MEDICAL SURVEY OF THE TOWN OF TAYTAY. 



VI. THE FOOD OF THE PEOPLE OF TAYTAY FROM A PHYSIOLOGICAL 



STANDPOINT. 



By Hans Aeon. 



(From the Physiological Lahoratory, Phil. Med. School.) 



The importance of tlie quality and composition of the food of a popu- 

 lation from the standpoint of health, suggested that a study of this 

 question with regard to the people of Taj'tay was necessary to complete 

 the investigations being carried on concerning them. This material 

 seemed also to offer a welcome supplement to my first investigations on 

 the nutrition of the Filipino people/ since I hoped to get from, it an idea 

 of the nourishment of a tropical people living according to their usual 

 custom in a provincial town free from white men. In my first paper 

 I mentioned the difficulties which attend the study of such questions 

 in such a country; however, the relative simplicity of the food of these 

 people of Tayta}^ makes it possible to collect the more important data 

 with sufficient accuracy. The following plan was adopted in order to 

 obtain the information desired. 



A number of houses in every district of the toAvn Avei-e visited and 

 the head of the family questioned in such a manner as to obtain all 

 data of interest for the subject under consideration. These inquiries 

 were made as far as possible ))y the writer in Spanish, or, with the 

 help of a student assistant of the Philipjune TModical School as inter- 

 preter, in Tagalog. 



The food of the Taytay po|)uhition consists for the most pai't of rice, 

 and fish is next in importance as an article of food. Vegetables and 

 fresh fruits which vary with the season of the year are eaten also, but 

 in relatively small quantities. Cane sugar and sweets made of sugar 

 and rice flower, and otlier preparations rich in carboliydrates, such as 

 agar-agar and tapioca, are eaten between meals. Beef and milk and 



' This Journal, Sec. B (1909), 4, No. .3, 195. 



