A Study of the Nutritive Value of Proteins from Different Sources in the Feeding of African Children

Abstract

A study of the supplementation value of different protein-rich foods has been conducted on African children aged from 3 to 7 years and recovering from kwashiorkor. The diet consisted of a basic portion that included rice, bread, banana flour, butter, palm oil, sugar and fruits, supplying an average of 25% of the nitrogen intake. The rest of the nitrogen was supplied by the supplementary food which was either skim milk or a combination of beans and peanuts or peanut flour or soybean flour. The retention of the nitrogen absorbed was highest when milk was introduced into the diet; the combination of beans and peanuts came next, followed by peanut and soybean flour. When the retention was correlated with the nitrogen intake (the digestibility was thus taken into account) the foods might still be classified in the same manner, although some of them lost part of their value. That actually happened for the combination of beans and peanuts. The experiment demonstrates clearly that nitrogen absorption and retention is highest when milk is introduced into the diet. It shows also that a combination of beans and peanuts has a higher supplementary value than peanut or soybean flour given alone.