J. E. Dutra de Oliveira

Iron fortification of domestic drinking water to prevent anemia among low socioeconomic families in Brazil

Iron deficiency anaemia is a most common micronutrient deficiency affecting mostly the low socioeconomic populations of the developing world. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of iron fortification of household drinking water to prevent iron deficiency anaemia among members of the low socioeconomic families of Southern Brazil. A total of 21 low socioeconomic families representing 88 subjects including 1-6 years old children whose haemoglobin level was between 10 and 12 g/dl were selected to participate in this study. Nine families in the control group were supplied with placebo solution and 12 families in the experimental group were supplied iron solution with ascorbic acid to be added to their domestic drinking water over a period of 4 months. The feasibility and acceptability of iron fortified drinking water was assessed through home visits and questionnaires. Blood samples were collected at the beginning and after 4 months of the study for the determination of haemoglobin and serum ferritin levels. The results of this study indicated that iron fortified drinking water was well received by the low socioeconomic families and that it was effective in improving the haemoglobin and serum ferritin levels. It can be concluded from this study that iron fortification of household drinking water is a simple and effective alternative for developing countries along with other technological approaches to iron fortification of foods.

Midarm computerized tomography fat, muscle and total areas correlation with nutritional assessment data

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Correlated nutritional assessment data (anthropometric, bioimpedance and biochemical) with computerized tomography (CT) of total, muscle and fat midarm areas. Total body fat and fat-free mass were estimated using bioimpedance. Daily urinary urea and creatinine were also quantified. In all, 28 subjects (13 males, 15 females) were evaluated and, they were clinically divided in obese, malnourished and control subjects.DESIGN: Quantification of total, fat muscle midarm areas by tomography and anthropometry and total body fat and free-fat mass by bioimpedance.RESULTS: CT values were 29% higher for fat area and 4–5% lower for total and muscle midarm areas compared against anthropometric data. The midarm skinfold thickness highly correlated with CT fat midarm area. Total body fat and free-fat mass bioimpedance data showed significant correlation with CT midarm data. Urinary creatinine correlated with CT muscle midarm area.CONCLUSION: Utilization of anthropometry can lead to error estimation of fat and fat-free arm areas and that bioimpedance gives fair correlation between total body and CT midarm measurements.

Effect of heat treatment during cooking on the biological value of vitamin A fortified soybean oil in human

Our earlier studies have clearly shown that vitamin A in the form of retinyl palmitate added to refined soybean oil remains stable during cooking and storage and that fortification of commercial vegetable oils is feasible in Brazil and in other developing countries. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the biological value of vitamin A fortified soybean oil in normal adults by measuring the postabsorptive peak rise in plasma vitamin A and the total area under the absorption curve. Healthy subjects 20–51 years of age, serving as their own controls, were given a rice-based diet containing either unfortified soybean oil (control), or vitamin A fortified soybean oil added during cooking (cooked), or vitamin A fortified soybean oil added after cooking (uncooked). The results of this study demonstrated that vitamin A in the form of retinyl palmitate when added to soybean oil is well absorbed in human even after the heat treatment it received during cooking. It can be concluded from this study so f...

Obese women on a low energy rice and bean diet: effects of leucine, arginine or glycine supplementation on protein turnover

This study examined if leucine, arginine or glycine supplementation in adult obese patients (body mass index of 33 +/- 4 kg/m(2)) consuming a Brazilian low energy and protein diet (4.2 MJ/day and 0.6 g protein/kg) affects protein and amino acid metabolism. After four weeks adaptation to this diet, each subject received supplements of these amino acids (equivalent to 0.2 g protein kg(-1) day(-1)) in random order. On the seventh day of each amino acid supplementation, a single-dose 15N-glycine study was carried out. There were no significant differences in protein flux, synthesis or breakdown. The protein flux (grams of nitrogen, gN/9 h) was 55 +/- 24 during the nonsupplemented diet intake and 39 +/- 10, 44 +/- 22 and 58 +/- 35 during the leucine-, glycine- and arginine-supplemented diet intake, respectively; protein synthesis (gN/9 h) was 57 +/- 24, 36 +/- 10, 41 +/- 22 and 56 +/- 36, respectively; protein breakdown (gN/9 h) was 51 +/- 24, 34 +/- 10, 32 +/- 28 and 53 +/- 35, respectively; kinetic balance (gN/9 h) was 3.2 +/- 1.8, 4.1 +/- 1.7, 3.4 +/- 2.9 and 3.9 +/- 1.6. There was no difference in amino acid profiles due to leucine, arginine or glycine supplementation. The present results suggest that 0.6 g/kg of dietary protein is enough to maintain protein turnover in obese women consuming a reduced energy diet and that leucine, arginine or glycine supplementation does not change kinetic balance or protein synthesis.

Cálculo das recomendações de ingestão protéica: aplicação a pré-escolar, escolar e adulto utilizando alimentos brasileiros

As recomendacoes de ingestao proteica variam conforme o teor de proteina, da quantidade de aminoacidos essenciais oferecidas e da digestibilidade da dieta. Em geral as recomendacoes proteicas tomam por base um alimento considerado padrao como o ovo ou o leite. No entanto, a nivel populacional, ingere-se misturas de alimentos em quantidades e qualidades diferentes, que variam de regiao para regiao. A titulo de ilustracao foram calculadas as recomendacoes de ingestao proteica para uma mistura de alimentos habitualmente usados pela populacao brasileira e consumida por tres grupos etarios diferentes: o pre escolar, o escolar e o adulto. Sao apresentadas 10 combinacoes de alimentos, todas tendo como principal fonte proteica o arroz e/ou o feijao. Observa-se que a recomendacao de ingestao proteica do pre escolar, pode variar entre 1,15 a 1,77 g/kg por dia dependendo da mistura utilizada. Discute-se tambem a importância da quantidade de alimentos ingeridos e a presenca de outros nutrientes. Sugere-se que ao se recomendar a ingestao proteica de uma determinada mistura de alimentos sejam considerados os seguintes fatores: teor total de nitrogenio, quantidade de aminoacidos essenciais, digestibilidade, peso total da mistura e a presenca de outros nutrientes.The recommendations for protein consumption depend on the essential amino acid and total nitrogen content of a diet, and food digestibility. International recommendations are based on egg or milk proteins. However, populations eat different food mixtures. Brazilians use rice and beans as their main protein food source. This study presents different Brazilian diets, with variable amount of rice and beans. The results show that for each diet there is a different amount of protein recommended. Pre-school children, for example, must receive from 1.15 to 1.77 g/protein/day, depending on the mixture of their dietary protein intake. Besides the diet proteins quality and quantity, the total food intake and presence of other essential nutrients, such as iron, calcium and vitamin C has also to be considered. The correct protein recommendation with respect to a diet or a mixture of food, should take into consideration: digestibility, total nitrogen, essential amino acids, presence of others nutrients and weight of food consumed.

CEROID SUBSTANCE AND ITS MEANING

The biological action of vitamin E extends beyond the sexual sphere into more general phases of nutrition. Consequently, vitamin E must be thought of as participating in a successive series of metabolic reactions in the absence of which multiple phenomena may occur. I t may be regarded as a component of a biological system and not merely as an antioxidant. We have had the opportunity of studying, with Lopes de Faria, metabolic disturbances in vitamin E-deficient animals exhibiting muscular dystrophy and the accumulation of ceroid substance. The latter material, extensively studied by other workers, seems related to the formation of peroxides, and consists of a recently formed liposoluble part and an insoluble component of lipo-proteic nature. Histologic changes of a necrotic and degenerative type occur gradually, associated with the appearance of macrophages and fibroblasts. Biochemically, lipid metabolism, especially that related to the utilization of unsaturated fatty acids, must be gradually altered. The utilization of carbohydrate and fat for the production of energy requires that catalyzers concerned in cellular respiration perform a series of reactions leading hydrogen to cellular oxygen in the continuous phases of oxy-reductions. The participation of riboflavin and of nicotinamide in carbohydrate metabolism, and of thiamine more specifically in pyruvate metabolism, are significant examples. Pyruvic acid is, in turn, related to the metabolism of proteins (alanine) and of fatty acids. In the experimental conditions under discussion, there are disorganized phosphorylations to which the protein-glyco-lipid metabolism is subjected, leading to disharmony in the breakdown of fatty acids, with polymerization of peroxides of lipoprotein type which are more stable than the unsaturated fatty acids composing them. Metabolic dysfunctions of lipids leading to the formation of ceroid occur in experimental vitamin E deficiency. Here, attention should be given to abnormalities of lipid metabolism, especially if there is a concomitant hypoproteic regimen. The questions of nervous influences and of acetylcholine metabolism, and the interference of thiamine in balanced relationships in distribution of cholinesterases and of acetylcholine leading to increased vagal actions, also warrant consideration. We have had the opportunity to study the influence of hypoproteic and hyper-fat diets on lipid fractions of the liver. The results were as follows:

Protein requirement assessment of elderly men on a rice and beans diet

Abstract This study evaluated the protein requirement of elderly subjects on a rice and beans diet. Eight men, ages 60 to 81 years, participated in studies to determine nitrogen balance response to graded intakes of rice and beans protein within the sub-maintenance to near-maintenance range of nitrogen intake. All subjects were involved in three eight-day study periods, each consisting of one day on a “protein-free” diet and seven days on a test diet. The test diets were assigned in random order, and included 0.25±0.08, 0.46±0.90, and 0.63±0.13 g protein per kilogram of body weight per day, respectively. Only two subjects achieved positive nitrogen balance, both at the highest protein intake. The calculated protein allowance at α=97.5% for this population on a typical Brazilian rice/beans diet was 1.44 g/(kg.d). This amount is approximately twice the recommended allowance for elderly subjects.

Soybean products for feeding infants, children and adults under nutritional stress

This review points out the good quality of well-processed soya products. Normal infants, children and adults are able to utilize the protein and other nutrients present in the soya, when fed these products in amounts that will cover their needs. Under nutritional stress, such as in infant malnutrition, soya products such as soya-milk have been shown to help in the children’s recovery. Clinical and biochemical data show that their recovery is similar to that obtained with cow’s milk. Milk- or lactose-intolerant children and adults, who present a public health problem in some developing countries, could benefit from the high nutritive value and low cost of soy milk. Soya products have been shown to decrease cholesterol and other levels of blood lipids. Considering the availability of the several soya products in the market, this possibility has to be further explored. The utilization of soya products in preparing liquid formulas for oral or tube-feeding opens new fields for the treatment of several diseases, insuring at the same time adequate nutrition for the patients. From a practical point of view, in spite of all that is known about soybeans and soybean products, its use as human food, even in countries where it is produced in large quantities, is very low. It seems that local governments are not aware of the importance of soya for the solution to their serious food and nutrition problems. What is known on the subject has to leave the laboratories, research centers and universities and be transferred as food for the mouths of the needy populations. This has to be understood as an urgent duty of national governments. There is no doubt that soya is the cheapest and one of the best-quality foods available to help solve the present hunger problem of the world today.

THE SHUTE TEST FOR CHECKING UNBALANCE PRODUCED BY LACK OF VITAMIN E

Evan Shute has dem~nstratedl-~ the presence of an anti-proteolytic factor in the blood serum of aborting women. Such sera, under the action of trypsin, reveal no freeing of acid radicals. Vitamin E, under certain circumstances, corrects this anomaly. In 120 pregnant women studied in the Sao Paulo Maternity Hospital, we have recorded 53 who presented tryptic digestion resistance; that is, they presented positive reactions. The following types of curves (summarized in FIGURES 1 and 2) were ohtained by us: (A) Curve representing negative Shute test obtained with pregnant women under good nutritional conditions. No resistance to tryptic digestion; Wassermann positive; normal evolution of pregnancy. (B) Curve representing an initial resistance period, with unstable vitaminic balance. Digestion proceeded slowly, with some resistance. Pregnancy developed under precarious conditions. There seemed to exist some vitaminic unbalance due to defective nutrition

Self selection of dietary protein from rice and beans

When rats were given a choice between diets of rice and beans containing 7 percent protein, they ate on the average four times more rice than beans. Supplementation of the bean diet with methionine increased the intake of beans to a level very close to that of unsupplemented rice. When lysine and threonine were added to the rice diet, the intake of this supplemented cereal increased. The ratio of consumption of rice to beans was similar to the unsupplemented rice and bean diets. Protein Efficiency Ratios (PER) were increased and growth performance was better than that observed for rats eating the unsupplemented foods. The amino acid supplementation of both rice and bean diets resulted in the high average intake of rice being maintained. In addition the intake of beans was increased compared to the intake when the beans were not supplemented. Weight gain was double that found in the groups fed on unsupplemented rice and beans, the PER values were high. Thus, it appears that the free choice of rats can be c...