Iron deficiency (ID) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) remain prevalent nutritional problems in many parts of the world. Among infants and young children, IDA has adverse effects on growth and development. Mental deficits exhibited in infancy can be long lasting. Efforts are being made to combat these problems. However, in the past decade little success was made. Currently there is interest in developing home fortificants that are versatile, inexpensive, efficacious and effective. One of these is the Sprinkles, which contain iron fumarate coated with a soy lipid and other micronutrients. The Sprinkles is packaged in small sachets and intended to be added to ready-to-eat home-prepared complementary foods once a day. An acceptance test was conducted in 5 cities in China. The Sprinkles was provided for the acceptance by infants aged 6-24 months and children of 2-5 years in 4 successive weeks. Their mothers were interviewed 4 times during the period of the study. The results showed that both the mothers, the infants and young children accepted the foods with added Sprinkles well.

In order to find out a parameter for the medical diagnosis and therapeutic criteria of endemic fluorosis, the excretory level of fluorine in urine was determined between the patients of bone fluorosclerosis and those who lived in the district of endemic fluorosis. The results showed that both the patients and the normal people in the endemic area of fluorosis excreted more fluorine in urine than the others, because of drinking highly fluorina-ted water. Thus a positive correlation was found between the amount of fluorine in urine and the degree of fluorinated drinking water, while no significant difference was found between the patients and the normal individuals. The urinary output of fluorine fluctuated in a few cases of fluorosclerosis.From the data obtained we may, perhaps, conclude that the excretion rate of fluorine in urine may be considered as a parameter of fluorine overload in the body, but not as applicable to the medical diagnosis or treatment in fluorosis.

Dietary survey in lactating mothers and analysis of composition of breast milk were performed. 73 healthy women, full term and normal delivery, 21-32 years of age, without family history of "insufficient milk secretion" or environmental, psychiatric and emotional disturbance were included in this study. 33 of them were female workers in the urban district and 40 of them were peasant women in the countryside. By comparing the daily dietary nutrient intakes of the urban and rural groups of lactating mothers with that recommended by the Chinese Nutrition Society (1981 revised), one can see that except iron and thiamine, all the others were below the standard recommended. Among these, total calories were only 82.7% and 77.3% respectively, protein 80.6% and 73.1%, riboflavin 96.7% and 41.1%, calcium 21.9% and 25.2% respectively. Intake of animal protein, total fat and fat energy ratio of the urban group were higher than that of the rural group, meanwhile the content of protein, fat and zinc in the breast milk of the urban group were also higher than that of the rural group, By stepwise regression analysis the following regression function was conducted;Y = 0.9-107 + 0.007x, Y represent the estimated protein content in the breast milk, and x, the fat energy ratio in the mothers diet. Positive correlation was seen between the dietary intake of animal protein and zinc content in the breast milk. r=0.47, p

A continued dietary survey was conducted for 42 nursing mothers by case method in a series of home visiting and counselling to each one in a fortnight interval for three months in a town of rural area in Guangdong. The average food as well as nutrients intake was quite stable, 2822 to 3122 kcal each day in six observations. Protein, about 41% of which was from animal origin, provided 11-12% of the total calorie intake. Six milk samples of each mother were collected for ascorbic acid analysis.With the acceptance of the mothers to the advisory suggestions, they consumed more fruits and vegetables instead of the traditional taboo. The ascorbicacid content of the mothers' milk changes from 29.8 mg per litre at the first estimation to 46.5 mg per litre at the sixth (P

0.05) from those during the test period (18.8?1.22 mg and 0.75?0.07 mg).The mean level of reduced ascorbic acid in blood plasma during the control and test period were 0.83?0.04 mg/100 ml and 0.81?0.02 mg/100ml respectively. The results also showed that the 75 mg intake of ascorbic acid per day could satisfy the normal male college students requirement. This study agreed with the previous works on the subject.

The trypsin inhibitor of soybean can not be removed when, the dry bean in heated by steaming. The presence of a definite amount of water is necessary for such a process. The quantitative relationship between the water content of the bean during steaming and the degree of the removal of the trypsin inhibitor has been studied. It was found that the trypsin inhibitor can be completely removed by steaming at atmospheric pressure for 30 minutes when the water content of the bean reached 45-55% after soaking in water at 20-30℃ for 4 hours or in the water at 10℃ for 8 hours or longer. The role played by water in the removal of the trypsin inhibitor is postulated.

It has been demonstrated by animal and human experiments that the growth promoting effect of soybean milk substitute formula 5410 is comparable with that of human milk or cow's milk formula commonly used in infant feeding. It was assumed that such a favorable effect is due in part to the inclusion of 5% of egg yolk powder in the formula. However, such an assumption remains to be confirmed.In the present animal experiment, the 5% egg yolk powder was either removed (diet 5700), or substituted with 5% whole egg powder (diet 5411), 5% whole cow's milk powder (diet 5720), 10% whole cow's milk powder (diet 5721).It was fouad that the growth promoting effect of diet 5411 is the, same as that of 5410, while that of the other, diets are all significantly inferior than that of 5410. The role played by the definite amount of egg yolk in the soybean milk substitute is postulated.