NUTRITIONREVIEWS

VOL. 17 APRIL 1959 No. 4

NUTRITION, ANTHROPOLOGY, AND THE STUDY OF MAN

If anthropologists have much to learn The study of man is replete with one-
from the specialized studies of nutrition, sided points of view. The development of
nutritionists also have something to gain man and civilization has variously been
from the anthropologist. If anthropologists attributed to the topography, latitude,
gain from a consideration of the cultural climate, skin color, individual stature, tech-
significance of food habits, perhaps nutri- nology, systems of production, kinds or
tionists could profit from wider speculations numbers of gods, and even the bean. Few
on man and civilization. students of man are sufficiently specialized
I n growing proof of this, recent years in more than a few disciplines to give ade-
have seen increasing interaction between quate attention to more than a few sets of
the fields of anthropology and nutrition. factors. Even though the past fifty years of
Anthropology is concerned with the develop- anthropology generally favor attributing
ment of man and his behavior; nutrition is man’s development to multiple and com-
involved in understanding the specific rela- plex factors, every once in a while someone
tionship of man and his behavior on the proposes a particularly suggestive correla-
one hand, and the elements of the environ- tion between some single factor and human
ment that nourish him on the other. It is or cultural development.
worthwhile, periodically, to review areas of I n terms of diet as a factor, why cannot
common interest to better understand the the entire organism respond to different diets
nature of the benefits being derived from in appropriate ways, so that we do not have
this association, and to re-examine the merely different diets for men, but rather
potentialities. different diets for different men? Nutrition-
The history of man has been one of con- ists in the so-called backward areas are
tinuing adjustments to different environ- increasingly aware of this; nutritionists in
ments, and diet is one of the central factors the centers of scientific study, however,
in the adjustments of the organism to an seem to be less aware of it. If this general
environment. If a now extinct giant ape view is correct, it means that the nutrition-
(Pei Wen-Chung, Am. Anthrop. 69, 834 ist’s task is, in a sense, multiplied by the
(2957)) was carnivorous, and contemporary number of distinct environment-diet-races
apes are essentially herbivorous and insec- of man that can be identified. Each of these
tivorous, why is it not possible for different races may have quite a different cultural
societies of men, over the millenia of human adjustment to a given environment.
development, to make markedly different For example, nutritionists in Guatemala
adjustments t o different environments? have been concerned over the infant malnu-
Certainly many racial characteristics, such trition that produces such spectacular con-
as the sub-cutaneous fat of the mongoloid ditions as kwashiorkor; at the same time
and the lankiness of the Nilotic Negro can nutritionists in general claim concern with
be attributed to long termed environmental the optimum condition of man. The anthro-
adaptations (C. S. Coon, S. M. Garn, J. B. pologist, looking a t the Guatemalan Indian,
Birdsell, Races, Springfield (1950);R. Linton, is impressed with the infant malnutrition,
“Crops, Soils and Culture in America”, The but he is equally impressed with the ability
M a y a and Their Neighbors, N. Y., 1940, pp. of the adult Indian male, small and wiry, to
32-40; C. Collazos, Arch. venexol. nutricion carry a load of 100 pounds or more (so
6, 343 (1954); Nutrition 28, 273 (1944)). heavy, in fact, that he cannot hoist it alone)
97
98 NUTRITION REVIEWS [Vol. 17, No. 4

for three or four consecutive days. The for existence. Where the child is not given
anthropologist, whose most extensive physi- milk throughout a population, it is not re-
cal effort may be walking half a mile to his garded by the anthropologist as ignorance,
office, can only marvel a t the ability of the but as a manifestation of some positive
Indian to maintain a condition that seems satisfaction that the members of the popula-
surprisingly optimum in terms of the de- tion achieve from acting as they do. There-
mands of his life. Similarly, the experiences fore, the issue is not one of filling a void
of Stefansson with the aboriginal pure meat that is ignorance, but of changing one
diet of the Eskimos, while flying in the face positive habit to another.
of some current findings of scientific nutri- When the anthropologist becomes in-
tion, does demand an explanation. The volved in a task such as this, he finds himself
anthropologist is seldom in a position to give working not merely with food habits of a
an explanation for either the Guatemalan subject population, but with the complex
corn and bean based capacity, or for the social relations that exist between the ap-
Eskimo’s meat based survival. Eventually, plied nutritionist, other public health person-
the nutritionist must contribute to this. nel, and members of the society in which
Thus, it seems that anthropologists and they are operating. The anthropologist finds
nutritionists can benefit from mutual con- that changing the work patterns and think-
sideration of the behavior of man through ing habits of the professional personnel is a
the ages. Oddly enough, however, the most necessary prerequisite for reaching the food
characteristic contact between anthropolo- habits of the subject population. I n the
gist and nutritionist has not been on this experience of the writer, these are equally
high level of scientific concern, but in the difficult.
much more prosaic issue of how to get The vested interest of the applied public
cooperation between one kind of man, the health worker in his activities and methods
applied nutritionist or dietician, and another, is quite as strong as is the interest of the
the member of a society. population in retaining their favored food
Applied nutritionists, unlike their scien- habits. Anthropological work of this kind,
tific brethren, are not concerned with the then, frequently becomes a matter of dealing
tine details of biochemical intake and reac- with the organization of public health work,
tions, but with the simple issues of whether for it is here that the habits of public health
children get enough milk or appropriate workers are manifest.
protein. On this level, as well, the relation- Once communication is established be-
ship between the fields of anthropology and tween the applied nutritionist and anthro-
nutrition can be a two-way affair. pologist in these situations, the latter also
Through the gradual identification of ap- becomes the learner. The nutritionist who
plied nutrition as a public health activity, distinguishes between socially distinct seg-
the applied nutritionist has begun to turn ments of a population in which he is making
to the anthropologist (and other social scien- a dietary survey brings out information of
tists as well) to find better ways to institute inestimable value to the anthropologist.
changes of food habits in population seg- The nutritionist’s information on the kinds
ments manifesting dietary deficiency dis- of changes or differences in diet occurring
eases. The anthropologist’s functional and between population segments varying in
wholistic approach is of particular utility in wealth, in general cultural traditions, or in
trying to find ways to change dietary habits. other social characteristics, provides the
He is trained to see the human habit as part anthropologist with a precise kind of data
of a complex pattern of behaviors, involving that he lacks either the time or capacity to
dynamic motivations and positive reasons collect himself. The nutritionist who clearly
April 19591 NUTRITION REVIEWS 99

identifies certain psychological characteris- but who can broaden their vision in order to
tics with nutritional conditions, such as the recognize the significance of the findings and
dullness of kwashiorkor children, provides perspectives of the other.
the anthropologist with insights into the Both a t the scientific level (understanding
culture of the people he is trying to under- what food man really needs) and the applied
stand. level (understanding how to help man get
The most fruitful interaction between the the food he does need) there is a broad and
fields of nutrition and anthropology can be
productive future for the collaborative ef-
derived through a recognition that each has
forts of anthropology arid nutrition.
perspectives and areas of understanding that
are not common to bot,h. While something is RICHARD N. ADAMS,PH.D.
to be gained through the training of special- Professor of Sociology &
ists of one field in the other, most scientific Anthropology
advancements will come from specialists Michigan State University
who are competent in their own discipline, East Lansing, Michigan

THE PROGNOSIS IN JUVENILE OBESITY

Obesity is not only an important nutri- ate, or severe depending on the relative per
tional problem in adults in this country, but cent overweight, the juvenile obese group
also has become an important nutritional made up 53 per cent of those classified as
problem among school children. More than severely obese, but only 12 per cent of those
ten per cent of the school children in two with mild obesity.
communities investigated were obese (Nutri- For comparative purposes n “norniiL1”
tion Reviews 16, 6 (1967)).Although long- group of 50 patients within 20 per cent of
term follow-up studies on the prognosis of normal weight were studied in a similar way.
obesity in childhood have not yet been These were chosen primarily for cooperation
carried out, a retrospective study of the role and intelligence and cannot be considered
of juvenile obesity in adult obesity has a control group. Where 50 per cent of the
recently appeared. juvenile obese group had obese fathers and
A. G. Mullins (Arch. Dis. Child. 33, 307 22 per cent were married to obese people,
(1958)) recorded the age, sex, height and the incidence in the normal group was 2 per
weight in 373 consecutive patients in a cent and 4 per cent, respectively. Obese
British medical out-patient department. One mothers were relatively common, being re-
hundred one of these patients were 20 per ported in 38 per cent of the normal group
cent or more overweight when compared and 60 per cent of the juvenile obese group.
with the standard tables of W. F. F. Kems- The group developing obesity in adult life
ley (Ann. Eugen. Lond. 16,316 (1952)). was intermediate between the other two but
Among these patients, those that had been tended to resemble more closely the juvenile
known “fatty” a t school (the most practical obese group. It was also observed that the
criterion) were classified as a juvenile obese juvenile obese group gained less weight dur-
group. The obese group included 26 per cent ing the physiological changes of pregnancy
of the men and 44 per cent of the women. and the menopause than other types of
Approximately one-third of the obese group obesity.
were cases of persistent juvenile obesity and The results of treatment of these patients,
included five men and 27 women. When the by getting them accustomed to a bulky low-
degree of obesity was classed as mild, moder- calorie diet and re-educating their eating