Estudos nutricionais das populações rurais da Amazônia. I - Várzea do rio Solimões

Abstract

In the absense of any previous published data on the nutritional status of people living in the rural areas of the Amaon a nutrition survey was performed on a riverside population inhabiting the fertile varzea of the River Solimões. The study area included the banks of two hundred kilometers of river between the town of Coari and the mouth of the River Purus, in the State of Amazonas, Brasil. Every one in ten houses was visited and fifty nine mothers and their one hundred and thirty nine children under six years of age were interviewed and examined. Results are presented concerning the literacy, hygienic and sanitary conditions, child mortality and morbidity, infant feeding, twenty four hour dietary history and food tabus of the mothers and clinical, anthropometric and biochemical findings in the children of the population studied. Infant mortality was 76.4 per thousand a low figure, considering the high rate of maternal illiteracy, lack of hygiene and sanitary concepts, probably related to the protective effects of breast feeding which the majority of children benefited from in the first six months of life. Whilst infant foods were introduced for the majority of children in this period, breast milk was not substituted but was supplemented or complemented and was nearly always offered on demand without any schedule. On average breast feeding lasted thirteen months. Diarrhoea was found in 27.3% of the children in their first year of life, affecting only 14% in the first semester against 50% in the second semester. In the subsequent age groups diarrhoea was found in approximally 25% of the children at the time of the examination. Wasting was most prominent in the first year of life affecting 25% in the second semester. Stunting increased gradually from 15% in the first semester until 80% in the fourth year. Clinical signs possibly associated with vitamin A deficiency were noted in 20% and riboflavin deficiency in 25% of the children. Biochemical evidence of iron deficiency anemia was found in 70% and dental caries in 47% of the children examined. The adult diet appears to be based on fish and cassava flour with little cereal, legume or vegetable consumption. Fifteen percent of the women reported having eaten game in the last twenty four hours whilst the consumption of wild fruits was a little more frequent. Food tabus were reported more commonly in lactation than pregnancy and related mostly to the avoidance of fish and preference for meat during this period.