800 



l)ecau>=e milk and milk products arc. such a jrood Fourcc and are in wide 

 use. This is not the case in the LDCs. There calcium comes from ce- 

 reals, leafy vegetables, and to a smaller extent animal products. If ce- 

 reals are the principal food item and the principal source of calories, 

 calcium intake can be increased by consumption of substantial amounts 

 of pulses and nuts as well. As with vitamins, the ability to meet cal- 

 cium requirements will be closely linked to the ability to meet calorie 

 iind protein requirements. 



OTHER NTJTRrnONAL DEFICIENCIES 



IVliile other nutritional deficiencies exist in the LDCs, they do not 

 appear to constitute a major barrier to development. Rickets, ^he 

 childhoofi form of osteomalacia, is due to vitamin D deficiency, but 

 can be prevented by sufficient exposure to sunlight. It has not been a 

 major health problem in recent years. Vitamin C, necessary to prevent 

 scurvy, can be found in many vegetables, including potatoes and mem- 

 Iwrs of thf» cabbage family, as well as in citrus fruits. Foods containing 

 vitamin C, can be found in most countries of the world. It may occa- 

 sionnllv be necessary or desirable to fortify food products or supple- 

 ment dif^ts with a synthetic form of this vitamin. 



In some underdeveloped countries there is a problem of endemic 

 goiter (thyroid enlarirement due to iodine deficiency). A very good 

 source of iodine is seafood, but this is eaten in relatively small amounts 

 in many LCDs. lodization of salt is the most common preventive meas- 

 ure against goiter, but in some countries there are technical problems 

 connected with this process. 



Iron deficiency anemia is apparently quite common in Africa and 

 Latin America, even though the iron intake in these areas has been 

 fomid to be far in excess of the dietary standards suggested for the 

 United States. Obviously this is a research field in which further inr 

 formation is required. The same thing can be said for other nutrients, 

 vitamins p.nd mmcrals, for which requirements cannot be estimated at 

 the present time, either for the world or for specific countries." Some 

 so-called "trace elements"^ — minerals required in very tiny amounts — 

 can easily be overlooked, yet they are vital to health and even to life." 

 It lias been suggested that they may not be consumed in large amount? 

 in the LDCs, and that research is required on this subject. 



Dietary Deficiencies, Public ffealth, and Economic Development 



One aspect of the problem of dietary deficiencies in the underdevel- 

 oped world that has perhaps not received the attention given to the 

 protein gap, is the devastating and cumulative effect of disease on 

 the entire problem of nutrition. Malnutrition, especially protein defi- 

 ciency, lowers resistance to disease. Acute infection may precipitate 

 nutritional deficiencies because infectious diseases accelerate the metab- 

 olism of the victim. (Each Fahrenheit degree of fever raises the meta- 

 bolic rate by 7 percent.) What is more important, however, is the spe- 

 cific effect on protein metabolism. In the normal, steady metabolic 



^'Ibld.. page 67. 



"I'niil R. and Anne H. Ehrllch. "Population, Resources, and Environment" (San Fran- 

 cisco, W. H. Freeman, 1070), page 346. 



