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The widths of subcutaneous fat, muscular tissues, and compact bone were measured from radiographs of the hand and arm in various groups of Surinam children aged 6–12 years.The Hindustani groups had more adipose tissue and less muscular tissue than the Creole groups. Both groups had less adipose and muscular tissue than American children.There was no difference in width of compact bone compared with American children, although only 9% of the calorie value of the Surinam children’s diet is supplied by proteins, and this diet supplies only 0.4 g calcium/day.There was also no difference in width of cortical substance between Javanese boarding-school children in Surinam, with a daily milk intake of 400 ml, and Javanese schoolchildren whose daily milk intake is only a fraction of this value.

For a period of 15 months, the growth and development were studied of 6- to 12-year-old Surinam children from four boarding schools. The nutritional value of the diets in these schools varied considerably. The protein content in the diets varied per boarding school from 45 to 70 g/day (of which 12-26 g were animal); the calcium content varied from 350 to 900 mg and the amount of riboflavin from 12 to 20 µg/g of protein. The daily intake of milk varied from about 100 to 400 ml.There was no difference in increase of height, weight, circumference measures and skeletal age. In the school children having the greatest intake of milk, the amount of body fat showed a greater increase.In three of the four boarding schools a group of children were given 400 mg of calcium/day extra during the 15-month period. As to the criteria of growth mentioned above, these groups showed no difference with the groups that had no supplementary calcium.The mean calcium content per gram of creatinine in the urine was found a good measure for the calcium content in the diet. The amount of nitrogen per gram of creatinine was also a good standard for the protein content of the diet. That also applies to the urea index, i.e., urea nitrogen in percentages of the total amount of nitrogen. With an average diet protein content of 45 g for 6- to 12-year-old children, the urea index of the urine was 83, the nitrogen content per gram of creatinine was 6.6 g, while the calcium content per gram of creatinine was 39 mg with a calcium intake of 350 mg/day.

The results of nutritional studies are reported which were carried out in Papuan subjects living in the Central Highlands of New Guinea where 90 to 95 per cent of the staple food consists of sweet potatoes. The daily protein intake is 15 to 35 gm. The protein is poor in the amino acids methionine, cystine and to a lesser degree in lysine.Nitrogen balance studies were carried out in Papuan school children used to sweet potato diets. The nitrogen content of sweet potato leaves is remarkably high, 766 ± 164 mg. per 100 gm., and contributes considerably to the protein value of the diet. On diets consisting of sweet potatoes and sweet potato leaves only, the children retained about 1 gm. of nitrogen when the daily nitrogen intake was 5 gm. or more. Larger quantities of nitrogen are retained from sweet potato diets supplemented with peanut and pigeon pea proteins. Nitrogen retention is seldom improved by supplementation with methionine or lysine, the first and second limiting amino acids.The excretion of nitrogen in the urine is always low, even on diets rich in proteins from peanuts and pigeon peas. The urinary excretion of some constituents related to protein metabolism was studied in these children. The mean excretion of creatinine was 30 per cent lower than in American children. There was no relation between protein or the sulfur-containing amino acid content of the diet and the level of α-amino acid nitrogen or sulfur, per gram creatinine, or the ratio of urea nitrogen to total nitrogen. The possible relationship between sulfur excretion and vitamin A content of the diet is mentioned. The hippuric acid excretion was ten to twenty times higher in the Papuan children than in European children. Increasing the dietary nitrogen with the addition of peanuts increased the hippuric acid excretion.Papuan schoolboys were given 10 gm. supplements of protein during three months as follows: (1) group 1, 30 gm. skimmed milk powder, (2) group 2, 50 gm. beans (Phaseolus vulgaris); and (3) group 3, 50 mg. beans with 400 mg. methionine. All groups increased considerably in weight, i.e., 1.2 to 2.1 kg. The α-amino nitrogen level in blood serum increased, the γ-globulin level was significantly lower than in a control group of older age which was not given supplements. There was no difference in serum proteins, albumin, cholinesterase activity nor in the urinary excretion of urea, α-amino nitrogen, calcium or sulfur between groups.The ossification of the wrist (skeletal age) was comparable with that of American children in the groups eight and ten years of age, but retarded in those twelve and fourteen years of age. The area of the brachial bone was less than that in American children. The breadth of the bones of the lower part of the leg was comparable to measurements in American children.Some constituents of the blood serum from Papuan subjects living on this staple food were compared with Papuan people from the same area earning money and buying additional protein-rich food such as rice and canned fish and with Papuan subjects after a few weeks on a hospital diet. Papuan people using the native diet had lowest values for serum protein, albumin, cholesterol and cholinesterase activity and highest values for γ-globulin. The levels of these constituents increased during hospitalization; the low cholesterol content, initially 108 mg. per 100 ml. in men, even increased 40 to 70 per cent.

A group of 53 healthy elderly Surinams (aged 67-94) was examined for osteoporosis. Cupping of the vertebrae, and spontaneous fractures were found in 11 and 6% of the examined persons, respectively. This is considerably less frequent than has been reported for a group of elderly people in the United States. The lumbar spine score according to Barnett and Nordin (9) was 80 or less in 22% of the persons.