Number Of Nutrients Research Articles

Adequacy of soil testing for predicting fertilizer requirements

Routine soil-testing methods are excellent tools for monitoring soil fertility. However, if used for predicting optimal fertilizer requirements they will frequently fail. This applies especially to soils having high fertility levels needed for commercial farming with many other factors affecting plant growth. Explanatory examples are given for crop-specific nutrient requirements, for nutrient transport within the rhizosphere, for nutrient supply from subsoil and for interactions of nutrients. Soil-testing methods must become more comprehensive with regard to the number of nutrients analysed and to the rates of nutrient supply and the magnitudes of nutrient reserves.

Evaluating 24-hour dietary recalls

Summary Twenty-four hour recalls obtained by a nutritionist in an obstetrics clinic were evaluated according to several procedures based either on nutrient content estimates or food group composition. Highly significant correlations were obtained among the following indices of dietary adequacy: number of nutrients meeting two-thirds of the RDA, Total Food Group Score and Total Energy Intake. Each of these indices was effective in monitoring changes occurring with clinic counseling and paraprofessional aide intervention. When careful consideration was given to the role of different food groups in the diets of two ethnic groups, Puerto Ricans and black Americans, the intake of either milk or fruit and vegetables offered additional sensitive measures of dietary change in response to nutrition education.

Pointers to possible malnutrition in the elderly at home.

Two indices of the possibility of malnutrition were constructed from the number of nutrients (up to 10) taken in amounts below recommended levels (index A) or below specified lower levels (index B). Values for these indices were determined from nutritional data for 264 old people living at home. High values for both indices were significantly related to the amount spent on food per week, the taken ing of 7 or fewer hot meals per week, and the presence of physical disability, but not to social class, living alone, or presence of a psychiatric diagnosis. The amount spent on food per week, taking 7 or fewer hot meals per week, and physical disability, are thus possible pointers to malnutrition in the elderly at home and may be useful for screening purposes.

Effect of calorie supplementation on growth of undernourished children

The results reported here may be generally applicable to poor communities in several Asian countries where dietaries are based largely on cereals and to a smaller extent on legumes and pulses. They may perhaps not be applicable to situations in some African countries where the staples are tapioca and plantain. The present observations should not be interpreted to mean that the current home diets in the concerned poor communities are satisfactory and do not need improvement. On the contrary, these diets are deficient in a number of nutrients, particularly vitamin A, riboflavin, iron, and possibly calcium. It should, however, be possible to overcome some of these deficiencies by improving the existing dietaries through the inclusion of relatively inexpensive foods that are locally available and well within the reach of the poor. A question often raised is whether, in view of the bulk arising from low fat content and low calorie concentration, young children would be able to consume predominantly cereal-based diets in quantities adequate to meet their calorie needs. The present study shows that the bulk should not present an insuperable problem provided the total daily diet is divided into several appropriate meals in the course of the day. The immediate practical approach towards combating malnutrition in children living in poor rural Asian communities would seem to lie in educating these communities in bridging the calorie gap with the present dietaries after such improvement, rather than in distributing elaborately processed protein-rich formulations, which are unnecessary and expensive.

ACCURACY IN DIETETICS.

The general trend toward accuracy in many departments of medicine serves to emphasize the prevalent disregard for a similar advance in dietetics. The importance of carefully selecting the articles of food for certain cases is very generally urged, but not as commonly practiced. Although it would seem to be a subject of equal importance, but little stress is ever laid on the necessity of regulating the amount of food to fit the exact known demands of a particular individual. That the demands and hence the supply of food should vary with the weight, shape of the body, age and condition of activity has been too well proved to permit of question. We can only account for the prevalent neglect of this factor in dietetic ordering by supposing that the matter has never been presented in practicable form. It is essential that the number of nutrients in a given food substance