Maternal nutrition and traditional food behavior in Haiti.

Abstract

Rural Haitian nutrition has long been a matter of concern to health workers. The diet is seriously restricted and there is widespread malnutrition. This is especially striking among lactating women. The Haitian government, under François Duvalier, began comprehensive programs designed to alleviate some of the economic and technologic factors which limit the diet. An equally serious restricting influence on the diet, however, and an influence which has gone largely unnoticed, is the hot/cold classification of life-states and foods stemming from an adherence to humoral medicine. Even though belief in humoral medicine is widely and consistently held in rural Haiti, there is no apparent recognition of its impact on nutrition by those working in this field. There is no mention of this belief system in the available literature on Haiti. This study examines and delineates the impact of humoral medicine upon the diet of the lactating Haitian woman. The data indicate that practices stemming from this belief system have an even more serious limiting impact upon rural dietary behavior than the economic, technologic and environmental factors, and must, therefore, be considered in any nutritional intervention program for Haitians either in Haiti or abroad.