128 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 24.1 



PART III. HEALTH STATUS 



Two methods were used in the effort to determine whether or not any 

 definite correlation could be established between the food habits which have 

 been described and the state of health of tiie children: first, the records of 

 the physical examinations given by the children's clinic of the Division of 

 Tuberculosis of the Massachusetts Department of Healtli; and second, ex- 

 amination of the teeth by a dental hygienist. 



Clinic Exauninations 



The physical examinations given at the clinic sessions are quite frankly 

 made for the purpose of discovering cases of tuberculosis. State of nutrition, 

 as such, is not emphasized and the records on this point are not sufficient to 

 be very illuminating. Few cases of disease of any type were reported for 

 either Carver or Southwick. Of the Carver children for whom records of 

 dietary history and food habits were obtained, only one case of heart disease, 

 one of hilum tuberculosis, and three of malnutrition were discovered at the 

 clinic; among the Southwick children, one case of hilum tuhercidosis and one 

 of malnutrition. 



The general appearance of nine of the 134 Carver children who were ex- 

 amined was marked "fair" instead of "good" as was that of the others; six 

 were reported as having flabby muscles, three of these being the children 

 diagnosed as cases of malnutrition; 18 were found to have bad tonsils; and 

 12, diseased adenoids. 



In Southwick, of 110 children examined, three were reported as having 

 "poor" general appearance; two, flabby muscles; 16, bad tonsils; and 5, 

 diseased adenoids. 

 Weight 



The height and the weight of each child were taken at the clinic session, 

 and percentage of overweight or underweight computed from the weight- 

 height-age standards of the Baldwin-Wood tables. Such records were ob- 

 tained in Carver for 83 of the 95 children of native stock and 51 of the 60 of 

 foreign-born parentage; in Southwick, for 84 of the 93 of native stock and 

 26 of the 27 of foreign-born parentage. 



The tabulation below shows, for each town, the number of children 10 per 

 cent or more overweiaiht or underweigh-t. 



UNDERVVEICxHT 



10 per cent or more 

 1.5 per cent or more 



10 per cent or more 

 15 per cent or more 



Number of children 



83 



51 



26 



