Septembee 9, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



351 



Oyclidium glcuuooma 

 Metopus sigmoides 

 Vroleptus agilis 

 Oxytricha fallaw 

 StylonycMa sp. 

 Stylonychia sp. 

 Euplotes patella 

 Euplotes charon 

 Aspidisoa costata 

 Torticella citrina 

 Vorticella sp. 

 Vorticella sp. 

 Vorticella sp. 



Washbubn College, 

 ToPEKA, Kan. 



0. H. Edmondson 



THE FOOD REQUIREMENTS OF GROWING CHILDREN 



A COMPARATIVELY large number of investi- 

 gations have been made witli the view of de- 

 termining the amounts of nutrients required 

 in average normal adult life and, although 

 they can not be considered as final, some 

 rather definite conclusions have been drawn. 

 The data available for children are much 

 more limited. It is recognized that a higher 

 allowance should be given them to provide 

 for their greater degree of tissue building, 

 greater loss through radiation and evapo- 

 ration from the relatively larger body surface, 

 and, possibly, for their comparatively greater 

 activity. Certain standards have been pro- 

 posed for children, sometimes from limited 

 observations, sometimes from theoretical con- 

 siderations. Thus the following percentages 

 of adult requirements have been suggested" for 

 children. 



The TJ. S. Department of Agriculture' has 



" From the Chemical Laboratory of the Univer- 

 sity of Iowa. 



■ Quoted by Chapin, " The Standard of Living 

 among Workingmen's Families," Charities Pub- 

 lication Committee, New York, p. 15. 



'U. S. Department of Agriculture Yearbook, 

 1907, p. 365. 



adopted standards for the nutrients for chil- 

 dren at different ages, assuming, among 

 others, as the proper food for a child of from 

 6 to 9 years 50 per cent, of the food of a man, 

 that is, 53 grams of protein and 1,750 calories 

 of energy, and for a boy of 12 years YD per 

 cent, of the food of a man, which would be 74 

 grams of protein and 2,450 calories of energy. 

 Knight, Pratt and Langworthy' have re- 

 cently issued the results of dietary studies in 

 children's homes in Philadelphia and Balti- 

 more and have there reviewed the literature. 

 In Philadelphia, 80 children whose ages were 

 from less than 6 up to 18 years, averaging 

 about 10 years, consumed per day an average 

 of 67.6 grams of protein, 57.9 grams of fats 

 and 270.1 grams of carbohydrates with a total 

 energy value of 1,867 calories. The duration 

 of the test was seven days. In Baltimore, 115 

 boys and girls aged from 4 to 17 years, with 

 an average age of 12 years and weighing from 

 31 to 109.5 pounds, consumed an average of 65 

 grams of protein, and other food to a total of 

 1,798 calories of energy. In another home 

 in Baltimore for colored children 25 boys,- 

 from 3 to 13 years of age, and weighing from 

 37 to 85 pounds each, consumed daily 50 

 grams of protein and the fuel value of the 

 food was 1,677 calories. The average of the 

 ages was 9 years. In each of the Baltimore 

 tests the duration was 21 meals. In one the- 

 children had an abnormally low body weight 

 and in the other they were " none too well 

 nourished." 



It is evident, in tests like these last, where 

 there is so great a variation in age and 

 body weight that definiteness is wanting 

 in the results, and that they can stand for 

 nothing more than very general averages. 

 Considering that there is no general agree- 

 ment as to adult requirements, standards 

 " stated as fractions of the amounts necessary 

 for adults are obviously not exact. The value 

 of more definite information as to children's 

 needs is evident. 



The daily dietaries of two boys were deter- 

 * Bulletin 223, Office of Experiment Stations, 

 Washington. See also Experiment Station Bulle- 

 tins 21 and 45 for literature. 



