STUDIES ON THE UNDERNOURISHED CHILD: XIII. Treatment of Third-Degree Malnutrition Without Commercial Vitamins

AFTER having treated a large number of cases affected with third-degree malnutrition, where so-called deficiency lesions were seen, such as edema, pellegra, ariboflavinosis, xerosis, various bone lesions, changes in color and texture of the hair, follicular hyperkeratosis, perifolliculitis, emotional changes, psychic deviations, backwardness, persistent anorexia, muscular flaccidity, and autophagia in varying degrees, all cured only by giving adequate amounts both in quantity and in quality of nutritional elements and, specifically, without the addition of commercial vitamins, we thought it interesting to report these facts.Actually, for several years we treated children complaining of serious malnutrition according to classic ideas, adding all kinds of vitamin preparations to adequate diets, but the favorable progress in many cases which were treated differently has made us change our older therapeutic methods.The results obtained following our new ideas in treating the above-named disorders are the reason for this preliminary report. MATERIAL A study was