American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 9, 196-205, Copyright © 1961 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

All-Vegetable Protein Mixtures for Human Feeding

V. Clinical Trials with INCAP Mixtures 8 and 9 and with Corn and Beans

¹ From the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP), Guatemala, C.A.

Low cost vegetable mixtures containing over 25 per cent protein, intended for use in the prevention of protein malnutrition in technically underdeveloped areas, were fed experimentally to young children. These mixtures had been previously demonstrated to have a relatively high protein value by biologic trials with experimental animals. Mixture 8 contained 50 per cent lime-treated corn, 35 per cent sesame flour, 9 per cent cottonseed flour, 3 per cent Torula yeast and 3 per cent dehydrated leaf meal. Mixture 9B, the more practical for Central America, included 29 per cent each of uncooked ground corn and sorghum, 38 per cent cottonseed four, 3 per cent Torula yeast, 1 per cent CaCO₃ and 4,500 I.U. vitamin A acetate.

In eight children, each fed at an average protein intake of 2.8 gm. per kg. per day for five day balance periods, 19.1 per cent of the nitrogen intake was retained with Mixture 8 and 20.5 per cent with milk. In nine children, forty-eight balance periods on each diet at a protein intake between 2.0 and 3.0 gm. per kg. per day gave an average retention of 16.3 per cent for milk and 17.8 per cent for Mixture 9B. In thirteen balance periods at higher levels of intake, nitrogen retentions were essentially the same for milk and Mixture 9B; but in sixteen periods at levels of 1 gm. per kg. per day and below, retentions with milk were higher. No effect of fat on nitrogen retention was detected when it was added to either of the mixtures.

Six children with kwashiorkor were treated with Mixture 8 or a lower fat variation, Mixture 8A, and five children were treated with Mixture 9B. Results were similar to those previously obtained with milk. In field trials, involving 115 children in Guatemala for fifteen to nineteen weeks and fifty-three children in El Salvador for four weeks, approximately 97 per cent of the offerings were accepted and only 3 per cent rejected. On the basis of the extensive and favorable biologic and clinical findings, both mixtures are recommended for the supplementary and mixed feeding of infants and young children and as low cost protein-rich foods of good quality for persons of all ages in any area where the basic ingredients are available and where protein of animal origin is expensive or in short supply.