20 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 310 



Table 5. — Summary of General Nutritional Condition of All Children 

 Receiving the Fall Examination 



General 



Nutritional 

 Condition 



Excellent 



Good 



Fair 



Poor 



Very Poor. . . . 



Total 489 100 496 100 985 100 



Changes in General Nutritional Condition as a Result of Feeding 



Some beneficial effect of the school feeding on the general nutritional status 

 of the children is indicated by these data and shown graphically in Chart 1. 

 Whatever the feeding given, the relative number of children in good and ex- 

 cellent condition had increased from September to January, and still more in 

 June in the groups fed milk or a mixture of evaporated milk and tomato, but 

 had decreased in the control group during the same time. Thus at the June 

 examination approximately 65 per cent of the children who had received a mid- 

 morning lunch and 48 per cent of those receiving none were in good or excellent 

 condition, as compared with 55 per cent of both groups in September. As the 

 chart indicates, many of the experimental children who were rated fair or good 

 in the fall were good or excellent in June, with the result that the most obvious 

 change is an increased number in excellent and fewer in fair or poor condition 

 at the end of the year and less change in the numbers in good condition. Among 

 the controls, on the other hand, more were in poor and fewer in good condition 

 in June than in September. The number in excellent condition did not decrease 

 during the year, suggesting that children well fed at home tended to maintain 

 their superior condition throughout the year whether receiving a school feed- 

 ing or not. 



Changes at Different Levels of Nutritional Condition 



The slight change in the number of excellent children as compared with good 

 or poor in the control group suggested that children at different nutritional 

 levels might be found to react quite differently to the feeding. Further analysis 

 of the data showed this to be true. The number of children in each group who 

 were in better general nutritional condition at the end of the experimental period 

 than at the beginning was ascertained, as well as those who were in poorer condi- 

 tion and those in whom no change was apparent. The data, figured to a percent- 

 age basis, are given in Table 6. 



Summary of Changes in the Fed Group 



Rating Percentage Percentage Percentage 



in Better Showing Poorer 



September in June No Change in June 



Excellent 14 58 28 



Good 53 29 18 



Fair 55 26 19 



Poor 63 26 11 



Very Poor 75 ^25 . nou/bn. 



