DISCUSSION 
dietetics. Thus it is an advantage to have one sickle-cell gene 
if one grows up in a malarial country, but not elsewhere. So 
far as I can see the best diet is intermediate between the ad- 
vanced European and the rather low African. In fact we may 
find that there is no such thing as a good or bad diet, but that 
there are certain dietary ranges that produce certain types of 
disease pattern, particularly later in life. If this idea can throw 
any light on the chronic degenerative diseases of Europeans we 
shall feel very much rewarded, for at present neither cause nor 
cure is known. I should not like any of these rather heterodox 
ideas about diets and degenerative diseases to be taken to con- 
tradict what I believe is a fundamental fact, namely, that 
many young children in underdeveloped countries do not get 
enough protein—and animal protein plays a very important 
part in this. Similarly many adults in such countries are from 
time to time short of calories. 
Brock: Clark has challenged those of us who are interested 
in clinical malnutrition to produce evidence that there is wide- 
spread malnutrition. I believe that certainly so far as the Afri- 
can continent is concerned the figure of 10 to 15 per cent inci- 
dence of undermalnutrition is fair enough, although I suspect, 
as ‘Trowell does, that in the Far East it is higher. Secondly, I 
believe that human nutrition experts have put forward ridicu- 
lous figures for some nutrients in the recommended allowances. 
The most obvious one is calcium, which is given by certain 
American tables and most international tables as 800 milligrams 
per day, whereas we know that in South Africa the Bantu live 
and develop normally on 300 milligrams per day and even have 
more heavily calcified skeletons than the Europeans living on 
800 milligrams. The other big fault in these international 
figures is the vitamin C requirement of 75 milligrams (U.S.A. 
standard). Certainly the appropriate figure is nearer 50 than 
75, even if one allows a one hundred per cent margin over basic 
requirement. 
But at that point I must part with Clark and challenge his 
estimates of protein requirement, particularly in terms of grain 
equivalents. I agree that by a judicious consumption of 
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