1. Sour maize pap fortified with soya (Soy-Ogi), developed at the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi, Nigeria has been evaluated chemically for its nutrient composition, biologically for protein quality and toxicity, and therapeutically on patients with kwashiorkor.

2. The indications are that it is a complete protein food suitable for feeding to children after weaning, and it compares favourably and economically with milk foods.

3. It was successfully used to restore normal health to children suffering from kwashiorkor.

1. The course of digestion of freeze-dried and heat-damaged egg albumen labelled with 14C in all its constituent amino acids was compared in germ-free and conventional chicks. The albumen was given at a level of 10% in a test meal containing 28% protein. Samples of digesta were taken 5 h later and analysed for 14C and nitrogenous constituents.

2. After administration of unheated albumen, 11% of the 14C remained in the germ-free gut, compared with 23% in the conventional gut. The poorer digestibility of the heat-damaged albumen was shown by recovery of 42 and 47% of the 14C from the gut of germ-free and conventional birds respectively.

3. With both diets there was a higher 14C: nitrogen ratio in the contents of the lower gut of conventional birds. Most of the N remaining in the gut was composed of protein or the hydrolysis products of protein, the amounts of which tended to be higher in the germ-free environment; urea and uric acid formed only a small proportion of the total N. There was less urea and more uric acid in the lower gut and excreta of conventional chicks.

4. It was concluded that microbial activity did little to increase the availability of protein to the chick. However, its effect on the nitrogenous material in the lower part of the alimentary tract might result in low recovery of N in the faeces and thus lead to erroneously high estimates of protein quality in tests with conventional chicks.

1. The effects of breast-feeding and artificial feeding have been analysed for a group 250 infants from lower socio-economic, urban families in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

2. The factors considered were the ethnic group, the sex of the infant, the size and income the family and the type of milk fed. No infant in the study was given ‘non-milk’ feeds before the age of 40 weeks.

3. The effects of these factors on the weight gains and the number of reported illnesses up to the age of 40 weeks have been analysed.

4. At no time in the first 40 weeks did breast-fed infants gain weight significantly more rapidly than artificially fed infants. After the age of 20 weeks, artificially fed infants gained significantly more weight than breast-fed infants.

5. The type of feeding had no statistically significant effect on the frequency of minor respira-tory or alimentary illnesses.

6. In this community, the welfare of the family often depends on the earnings of the mother, who has to make the choice between breast-feeding and paid employment. In the group studied, breast-feeding appears to offer no advantages over artificial feeding. The principle guiding the Maternal and Child Health staff when advising the mother should be the welfare of the whole family.

1. Constant intravenous (3 h) infusions of a fructose solution were given on a rate for body-weight basis (0·6 g/kg per h) to thirty patients who had no evidence of diabetes mellitus or liver disease. Concentrations of blood fructose, pyruvate and lactate formed a plateau during the last 1–1·5 h of the infusion period.

2. Although the numbers were small, the individual pyruvate and lactate concentrations at plateau varied greatly and assumed a bi-modal distribution, suggesting two distinct groups. The group to show a lower pyruvate and lactate rise (group A) contained more males of a lower age and more patients who had ischaemic cardiac disease than the other group (B); none of these differences was, however, statistically significant. The fructose concentrations at plateau were not significantly different between the groups. Serum triglyceride glycerol concentration during the infusions rose markedly in three patients in group A but in none in group B. Minor changes in concentration of blood glucose, insulin, inorganic phosphate and uric acid during the infusions were not significantly different between the groups and did not fall into a bi-modal pattern.

3. Constant intravenous (3 h) infusions of 0.15M-sodiurn lactate at the same infusion rate in eight of the patients (four from group A and four from group B) did not produce a significant difference in the blood lactate concentrations at plateau between patients from the two groups.

4. These results reflect qualitative differences in fructose metabolism in the patients studied. The difference in pyruvate and lactate production may be associated with total carbohydrate intake. However, the bi-modal distribution strongly suggests a genetically determined difference in metabolism between the two groups.

1. Male and female guinea-pigs with high tissue concentrations of L-xyloascorbic acid (ascorbic acid, AA) and male guinea-pigs with high tissue concentrations of D-araboascorbic acid (isoascorbic acid, isoAA) were given a scorbutogenic diet and the rates of depletino from various tissues were measured fro both isomers.

2. The loss of AA from the brain and eye lens was considerably less rapid than the loss from the adrenal glands, spleen and aqueous humour. After 14nd on the AA-free diet the AA concentrations in the brain and eye lens were 24 and 27% respectively of the initial concentrations; the corresponding values for the aqueous humour, adrenal glands and spleen were 3,4 and 5%. There was no apparent sex difference in the rate of loss of AA.

3. The loss of isoAA was much more rapid than that of AA in the spleen, adrenal glands and aqueous humour; in the brain and eye lens the depletion patterns of the two isomers were similar.

1. The heights and weights and the serum total protein concentration and ratio nonessential to essential amino acids (NEA:EA ratio) were determined in twenty-six Indian children, aged from 1·5 to 5 years, suffering from early protein-calorie malnutrition (pre-kwashiorkor children).

2. The heights and weights of the majority of the children approximated to 75–85% of the values for normal Indian children. The serum NEA:EA ratio of the children varied from 2·5 to 4·0. There was no correlation between this ratio and weight deficit. In healthy children of the same socio-economic group, the serum NEA:EA ratio varied from 1·5 to 2·1 with a mean of 1·7. The results show that the NEA:EA ratio may be useful as an index for the detection of pre-kwashiorkor conditions.

3. There was a significant (P < 0·05) negative correlation (r = −0·45) between serum albumin and NEA:EA ratio of the children. All the children showed consistently a significant increase in serum γ-globulin.

1. The distribution of copper, zinc and manganese in seven regions of the brain, liver, heart, muscle from the abdominal wall, and skin of children was determined by means of atomic absorption spectrophotometry.

2. The results showed significantly lower levels of Cu, Zn and Mn in livers of children with kwashiorkor compared with control subjects. The concentrations of these three elements were higher in livers of children with marasmus than in livers of children suffering from kwashiorkor and not significantly different from those of control subjects.

3. The Cu concentration in muscle obtained from the abdominal wall of subjects with kwashiorkor and the Mn concentration in heart muscle of all groups with protein-calorie malnutrition were significantly lower than the respective values for the control group.

4. There was no significant difference between Cu, Zn or Mn concentration in brain tissues of control subjects and in those with protein-calorie malnutrition.

1. An analytical scheme for the separation and identification of carbohydrates in food, duodenal contents and faeces of sheep is described.

2. This scheme was applied to three sheep and one goat given hay diets, and the quantities of carbohydrates disappearing from the rumen and intestine respectively were assessed by reference to faecal lignin. Results indicated that 95–100% of digestible cellulose and 96–99% of digestible pentosan disappeared from the rumen.

3. In an investigation of the microbial fraction of duodenal contents in the goat it was estimated that approximately 6 g carbohydrate passed to the duodenum per 24 h. Glucose accounted for a little over half of this amount.

1. Twenty pigs were reared to a weight of 90 kg on various dietary regimens so that their lipid content varied from 16 to 38%;. They were injected intravenously with ~ 400 μCi of 42KCl. The animals were killed ~ 28 h after injection and their contents of water, lipid, sodium and potassium were determined.

The specific activity of plasma reached equilibrium 10–12 h after injection, that of urine not until 20 h after.

Losses of activity in urine, faeces and gut contents in the 24 h after injection amounted to 3·1, 0·3 and 1·5% of the injected dose, respectively.

Total body K was more accurately estimated from urine specific activity than from plasma specific activity.

Exchangeable K, estimated from urine specific activity Ke(u), was highly correlated with the weight of fat-free tissue (r = 0·93), the residual standard deviation of the regression being 1·8 kg fat-free tissue.

Percentage extractable fat was equally well correlated with Ke(u) (r = −0·92).

1. Two experiments involving 106 lambs were conducted to study the functioning of the oesophageal groove reflex in lambs sucking from either individual feeders or from a bulk dispenser. The effects on the performance of lambs given either a high-protein or a low-protein creep feed in conjunction with either a ewe's milk substitute, Ewelac, or a homogenate of calcium caseinate, Casilan, were studied. Two milk substitutes, one with a long and one with a short clotting time were compared in terms of their effects on the incidence of diarrhoea.

2. The location of the liquid feeds in the stomach was studied radiologically.

3. In both experiments the sucking behaviour of the lambs was closely related to thefunctioning of the oesophageal groove reflex and performance of the lambs. In the first experi-ment the milk substitute consistently entered the abomasum in seven of the ten individually fed lambs and in twelve of the twenty-two group-fed lambs. The corresponding figures for the second experiment were twenty-two of the twenty-four individually fed and thirty-four of the fifty group-fed lambs.

4. When the milk substitute entered the abomasum it always did so throughout the fattening period even in those instances where the milk had been withheld for 1 month.

5. Poor sucking, low milk consumption and the entry of the milk into the rumen resulted in very poor performance by the lambs. Such lambs demonstrated a non-specific unthriftiness similar to the ‘tail enders’ sometimes observed with lambs reared with ewes.

6. Continued feeding with either the milk substitute or casein homogenate with a low-protein creep feed did not improve performance.

7. The clotting time of the milk substitute did not appear to influence the incidence of diarrhoea among the lambs.

1. A combination of balance and isotope techniques has been used to study the effects of age and dietary calcium content on Ca metabolism in forty-two wether sheep.

2. The amount of Ca absorbed by young growing animals varied significantly with intake. The percentage of the dietary Ca absorbed, however, remained unchanged. In older animals the amount of Ca absorbed was not altered by changes in intake, but decreased slightly with age.

3. Retention of Ca was directly related to the amount of Ca absorbed and was independent of age or breed. Furthermore, nearly all the Ca absorbed above the minimum mean amount required for maintenance was retained.

4. Faecal endogenous loss of Ca also was related to the amount of Ca absorbed. Values for faecal endogenous Ca were much lower than those used in the calculation of dietary require-ments by the Agricultural Research Council (1965).

5. Urinary Ca excretion was variable, and was not related to age or changes in dietary Ca intake.

6. Increased absorption of Ca in young growing animals was accompanied by a decreased rate of bone resorption, but the rate of bone accretion remained unchanged. Changes in dietary Ca in older animals had no effect on either of these two processes. Results indicate that bone resorption is the main pathway governing Ca homoeostasis. Both the rates of Ca accretion into bone and resorption from bone decreased with age.

7. Neither the rapidly exchangeable Ca pool (P) nor the slowly exchangeable bone pool (E) was altered by changes in dietary intake in young or mature animals. Both, however, decreased in size with age.

8. The size of the slowly exchangeable pool (E) was directly related to the rate of Ca accretion into bone. 9. The results were used to calculate dietary Ca requirements of sheep gaining weight at different rates, and these values have been compared with values recommended by the Agricultural Research Council (1965).

1. Analysis of whole daily diets of normal subjects and of diets prepared in hospital to resemble the home diets of ambulant hospital patients showed that the majority of diets in Britain have a vitamin E content less than the lowest recommended intake of 5 mg/d, despite being generally satisfactory in calorie, protein and fat contents.

2. Comparison of measured intake of vitamin E with the intake calculated from food tables showed that the use of such tables may be unreliable.

3. Analyses of selected representative foods and of duplicate whole diets showed that the variations between measured vitamin E content of diets and those calculated from tables may be largely due to the great variability of tocopherol concentration in apparently similar samples of food.

1. The changes in the lipid compositon of livers from lambs receiving either ewe's milk or a reconstituted low-fat milk powder have been studies during the first 8 d after birth.

2. At birth the phospholipid and unesterified fatty acid fractions constituted the major proportion of the liver lipids. In the lambs on the artificial diet the relative concentration of the phospholipid fraction increased and there were corresponding decreases in the relative concentrations of all the other fractions, whereas in the naturally fed lambs the relative concentration of the phospholipids remained similar to that found in the livers at birth.

3. In the liver lipids at birth there were only low concentration of the C18 polyunsaturated fatty acids, althoughts there were appreciable concentrations of the higher C20 and C22 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

4. After birth there was a large increase in the concentration of the C18 polyunsaturated fatty acids in the livers of the lambs on the natural diet and a decrease in the 20:3ω9:20:4ω6 (triene:tetraene) ratio. In the lambs receiving the artificial diet the concentration of the C18 polyunsaturated fatty acids and the trience:tetraene ration remained similar to that observed at birth.

5. These changes are discussed in relationship to the metabolism of the essential fatty acid in monogastric animals.

1. The plasma and blood volumes of twenty-eight Iraqi children were measured. Twenty-four of them were malnourished in varying degrees and four were normal children who acted as controls. None of the children was anaemic.

2. There was an increase in the plasma and blood volumes per unit body-weight correlating with the degree of malnourishment (P < 0·001).

3. There was little variation in the values for plasma and blood volumes when calculated per unit body length; the values were less constant when calculated per unit body surface.

4. The effect of age on the plasma and blood volumes per unit body-weight was less than the effect of the degree of malnutrition.

5. There was no correlation between the plasma volume of malnourished children and their corrected venous haematocrit, if children with severe anaemia were excluded.

1. The introduction of certain tertiary branched-chain carboxylic acids into the rumen of sheep, either by continuous infusion or by direct incorporation of the acids in the concentrate food mixture, had no effect on the oxygen consumption or carbon dioxide production of the sheep. Methane production was depressed, the extent of the depression increasing with the molecular weight of the carboxylic acid.

2. There was a small decrease in the apparent digestibility of the food and a small increase in urinary energy output.

3. There was no significant increase in the metabolizable energy intake of the sheep. There was, however, a small increase in the amount of energy stored in the body. This small increase was about 84 % of the gross energy of the branched-chain acids added.

4. It is concluded that any practical advantage to be gained from the addition of branched-chain carboxylic acids to the diet of ruminants remains unproven.

1. Total body iron and some of its subfractions, i.e. haem iron, non-haem iron and ferritin iron, as well as ferritin were measured in groups of newborn rats and of rats aged 4,15 and 24 d.

2. Iron accumulated in the rats throughout suckling, with slightly more going into the haem than into the non-haem fraction.

3. Per unit body-weight, haem iron was maintained well throughout the study period but total body iron and non-haem iron were both significantly diminished at 15 d.

4. Within the non-haem fraction, ferritin iron was severely diminished at both 15 and 24 d, but the non-ferritin portion of non-haem iron was increased.

5. The results were interpreted in terms of the relationship between the growth of body mass and the supply of iron to the young animal.

1. The Knoop test of hardness of materials has been used to test the hardness of human nail.

2. The range of hardness of nails was found to be small in healthy persons and large in malnourished children.

3. Nails from malnourished children were in general much harder than those from healthy persons. The nails of a small group of three children became softer while they were recovering from malnutrition.

1. In the first of two experiments four sheep were fed on dried grass and oat straw in the following combination: (1)straw eaten to appetite and an equal quantity given via a rumen fistula, (2)straw eaten and grass by fistula, (3)grass eaten and straw by fistula, (4)grass eaten and grass by fistula. Mean daily dry-matter intakes (g/kg metabolic live weight, W0·75) for the four treatments respectively were: 13·3, 23·2, 47·8 and 59·4. Dry-matter digestibility coefficients (%) were 37·2, 53·1, 53·3 and 71·3. Changing the digestibility of the diet without changing the component eaten (1 v.2; 3v.4) had a large effect on intake, but changing the component eaten without changing digestibility (2v. 3) caused a twofold change in intake. The latter result implied a difference in palatability between the feeds.

2. The quantities of digesta in the rumen, determined by removal before and after feeding, were generally twice as great for treatments 3 and 4 as for 1 and 2. There were corresponding differences between treatments in the rates of passage of stained particles of feed and of chromic oxide.

3. In the second experiment the treatments were the same except that meadow hay replaced oat straw. Mean daily dry-matter intakes (g/kg W0·75) were 41·7, 55·1, 59·9 and 68·7 for treatment 1 to 4 respectively, and digestibility coefficient were 54·0, 61·3, 62·3 and 72·0. In this experiment there appeared to be only a small difference in the palatability of the feed.

1. The effect of the extent of ruminal fermentation of starch on the postruminal digestion of starch and protein was investigated in sheep, differences in rumen fermentation being obtained by giving diets based on barley, maize, or maize plus sodium chloride. The mean percentages of starch (α-linked glucose polymers) fermented in the rumen wert 91, 79 and 78 respectively with these diets, but there was considerable variability, particularly with the maize diets.

2. When large amounts of starch escaped fermentation in the rumen, substantial quantities passed the terminal ileum and were mostly fermented in the large intestine; the greatest amount of starch found in the faeces was 2 % of intake.

3. A decrease in the extent of rumen fermentation of starch was associated with a decrease in the concentration of crude protein and of diaminopimelic acid (DAPA) in the abomasal fluid, but there was no difference in quantity of crude protein disappearing from the small intestine. The concentration of DAPA was greater with the barley diet than with the maize diet, indicating that more dietary protein, originating from maize than from barley, escaped the rumen un-degraded. This conclusion was supported by a greater similarity between the amino acid composition of the abomasal fluid and the diet when maize was given.