ralis, 668 mg; West Indian Almond ( Terminalia Catap- 
pa), 497 mg; powdered skim milk, 1,801 mg; whole 
milk, 921 mg; and alligator meat, 1,281 mg; but none 
equals coca. Few food plants can satisfy the calcium and 
iron in the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) 
of reference man ingesting 100 g. The Bolivian coca 
leaves reported here do satisfy the RDA. 
Coca leaves may, however, contain 0.25 to 2.25% toxic 
alkaloids, including benzoylecgonine, benzoyltropine, 
cinnamylcocaine, cocaine, cuscohygrine, dihydroxytro- 
pane, hygrine, hygroline, methyleocaine, methylecgoni- 
dine, nicotine, tropacocaine, and a - and £ -truxilline 
(4,7). These alone could make the nutritious coca leaf 
undesirable as a source of nutrients. he average coca 
chewer could also ingest 442 mg of copper in a year if 
the San Francisco leaves are typical; but this amount 
is not excessive. 
Many coca growers in both high (Chapare, Bolivia) 
and low (Yungas, Bolivia) rainfall areas may use insecti- 
cides. The leaves are not intentionally washed, and har- 
vest and curing are timed to avoid rainfall. In considering 
coca for human consumption, the leaves should be ana- 
lyzed for insecticide residues. 
Although coca leaves contain relatively high levels of 
certain nutrients, the presence of alkaloids and the pos- 
sible presence of insecticide residues suggest caution in 
coca chewing. 
[ 117 ] 
