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A NUTRITIONAL SURVEY OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN OXFORDSHIRE
LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM
i. Five schools in Oxfordshire towns were visited, and four
in small villages. For a comparison, three schools were
visited in Walthamstow and two in Birmingham.
ii. 684 children, aged between 5 and 14 years, wore examined
in May to July 1943. This included a clinical examination
(including measurements of height and weight); analyses of
haemoglobin in blood, and protein and vitamin C in serum; and
a test of dark-adaptation. A dietist visited the homes of
certain children.
iii. The general health rating of the children was best in
Oxfordshire town schools. The Walthamstow schools rated
second, the Oxfordshire village schools third, and the
Birmingham schools rated lowest.
iv. The Oxfordshire children were taller and heavier than the
L.C.C. standards for elementary school children (1938).
v. Vitamin C levels in serum were lower in children from
Oxfordshire town, Birmingham and Walthamstow schools, than in
those from the Oxfordshire village schools. The availability
of new potatoes and garden food stuffs accounted primarily
for the differences.
vi. The school meal, as served in the schools visited, did
not raise the mean serum vitamin C level to that of the
children who did not take the meal. In interpreting this,
account must be taken of the home conditions of the two groups
and also of the vitamin content of the food as served in the
schools. The use of foodstuffs of high vitamin C content
should be encouraged for both school and home meals.
vii. An interesting finding in respect of the serum protein
levels was that the girls had significantly higher values than
had the boys. The serum protein levels were lowest in the
age groups 5-8 and highest in the age group 8-12 years. Small
but insignificant differences were noted in favour of the
group not taking the school meal. There was no evidence of
protein deficiency.
viii. Haemoglobin levels were higher for the school children
of Oxfordshire and Birmingham than those recently reported for
London and Edinburgh.
ix. There was no significant difference, as judged by the
clinical or the biochemical results, between the children who
took school meals and those who did not. But the families of
the children who took the meal were larger and also often
depended upon the school dinner as the child's main meal of
the day. Both these facts would tend to discount the
beneficial effects of the meal on the nutriture of the
children.
Particular attention is drawn to item V of the summary and to
the need for consumption of sufficient potatoes (new and old) and
garden produce in order to increase the intake of Ascorbic Acid
(Vitamin C).
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