A note on some of the scientific studies undertaken by members of the Colonial Medical Service during the period 1930-47, with a bibliography.

  • Great Britain. Colonial Medical Service
Date:
1949
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A note on some of the scientific studies undertaken by members of the Colonial Medical Service during the period 1930-47, with a bibliography. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    others concluded that Phrynoderma was pathognomic of Vitamin A deficiency, but it is now recognised that it may have other causes. g. In the Gold Coast, a peculiar syndrome occurring in malnourished infants was described by Williams (1933), while a similar condition was described by Gillan (1934) in Kenya. This syndrome, which is now known widely under its West African name of “‘ Kwashiorkor’’, was characterised by skin and mucous membrane lesions, oedema, and gastro-intestinal dis- turbance. Although it was regarded by some workers as an infantile form of pellagra, there are grounds for attributing it to lack of more than one member of the Vitamin B complex, associated with ‘‘ high carbohydrate—low protein ’’ intake. Pellagra and allied conditions were also receiving attention in Nigeria, and the first of a series of careful reports on a local form of retro-. bulbar neuritis was published by D. G. F. Moore in 1934. It soon became clear that this neuritis was related to pellagra, that it was associated with a cassava diet, and that it responded to treatment with marmite. It is now generally recognised as a manifestation of a B-complex deficiency, lack of nicotinic acid being the prominent feature. | to. A number of valuable investigations were carried out by Rosedale and his colleagues in Malaya. The results of an experiment to determine the effects of different proteins on growth were published in 1934, in which the superior value of animal protein was clearly demonstrated. In the same year Rosedale and Oliveiro recorded their assays of the fat-soluble vitamins of tropical food oils, the high Vitamin A content of red palm oil being a notable finding. The mineral content of a large number of tropical foodstuffs was determined by Morris and Rosedale (1935), who showed that quantitative variations were related to differences in soils, fertilisers, and methods of cultivation. Further analyses of local foodstuffs were published by Rosedale (1935), and a thorough survey of the whole subject of Malayan dietaries, with recommendations for the correction of defects, was contained in a paper by the same author which appeared in 1936. Rosedale (1939) investigated the nutritive value of rice, paying special attention to the effect of ‘‘ polishing ”’ upon protein and mineral content. In 1934, Simpson published studies relating to the polyneuritis which affects pigeons fed on polished rice, con- cluding that the condition was not caused by toxins ingested with the rice. An investigation of the carotene content of red palm oil was made by affecting vitamin content were determined. Simpson (1939) also studied the effects of parboiling rice, showing the special value of this process where retention of thiamin is concerned. 11. Loewenthal (1935) in Uganda found a high incidence of Vitamin A deficiency among school children. The condition appeared to be related to the adoption of a one-crop policy. It was beginning to become clear that a large number of East Africans were subsisting upon diets which, although sufficient to prevent the occurrence of gross manifestations of malnutrition, were nevertheless inadequate for the development and maintenance of optimal function. Hennessey (1936) found that haemoglobin values among apparently healthy convicts in Uganda were markedly below those of healthy Europeans, while a degree of macrocytosis was common; it was thought at the time that the latter finding might be a physiological peculiarity of the East African native, but further work was to show that defective intake of the extrinsic substance required for efficient erythropoiesis was responsible (Trowell (1939) ). Trowell (1937) published a study of a deficiency state occurring in Kenya children, which he believed to be pellagra. This was the first of a series of more obscure nutritional diseases of East Africa. His researches into the
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