nutrient composition of foods; the development of standards and guidelines for the collection, compilation, and reporting of food-component information; and support of a worldwide network of regional data centers for the generation, compilation, and dissemination of information on food composition. One goal of these centers is to assist in the development of appropriate national databases, especially in developing countries. Much has been accomplished by INFOODS, despite limited resources. Several important documents on food composition have been published, an international journal of food composition has been established, a directory of existing food-composition databases has been compiled, specific recommendations for the construction and use of food-composition databases have been developed. and a system of food nomenclature and coding has been created. Regional food-composition databases have been established throughout the world, with the goal of creating computerized systems that permit easy availability and interchange of food-composition data between regions and countries. In 1993 the Food and Agriculture Organization renewed its interest in the food-analysis capability of developing countries by becoming involved in INFOODS efforts.

ABSTRACTThe voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.8 mediates the tetrodotoxin-resistant (TTX-R) Na+current in nociceptive primary sensory neurons, which has an important role in the transmission of painful stimuli. Here, we describe the functional modulation of the human Nav1.8 α-subunit in Xenopusoocytes by auxiliary β subunits. We found that the β3 subunit down-regulated the maximal Na+current amplitude and decelerated recovery from inactivation of hNav1.8, whereas the β1 and β2 subunits had no such effects. The specific regulation of Nav1.8 by the β3 subunit constitutes a potential novel regulatory mechanism of the TTX-R Na+current in primary sensory neurons with potential implications in chronic pain states. In particular, neuropathic pain states are characterized by a down-regulation of Nav1.8 accompanied by increased expression of the β3 subunit. Our results suggest that these two phenomena may be correlated, and that increased levels of the β3 subunit may directly contribute to the down-regulation of Nav1.8. To determine which domain of the β3 subunit is responsible for the specific regulation of hNav1.8, we created chimeras of the β1 and β3 subunits and co-expressed them with the hNav1.8 α-subunit in Xenopusoocytes. The intracellular domain of the β3 subunit was shown to be responsible for the down-regulation of maximal Nav1.8 current amplitudes. In contrast, the extracellular domain mediated the effect of the β3 subunit on hNav1.8 recovery kinetics.

Twenty-five lactose-maldigesting and lactose-intolerant African Americans, ranging in age from 13 to 39 y, were given gradually increasing amounts of lactose in milk over a period of time until the maximum lactose dose tolerated was determined. Seventeen (77%) of the 22 subjects who completed the study tolerated [greater than or equal to] 12 g lactose and 5 (23%) tolerated < 12 g. Breath-hydrogen tests done on each subject with the maximum dose of lactose tolerated showed that only four (18%) had a breath-hydrogen concentration < 5 ppm above fasting concentration. This study suggests that the majority of African-American young adults who claim intolerance to moderate amounts of milk can ultimately adapt and tolerate [greater than or equal to]12 g lactose in milk (the equivalent of 8 oz of full-lactose milk) with minimal or no discomfort if milk is ingested in gradually increasing amounts. The mechanism of adaptation is assumed to be an increased tolerance to colonic lactose-fermentation products. Am J Clin Nutr 1993;58:819-81.

Lactose digestion and tolerance were evaluated in 164 African Americans ranging in age from 12 to 40 y who claimed intolerance to one cup (240 mL) or less of milk. With use of a breath-hydrogen test with 25 g lactose as test dose and the presence or absence of symptoms, 50% of the subjects were classified as lactose maldigesters and intolerant, 8% were maldigesters but tolerant, 15% were digesters but intolerant, and 27% were digesters and tolerant. Forty-five subjects from the lactose maldigesting and intolerant group were further tested for milk intolerance in a double-blind study. Sixty-seven percent of the subjects reacted appropriately to the presence or absence of lactose in ingested milk whereas 33% reported symptoms to both low-lactose milk and milk containing lactose. The results suggest that the cause of milk intolerance in as many as one-third of African Americans claiming symptoms after ingestion of a moderate amount of milk cannot be its lactose content.

Presents a speech by Nevin S. Scrimshaw, the Institute Professor Emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Director of Food, Nutrition, Human and Social Development Program at the United Nations University at Tokyo, delivered in Des Moines, Iowa upon being awarded the World Food Prize on October 14, 1991 from the US Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., on October 16, 1991. The impact of hunger on individuals and societies; The solution to hunger; Basic human rights; Undernourished children.

Focuses on iron deficiency. Causes; Symptoms; Prevalence in developing countries; Association of iron deficiency with the often irreversible impairment of a child's learning abilities and other behavioral abnormalities; Possibilities for low cost interventions; Lack of an effective system for diagnosing the deficiency; Multiple functional consequences of iron deficiency.

The article discusses how the interaction of environmental, dietary and physiological factors interact to set nutritional needs of individuals and population. They complexity of such interaction renders recommended energy intake and nutrient allowances statistical approximations, yet they remain essential as guides for designing and evaluating diets for individuals and populations. The three major dietary factors influencing nutrient requirements are: the form of the nutrient in food, the presence or absence of other nutrients that affect utilization and bacteria in the large intestine.

Focuses on how the human body adapt to prolonged starvation. Complications that can be experienced by obese persons in undergoing total-fasting treatments; Discussion on how the body can mobilize its inner resources for survival in the absence of food intake; Condition in which ketones is accumulated in the blood during starvation.

The article discusses the influence of science and technology in coping up problems relating to food production. As stated in the article, underdeveloped countries which experienced food shortage transformed and allocated more land for cultivation and hired more people to work on it. But unfortunately, this idea turned out unsuccessful because cultivating the soil can quickly deplete the value of the soil.

By World Bank estimates, at least 800 million persons in developing countries have a diet so limited they do not have the energy for routine physical activities. The World Health […]

David Barker's group has greatly increased our understanding of the factors contributing to chronic diseases in later life. In over 50 papers [1] the group has presented evidence from British [...]

The high prevalence of goiter among adults in its member countries of Central America and Panama was observed as soon as INCAP began field studies. This led to systematic studies of goiter in schoolchildren in all of the countries as described, beginning with Guatemala where the rate was 38% nationally.However, efforts to eliminate the consequences of iodine with iodized salt using the water soluble potassium iodate and a process that had proved successful in Switzerland and the United States could not be used with the crude moist salt of the region. INCAP identified potassium iodate that is insoluble in water, and in four schools (two each in El Salvador and Guatemala) proved that the iodine in this compound was as available as that in potassium iodate. It remained evenly distributed in moist salt.When added to salt in Guatemala, goiter rate dropped to 15% in four years and less than 5% in eight years. Compulsory iodation of salt in other developing countries followed with comparable results. This method is now used in worldwide campaigns against iodine deficiency in developing countries.

This paper reviews the findings of early field studies of INCAP comparing the effects of vitamin B12and animal and vegetable protein on the growth of poorly nourished schoolchildren. It also describes a 5-year community-based intervention study showing that a protein-rich supplement given to preschool children improves growth and cognition and decreases morbidity and mortality. Medical care in one village had no detectable benefits. A classical seven-year community-based detailed observational study of the infection status and growth in children from birth is also summarized.

This article summarizes thirty years of intensive clinical metabolic and therapeutic studies of the consequences of severe protein deficiency relative to calories, which results in kwashiorkor, and of a balanced deficiency of protein and calories that results in marasmus. Evidence is provided that these are two different metabolic diseases, but kwashiorkor is usually superimposed on some degree of chronic marasmus and hence most cases studied were marasmic kwashiorkor. The value of the creatinine/height index to indicate the degree of lean body cell mass with any disease is demonstrated.

This paper describes early INCAP studies showing that cholesterol and lipoprotein levels were much lower in the low-income populations of Central America than values that were just beginning to emerge from industrialized countries. These led to the collection of aortas and coronary vessels from 14,610 males and 7,906 females from serial autopsies from 12 public general hospitals in developing countries, mostly in Latin America and in New Orleans and Oslo. The severity of atherosclerotic lesions in the samples was evaluated independently by four pathologists after the samples were randomized, who determined that the severity of atherosclerosis progressed so slowly in the developing country samples that it rarely became clinically significant. The strongest correlation with the severity of lesions was the fat content of the diet.

From its earliest years, INCAP gave a high priority to a multidisciplinary effort to learn as much as possible about the dietary habits, nutritional status, and their consequences in the populations of Central America and Panama. Most of the papers in this Special Issue contain some of this information. The first studies were in school-children but were soon extended to preschool children, pregnant and lactating women, and other adults.This paper describes the principal findings of the initial dietary, biochemical, and clinical community-based studies. From 1965–67, very extensive studies were carried out in all six countries including dietary, biochemical, clinical, and anthological studies were carried out in all six countries, the results of which are summarized.

As soon as the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) began to study the poor nutritional status and stunting of children in the rural villages of Central America, it was apparent that infections, particularly diarrheas, were also a serious problem. Studies of kwashiorkor indicated that infections precipitated kwashiorkor and anemia in children who were already malnourished. In the 1940s there was almost no suggestion in the literature of a relation between nutrition and infection. INCAP gradually identified the mechanisms by which any infection worsens nutritional status and demonstrated that infections were more severe and more often fatal in malnourished children and adults. These studies ultimately led to the 1968 World Health Organization (WHO) monograph “Interactions of nutrition and infection” and widespread recognition by public health workers of the importance of this relationship for morbidity and mortality in poorly nourished populations.

Background Previous studies have shown an effect of lysine fortification on nutrition and immunity of poor men, women, and children consuming a predominantly wheat-based diet.Objective To examine the lysine value of diets and the effect of lysine fortification on functional protein status, anthropometry, and morbidity of men, women, and children in rural Syria.Methods At baseline of a two-phase study using 7-day household food intake inventories (n= 98), nutrient availabilities per adult male equivalent were estimated. In the intervention phase, a 16-week double-blind trial, households (n= 106) were randomly assigned to control and lysine groups. Hematologic and anthropometric data were collected from men (n= 69; 31 control, 38 lysine), women (n= 99; 51 control, 48 lysine), and children (n= 69; 37 control, 32 lysine) at baseline, 12 weeks, and 16 weeks. Total CD3 T lymphocytes as well as T lymphocytes bearing the receptors CD4, CD8, and CD56, IgM, IgG, IgA, complement C3, C-reactive protein, serum albumin, prealbumin, transferrin, retinol-binding protein, hemoglobin, and hepatitis B surface antigen were determined. Health status and flour usage were monitored. Paired- and independent-sample t-tests and chi-square tests were performed.Results Mean nutrient availability per adult equivalent was 2,650 ± 806 kcal, 70.1 ± 26.4 g protein, 65 ± 14% cereal protein, and 41.9 ± 0.8 mg lysine per gram of protein. Complement C3 was significantly higher in men receiving lysine than in controls (p< .05). Among women, there were significant differences between the control and lysine groups in diarrhea period prevalence (total number of diarrheal episodes during the period of intervention divided by the total number of observations), (20 in the control group, 6 in the lysine group; p= .014), the mean number of days ill (0.4 ± 0.7, control, 0.14 ± 0.4, lysine, p = 0.03), and the number of diarrheal episodes per person per year (1.39 in the control group, 0.47 in the lysine group). No other significant differences between the lysine and the control groups were observed.Conclusions Lysine fortification of wheat flour demonstrated a positive effect on diarrheal morbidity in women. The effect could be attributed to an improvement in protein utilization but possibly also to a direct effect of lysine in gastrointestinal tract. Studies in populations with higher diarrheal prevalence and significant dietary lysine deficiency are needed to determine whether the reported effects on diarrheal prevalence are replicable and whether they are pharmacological or nutritional. It would be particularly desirable to study the effect of lysine on diarrhea in preschool children, who have much higher morbidity and mortality rates from this disease than school-age children or adults.

The synthetic α-conotoxin Vc1.1 is a small disulfide bonded peptide currently in development as a treatment for neuropathic pain. Unlike Vc1.1, the native post-translationally modified peptide vc1a does not act as an analgesic in vivo in rat models of neuropathic pain. It has recently been proposed that the primary target of Vc1.1 is the α9α10 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR). We show that Vc1.1 and its post-translationally modified analogs vc1a, [P6O]Vc1.1, and [E14γ]Vc1.1 are equally potent at inhibiting ACh-evoked currents mediated by α9α10 nAChRs. This suggests that α9α10 nAChRs are unlikely to be the molecular mechanism or therapeutic target of Vc1.1 for the treatment of neuropathic pain.

The purpose of this study was to determine the blood levels of selected nutritional status indicators and the dietary intake of Costa Rican Cabécar Indians aged 10 to 16 years. The results showed that 65% of the adolescents had an adequate body mass index (BMI) for their age, and 32% had a BMI < 5th percentile. Likewise, the study revealed a high prevalence of anemia (57%), deficient serum folate levels (54%), deficient vitamin B12 levels (31%), and subclinical vitamin A deficiency (10%). Additionally, the youngsters had elevated prevalences of high triglyceride levels (77%), borderline high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels (46%), homocysteine levels > 10 μmol/L (29%), and homozygous mutation of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) (49%). The diet was poor, being high in saturated fat and low in polyunsaturated fat, fiber, and several micronutrients. The dietary intakes of more than 55% of the adolescents did not meet 50% of the estimated average requirements (EAR) for zinc, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B12, vitamin B2, and folate. Furthermore, a high prevalence of parasitosis was found (68%). Our results show an adolescent Cabécar population with a mosaic of nutritional deficiencies and cardiovascular risk factors.

Wheat provides more than 50% of the protein and calorie intake of the population of Pakistan. Legumes and animal protein that could complement the amino acid pattern of wheat, in which lysine is the first limiting amino acid for utilization of protein, are not affordable by members of lower socioeconomic groups in developing countries. The purpose of the study was to determine whether lysine fortification of wheat flour would have a positive impact on populations consuming a predominantly wheat-based diet. A double-blind study was carried out for three months on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan. Forty families received wheat flour fortified with lysine, and 40 families received wheat flour without lysine. Wheat provided 59% of the protein for men, 65% for women, and 58% for children. The weight and height of the children in both groups increased during the study, but the increase was significantly greater in the lysine group. Hemoglobin increased significantly in the women receiving lysine-fortified flour. Transferrin levels increased significantly in men, women, and children in the lysine group as compared with those in the control group. Prealbumin increased significantly in adults receiving additional lysine but decreased in children. Men, women, and children in the lysine-supplemented families had significant increases in CD4, CD8, and complement C3 as compared with controls. These results indicate that lysine fortification of wheat flour can significantly improve sensitive indicators of nutritional status in a population consuming a diet in which 58% to 65% of the protein, depending on age and sex, is supplied by wheat.

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the fortification of wheat flour with lysine on selected health indicators among farm families obtaining 58% to 67% of their dietary protein from wheat. A man, a woman, and a child aged 5 to 12 years were studied from each of 88 families in a village near Huixian City, Henan Province, China. Half of the families received wheat flour fortified with 3 g of lysine per kilogram for three months, and the other half received wheat flour without fortification. The results showed a significantly greater gain in the height and weight of children receiving lysine-fortified wheat flour. Hemoglobin values were not affected. The mean prealbumin values of adult men and women were higher in those receiving lysine. The numbers of CD3 T cells increased significantly in women and children, as did the complement fraction C3 and IgG in men, IgA in women, and IgG, IgA, IgM, and C3 in children. These results indicate that lysine fortification of wheat flour can significantly improve some indicators of the nutritional status and immune function of family members consuming a wheat-based diet.

Qualitative data on infant-feeding practices were collected in four urban and four suburban sites in Uzbekistan. The qualitative interviews combined with observation were conducted with 209 women at their households and with 118 health professionals at health-care facilities. Despite finding a high rate of early breastfeeding, the study revealed a series of practices that make it more difficult for mothers to initiate and maintain breastfeeding adequately. These include separation of the mother and child at birth, “prelacteal” feeding of infants, and lack of prenatal instruction in breastfeeding management. In addition, the rigid day feeding schedule required in the hospital, with no night feedings, and the lack of access of the mother to the child for breastfeeding on demand, decreed by former Soviet Union policy, were serious obstacles. Most serious in its ultimate consequences, however, was the large number of mainly subjective indicators used by doctors to conclude that a mother should not breastfeed her infant. Almost none of these were consistent with WHO recommendations or with currently accepted medical practices. Despite these obstacles, nearly all mothers in Uzbekistan successfully breastfeed their infants for at least four to six months and most for much longer. Contrary to local medical beliefs, the mothers are not undernourished. Weight gain during pregnancy and the birthweights of their infants were in the normal range.

Although the severe vitamin A deficiency responsible for ocular damage is now rare, subclinical vitamin A deficiency still contributes importantly to high child mortality in the developing countries of Asia. This demands urgent and effective preventive action. Although periodic large doses of vitamin A for this purpose have been a favoured approach of international agencies, the coverage achieved has been inadequate and is usually not sustainable without external support. for this reason, there has been increasing emphasis on a sustainable dietary approach to the prevention of subclinical vitamin A deficiency. One part of this can be the production and use of red palm oil as a salad and cooking oil or blended into other vegetable cooking oils. the latter will also improve the caloric density of the diets, a serious limiting factor for young children in the region. It will also add antioxidant activity to the diet.

Fulfilment of the genetic potential of individuals is impaired by malnutrition and other environmental factors throughout life. The impact of nutritional factors in early childhood helps to explain why the known adult risk factors, demonstrable in populations, are poor predictors of cardiovascular disease in individuals. The combined findings of early and later risk factors strengthen the conclusion that the bulk of so-called degenerative diseases and many other functional impairments in adult life occur because of environmental factors, of which diet may be the most important. The apparent increased susceptibility to degenerative diseases of adults born small-for-date suggests that the increase in meat, fat, and calorie consumption with rising affluence is particularly hazardous for formerly poorly nourished populations. Articles confirming the nutritional origins of a wide range of diseases and disabilities at all ages increasingly predominate in the health-related scientific literature. Recognition that so much disease can be prevented or delayed by improved diet and related lifestyles constitutes a new paradigm applicable to the populations of both developing and industrialized countries.

This is a translation from the Spanish of the first part of the report “Guías de alimentación: Bases para su desarrollo en America Latina” by the same authors, based on a workshop on that topic held in Caracas, Venezuela, 22–28 November 1987, sponsored jointly by the United Nations University and the Fundación Cavendes [1].This first part of the report is concerned with quantitative nutritional goals that should be useful for nutritionists and health professionals in all countries. The second part, not presented here, gives suggestions for expressing these goals in terms of dietary guidelines adapted to the food availability and preferences of individual countries and populations in Latin America. The entire report, with sixteen background papers covering every major area of the nutritional goals and their rationale, is being published in Spanish as a special issue of Archivos Latinoamericanos de la Nutrición.

The agent of disease, whether it is an infectious organism, the deficiency or excess of a nutrient, a toxin, or the expression of a gene, is not sufficient to explain its cause. The impact of the agent depends on host factors and the influence of physical, biological, and social factors in the environment. For nutritional disorders those of the social environment, including the complex of educational, economic, religious, political, and other factors, are likely to be the most important and also the most difficult to understand and modify. If nutritional and other diseases are viewed as problems in human ecology, the primary health-care approach to their prevention follows naturally.

The objective of infrastructure development in nutrition is to ensure that every country has institutions with the competence needed for research, training, policy guidance, and dissemination of knowledge on all aspects of human nutrition and human food supply. The rapid advances in scientific knowledge of nutritional issues has increased both the importance and the scope of responsibility of national nutrition centres. It has also increased the number of disciplines that must be represented if institutions are to tee fully capable of utilizing existing knowledge and meeting national needs. Not only must all aspects of nutrition and food science be represented but also infectious and chronic diseases, health education, data management, anthropology and sociology, economics and political science. Examples are given of the stepwise development of successful national nutrition institutions as well as problems faced in their development.

This study examined the effect of iron supplementation on cognitive function by a double-blind intervention trial in nine-year-old mildly anaemic schoolchildren. Their nutritional status was assessed by anthropometric measurements and the following biochemical values: haemoglobin, haematocrit, red blood cell count (RBC), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), serum iron, total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), and transferrin saturation. in addition, biochemical values of vitamin A, vitamin C, thiamine, riboflavin, pyridoxine, and zinc were measured. the cognitive assessment was performed using an abbreviated Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) containing six subtests: arithmetic, similarities, digit span, picture completion, block design, and digit symbol (coding), in order to obtain information on both verbal and non-verbal aspects of intelligence. There were highly significant correlations of the WISC-R scores with initial height-for-age, haemoglobin, haematocrit, and transferrin saturation, and a correlation with MCHC. After completion of the baseline examination, one group of children was given a supplement containing 100 mg of iron for 10 weeks while the other group received a placebo. Iron supplementation had a positive effect on the biochemical measures of iron status, with haemoglobin, haematocrit, transferrin saturation, RBC, MCH, and MCHC all showing statistically significant increases (p< .05). Iron supplementation also resulted in a statistically significant improvement in total WISC-R score (p < .01). This effect was primarily the result of improved performance on non-verbal subtests, of which improvements in block design and coding were statistically significant (p < .01). the small increase in the sum of scaled scores from the verbal subtest was not significant (p > .05), but within the verbal subtest there was a significant improvement on the similarities part of the test (p < .05). the effects of iron supplementation were more pronounced in children with initially lower haemoglobin values. It is concluded that iron supplementation in nine-year-old schoolchildren with haemoglobin levels between 110 and 119 g/L will result in an improvement of cognitive functions, even though they are not otherwise malnourished.

In the 1950s and 1960s the risk of protein deficiency in the diets of most developing country populations, both in absolute terms and relative to calories, was considered to be high. An FAO/WHO expert committee that met in 1971 proposed a protein allowance value 20% lower than that previously recommended. Nutritionists and economists accepted this new value, recalculated the risk from dietary intake data, and concluded that protein deficiency was not a problem. This conclusion was reinforced by the concurrent virtual disappearance of the severe form of protein deficiency, kwashiorkor, as developing country conditions improved. However, metabolic studies coordinated by UNU in 16 countries soon showed that the protein required for sustained normal functioning was one-third more than that proposed in the report of the 1971 committee. This higher value was accepted in the 1985 FAO/WHO/UNU expert consultation report on energy and protein requirements. In addition, infections, highly prevalent under conditions of poverty, increase protein losses and often decrease protein absorption. Although it is true that when people can consume enough of their traditional diet to meet energy needs, protein needs are also usually met, problems arise when, because of poverty or illness, people cannot consume their traditional diets. New data on protein digestibility and on protein quality are recognized in a 1991 FAO/WHO expert consultation and a 1994 International Dietary Energy Consultative Croup (IDECG) workshop. Protein requirements are re-evaluated in this paper on the basis of these considerations.

The role of the UN University lies in fostering the research needed to fill pressing gaps in knowledge, in providing appropriate advanced training, in helping to build effective and relevant institutions, and in disseminating useful knowledge. Relevant institutions of higher learning and research are a global necessity in order to inform, train, and motivate individuals who can contribute effectively to the solutions of the “pressing global problems of human survival, development’ end welfare”. The University's World Hunger Programme seeks to assist the development of such institutions in the developing countries where they are so urgently needed.