1. The prevalence of visual defects, especially from causes associated with nutritional deficiencies, and their relation to diarrhoea in rural Bangladesh have been studied. A trained physician and a team of health workers examined visual defects in 149 villages, with a total population of 182976.

2. According to WHO classification, night blindness (XN) was found in only 0.03 persons/1000 population and 0.04 were found to have conjunctival xerosis (XIA) and Bitot's spot (XIB). Corneal xerosis (X2, X3A, X3B) also was found in 0.04 persons/1000. Night blindness combined with conjunctival xerosis and Bitot's spot (XN + XIA + XIB) was present in 1.69 persons/1000 and all combined stages of active xerophthalmia were seen in 0.06 persons/1000. Xerophthalmia prevailed up to age 19 years. Males had a significantly higher (2.9) incidence/1000 than did females (1.2).

3. The total rate of keratomalacial scar for all ages was 0.31 persons/1000, while corneal opacity from other causes was seen in 2.25 persons/1000 population.

4. More than 2.06 persons/1000 had ocular manifestations of one or more vitamin A deficiencies, while 4.47 persons/1000 had other ocular diseases, except for cataracts.

5. Only 12.0% of all the corneal scars (XS) were due to keratomalacia.

6. History of night blindness is a good indicator of vitamin A deficiency. In 96% of cases, night blindness was associated with conjunctival xerosis and Bitot's spot (XN + XIA + XIB).

7. The onset of approximately 86% of cases of corneal xerosis (X2, X3A, X3B) and night blindness associated with conjunctival xerosis and Bitot's spot (XN + XIA + XIB) was related to diarrhoea.

1. Twenty-nine patients who had suffered from essential hypertension for an average of 8 years, all receiving long-term medication for hypertension, were subject to therapy with vegan food for 1 year. In almost all cases medication was withdrawn or drastically reduced. There was a significant decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure. A number of reported symptoms disappeared.

2. There was a significant improvement in a number of clinical variables as well as a significant change in various biochemical indices such as urea, haptoglobin, cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations in blood.

3. Subjectively all patients reported improvement.

4. Selected patients, with a fear of side-effects of medication, who are interested in alternative health care might replace conventional medication with this dietary regimen.

1. This report explores the characteristics that influenced median intakes of energy and ten nutrients in a representative sample of 1055 adolescents (11–16 years) in Tasmania, Australia.

2. Among girls, the characteristic with greatest influence on intakes was different for different nutrients. Thus, median intakes of fat, iron, thiamin and niacin-equivalent were lower in heavier, fatter girls. Girls from larger families consumed more riboflavin, while girls with poorly educated mothers consumed less vitamin A. Girls who regularly took vitamin supplements had higher median intakes of (food-derived) calcium.

3. Among boys the increase of intakes of energy and nutrients with age overshadowed the influence of other characteristics.

4. Among younger boys the characteristic with greatest influence varied. Those with highly educated fathers had lower median intakes of energy and carbohydrate; those who exercised vigorously consumed more fat; those who smoked ‘heavily’ (> 10 cigarettes in the previous week) consumed more thiamin and niacin-equivalent.

5. Among older boys the characteristic with greatest influence varied. Those who drank ‘heavily’ (> five glasses in the previous week) had higher intakes of energy and fat. Those from professional–managerial households consumed more thiamin.

6. For vitamin C, there was no sex difference in intakes. Social status had the greatest influence, with children from professional–managerial households eating more.

7. Food choices underlying these differences in energy and nutrient intakes were explored.

1. The onset of cold-induced thermogenesis was studied in a strain of mice which produced among their offspring genetically-obese (ob/ob) individuals. A thermogenic response was present in a majority by day 5 after birth.

2. The thermogenic response to cold was measured on days 5, 10 or 15 after birth, and the animals reared and the onset of obesity noted. The correlation between the subsequent development of obesity and a poor thermogenic response in early life was low.

3. A poor thermogenic response at day 15 was associated with the presence in brown adipocytes of mitochondria with disordered internal structures.

4. At day 42 both non-obese and obviously-obese mice showed a similar thermogenic response to moderate cold exposure.

5. It would seem that in this strain of mice disordered internal mitochondria1 structure in brown adipose tissue is associated with a poor thermogenic response to cold, but not invariably with the subsequent onset of obesity.

1. Two groups of patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), with dietary advice randomized between a low-carbohydrate (LC) diet and a modified-fat (MF) diet, were followed to determine the effect of diet on phospholipid fatty acid composition of platelets and on development of retinopathy in the 7 years following diagnosis. There was a tendency for retinopathy to occur more frequently in those randomiEd to the LC diet. This difference was not statistically significant, and fatty acid composition of platelets did not differ significantly in those with and without retinopathy.

2. Linoleic acid values from platelet phospholipid fatty acids were significantly higher in NIDDM on an MF diet compared with an LC diet.

3. There was no difference between the two dietary subgroups with respect to platelet arachidonic acid, but this was lower in the whole diabetic population when compared with non-diabetics.

4. The arachidonic acid values correlated with neither glycosylated haemoglobin nor mean glycaemia.

5. Significant correlation between the fatty acid values for platelets and plasma cholesterol esters was found only for 16:0.

1. Eight young men of normal weight were maintained for 1 week on a weight-maintenance diet followed by a 1-week period of over-feeding with extra fat designed to increase energy intake by 50%. Two 36 h calorimetry sessions with low and high physical activities were included in each feeding period. Faecal and urine collections permitted checks on energy malabsorption and nitrogen excretion.

2. Over-feeding led to increases in body-weight, faecal energy and N excretion and in estimated N retention. Faecal energy outputs on the maintenance and over-feeding diets were 5 and 4.4% of the respective gross energy intakes.

3. Energy expenditure on fat over-feeding increased by 5.6% on the low-activity regimen and 6.4% on the high-activity regimen. This amounted, in terms of the extra energy intake, to 9 and 11 % on the inactive and active schedules respectively. The increase affected day- and night-time rates of energy expenditure plus the basal metabolic rate. Individuals with a low percentage body fat showed the greatest response to over-feeding.

4. Nutrient-balance studies derived from calorimetry suggested that fat over-feeding led to substantial fat deposition with no evidence of sparing of carbohydrate oxidation. The theoretical cost of depositing dietary fat was exceeded, suggesting that regulatory thermogenic mechanisms may have been stimulated to a small extent.

1. Studies have claimed that an enhancement of the thermic effect of a meal (TEM) is an important adaptive mechanism to account for energy wastage during over-feeding.

2. Eight healthy normal-weight young men were studied during 1 week on a weight-maintenance diet and again during 1 week when they were over-fed by 50% with fat. During each experimental week, the subject occupied a whole-body indirect calorimeter at 26° for two separate periods of 36 h. The periods differed in the amount of exercise they contained. The thermic responses to the identical meals were measured during rest on one occasion and during exercise on a bicycle ergometer on the other.

3. On the maintenance diet the absolute TEM (kJ/min) was 1.51 (SD 0.42) at rest and 1.31 (SD 0.75) during exercise (no significant difference). The equivalent values (kJ/min) on the over-feeding diet were 2.2 (SD 0.48) and 1.97 (SD 0.64) (no significant difference).

4. The absence of a significant interaction between TEM and exercise was also demonstrated by the fact that the effect of over-feeding on total 24 h energy expenditure was unaffected by the subject's level of physical activity while in the calorimeter.

5. In conclusion, the present study has provided no evidence to support the hypothesis that TEM is enhanced during exercise.

1. The chromium concentration was determined in 261 samples of breast milk collected by manual expression from forty-five American women.

2. Cr was measured in whole, liquid milk by graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry, using the method of standard additions.

3. The mean Cr content of the breast milk samples was 0.30 ng/ml. The range of individual values was 0.06–1.56 ng/ml and did not change significantly with duration of lactation.

4. The Cr content of breast milk from these American women is similar to levels reported recently in milk from Finnish women.

1. Female Wistar rats were given an adequate-zinc (60 μg/g) or low-Zn (7 μg/g) diet for a minimum of 2 weeks and then mated. They were then either continued on the same diets (+Zn –Fe or –Zn –Fe) or given similar diets supplemented with four times the normal level of iron (+Zn + Fe or –Zn + Fe). The day before parturition they were killed and the fetuses removed and analysed.

2. There were no differences in numbers of fetuses or the number of resorption sites. In the absence of Fe supplementation, the mean fetal wet weight was significantly less (P < 0.05) in the low-Zn group but there was no effect of Zn in the two Fe-supplemented groups. The addition of Fe significantly decreased (P < 0.05) the mean fetal wet weight in the adequate-Zn groups but had no effect in the low-Zn groups. There were no differences in fetal dry weight, fat, protein or DNA content. Both Fe-supplemented groups produced fetuses of higher Fe concentration (P < 0.01), and mothers with higher bone Fe-concentration (P < 0.01) compared with the non-supplemented groups. The low-Zn groups produced fetuses of lower Zn concentration (P < 0,001) than the adequate-Zn groups but there was no effect on maternal bone Zn concentration.

3. It was concluded that Fe-supplements did not adversely affect fetal growth from mothers given a low-Zn diet, but the addition of Zn to the unsupplemented diet increased fetal wet weight. These findings were not accompanied by any other differences in fetal composition or dry weight, and do not therefore lend support to the suggestion of an Fe-Zn interaction.

1. The intake of mammary secretion from delivery to day 5 post-partum was determined by test-weighing nine infants using an integrating electronic balance. The mean yield of colostrum for the first 24 h after birth was 37.1 (range 7.0–122.5) g and was 408 (range 98.3–775) and 705.4(range 452.5–876)g/24h on days 3 and 5 post-partum respectively.

2. The milk yield of mothers on either day 14 or 28 post-partum was determined by test-weighing the mother. The mean milk yield was 1.156 (SD 0.167) kg/24 h.

3. A significant correlation (P < 0.001; r 0.85, n 42) was found between milk yield measured by test-weighing the infant and milk yield measured by test-weighing the mother, confirming that it is possible to obtain a similar estimate of milk consumed using either of the two methods of test-weighing

4. There was a significant positive correlation (P < 0.001) between lactose concentration and milk yield for the first 5 d post-partum (r 0.76, n 22); a significant negative correlation (P < 0.001) between protein concentration and milk yield (r – 0.74, n 22) and no significant correlation between fat concentration and milk yield for the period studied.

5. The calculated energy intake of infants during the first 24 h after birth was only 0.12 (range 0.02–0.29) mJ. This increased to 1.44 (range 0.83–2.18) and 2.99 (range 2.49–4.06) mJ/24 h by days 3 and 14–28 post-partum respectively.

1. The effect of a palatable granulated guar-gum preparation (10 g twice daily) was studied in obese subjects. The acute effect of a single dose of guar gum to reduce the peak postprandial whole blood glucose levels (about 10%) was verified. Following long-term treatment, a further reduction was seen in the obese subjects with the highest postprandial glucose levels. Since the postprandial plasma insulin levels were essentially unchanged, this finding suggested an increased responsiveness to insulin. Total serum cholesterol levels were significantly reduced following long-term treatment but serum α-cholesterol levels, representing the high-density-lipoprotein fraction, was unchanged.

2. Body-weight was significantly reduced during guar-gum treatment even though the patients were asked to maintain their normal dietary habits. Daily hunger ratings recorded for up to 10 weeks showed that guar gum reduced hunger significantly better than commercially available bran taken in the same way.

3. Thus, guar gum seemed to influence carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in a beneficial way in obese subjects. The reduction in hunger would offer an additional benefit to these patients.

1. Incubation of hepatic microsomes with retinol resulted in formation of retinyl esters and glucuronides. The presence of the cytosolic lipid-protein aggregate (LPA) in the system in addition induced release of holoretinol-binding protein from the microsomes. The extent of these reactions was influenced by the addition of coenzyme A and ATP, or uridine diphosphate glucuronic acid.

2. Incubation of hepatic microsomes containing labelled retinyl esters with the LPA resulted in the appearance of the labelled retinyl esters in the LPA.

3. Small amounts of retinoic acid were formed on incubation of retinol with microsomes (approximately 1% of added retinol); this was found to be associated with a protein of approximately 14500 molecular weight, and less than 10% was associated with the LPA. This is in contrast to retinol, which was found to be almost completely associated with the LPA.

4. The cytosolic LPA was associated both with carotene-cleavage activity and alcohol dehydrogenase (NAD(P)+) (EC 1. 1. 1. 71) activity.

5. These findings lend some support to the concept of a specific role for hepatic LPA.

1. Groups of rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri; mean weight 5 g) were given diets containing 10, 12, 14, 17, 21, 24 and 26 g lysine/kg diet for 12 weeks.

2. By analysis of the growth values the dietary requirement of lysine in this experiment was found to be 19 g/kg diet. A similar requirement value was obtained from a dose-response curve of expired 14CO2 (following an intraperitoneal injection of L-[U-14C]lysine) v. dietary lysine concentration.

3. Liver concentrations of total lipid and carnitine and activities of lysine-α-ketoglutarate reductase (saccharopine dehydrogenase (NADP+, lysine-forming), EC 1. 5. 1. 8 ) in the liver were not significantly different in fish from the different dietary treatments. Hepatosomatic index, however, was higher in those fish given low levels of dietary lysine.

1. In sheep, provided with re-entrant cannulas in the caudal duodenum and with an infusion tube into the abomasal fundus, emptying of the liquid phase of the abomasal contents was studied with [57Co]EDTA. Radioactivity was measured continuously with Geiger-Müller counters placed along the re-entrant cannulas.

2. It appeared that first-order kinetics could be applied to the elimination of [57Co]EDTA from the abomasum. Mean retention time of this label in the abomasum was 40–50 min.

3. Infusion of a suspension of soya-bean protein in saline (9 g sodium chloride/l) caused an initially decreased rate of abomasal emptying, but after 48 h an adaptation had occurred to the original rate of emptying producing an increased volume of abomasal contents and increased flow-rate of digesta into the duodenum.

1. The effect of feeding casein, lactalbumin, soya-bean protein, gluten or gelatin on hepatic lipogenesis and the levels of hepatic fatty acid synthetase (FAS), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1. 1. 1.49; G6PD), malic enzyme (EC 1. 1. 1.40; ME) ATP-citrate lyase (EC 4. 1. 3. 8; CL), acetyl CoA carboxylase (EC 6.4.1.2; ACCx) and glucokinase (EC 2. 7. 1. 2; GK) was examined in young growing rats.

2. The total activities of ACCx, FAS, CL, GK, G6PD, GK, ME and fatty acid synthesis in vivo were positively correlated with protein quality.

3. The specific activities of ACCx, FAS, CL, G6PD and fatty acid synthesis in vivo were positively correlated with protein quality.

4. The specific activities of GK and ME were unrelated to protein quality.

5. The results demonstrate a dissociation between ME and hepatic lipogenesis and suggest a role for the NADPH generated by ME which is not related to the needs of fatty acid synthesis.

1. The confounding effects of undernourishment and body cooling, resulting from maternal separation, were investigated by separating food and warmth deprivation. Rat pups aged 3–16 d were deprived of food for alternate 24-h periods by removal from the lactating mother. Some of the pups were placed with a foster mother, who kept them warm, whereas others were put in an empty cage at 22° which resulted in a sharp drop in body temperature.

2. Pups which were kept warm showed great fluctuations in weight between periods of starvation and feeding. The cooled pups lost less weight during deprivation but also recovered less on refeeding.

3. The resultant growth rate was much lower in non-fostered (i.e. cooled) than in fostered pups.

4. Up to the age of 8 d, cooled pups failed to raise their body temperature above that of the surroundings and did not digest the milk in their stomachs. Although, thereafter, they were able to raise their temperature to 26° and to digest stomach contents, the extra energy expended resulted in more severe growth restriction.

5. One-third of the pups died at 16 d but the rest were quickly rehabilitated by ad lib. feeding and showed a normal growth rate, although they remained smaller than the controls.

6. The development of nipples, hair, eye opening and vaginal opening was related more to chronological age than to weight.

7. A side effect of cooling was an almost complete abolition of active (REM) sleep, which is normally very high in infants; a slight rebound increase in active sleep was seen at 21 d. Direct as well as side effects of cooling may thus be responsible for some of the observed consequences of maternal separation.

1. Sheep were infused intravenously with 88Mo- and 35S-labelled tri- and tetrathiomolybdates (1–2 mg Mo).

2. Most of the plasma radioactivity was trichloroacetic acid (TCA)-insoluble after infusion, but the stability of this fraction was reduced by pre-infusion or subsequent infusion with unlabelled thiomolybdates. Most of the 88Mo and 35S was shown to be associated with albumin.

3. It was concluded that compounds bound to albumin were relatively stable, but displaced or unbound thiomolybdates were rapidly hydrolysed to molybdate and sulphate.

4. There was no evidence of an irreversible interaction of either 35S or 88Mo with copper in plasma, despite the appearance of a TCA-insoluble Cu fraction. Increased dietary Cu did not increase the retention of 35S in plasma or affect the exchangeability of 35S-labelled thiomolybdates bound to albumin.

1. The intake by growing pigs of a diet containing British rapeseed meal (Brsm) extracted once with water was greater than that of a similar diet containing untreated Brsm, and a diet containing Brsm extracted twice with water was eaten more readily than one containing Brsm extracted once with water. Treatment of Brsm with slaked lime increased slightly its acceptability by growing pigs.

2. The addition of a water extract of Brsm to a soya-bean meal (Sbm) diet reduced voluntary intake compared with the voluntary intake of the same Sbm diet with water added. Addition to the diet of a water extract passed through an anion exchange column increased food intake but if a cation exchange column was used there was no effect on intake.

3. Treated rapeseed meals and extracts were analysed for glucosinolates, sinapine and tannins; the results indicated that glucosinolates rather than sinapine or tannin were associated with low feed intake.

1. The hydrogenation of a range of double-bond positional and configurational octadecenoic acid isomers (cis (δ2 and δ4 to δ13) and trans (δ2 and δ5 to δ13)) to stearic acid by a rumen Fusocillus sp. were examined.

2. The cis and trans δS to δ13 isomers were all hydrogenated to some extent by late-log-phase cultures added to suspensions of individual isomers and incubated for a further 3 h. Of the cis-isomers, δ5 to δll (79–73% conversion to stearic acid) were the preferred substrates. δ24s- (30%) and δ13-cis-isomers ( 5 % ) were poorly hydrogenated. Of the trans-isomers, δ8, δ9 and δ10 were 45% converted to stearic acid, the other isomers were poorly hydrogenated. These results are in agreement with less extensive studies using sheep rumen micro-organisms.

3. When cultures were grown from small inocula in media containing individual isomers more extensive hydrogenation was found than with late-log-phase cultures. At 24 h, cis δ2, δ4 and δ5 gave the highest conversions to stearic acid (90%) followed by the cis δ6 to δ12 and trans δ8 to δ10 isomers (approximately 75%), although at 6 and 12 h δ9-trans gave higher yields of stearic acid than δ9-cis, probably because the growth of the cis cultures showed a longer log-phase.