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VI. BIOLOGICAL UTILIZATION OF FOODS


1. Importance of cereals to dietary intake
2. Habits and customs
3. Malnutrition
4. Deficiencies in micronutrients

1. Importance of cereals to dietary intake

In Central America and in the countries affected by Hurricane Mitch, cereals - together with beans, sugar and oil - constitute 75 percent of calorie intake. This dietary structure varies significantly from country to country, due to the various deeply rooted habits and customs of the local populations.

Cereals, sustained by basic grains, become an irrefutable necessity, however, when it comes to planning the diet of the poorest sectors of society in Central American countries. So hard is it for urban and rural workers to achieve a level of income that might enable them to access other nutritional foods, that cereals are often the only source of food available - especially in rural areas, where the people produce them, as will be discussed in the section devoted to incomes and basic food baskets.

Consumption of these grains, based on the dietary standards of each country, is shown in Table 23, below:

Table 23. Standard for annual per-capita consumption of basic grains in countries affected by Mitch kilos per annum

Country

Maize

Beans

Rice

Belize

N/a

N/a

N/a

Guatemala

100.2

23.1

11.5

El Salvador

80.3

28.4

19.8

Honduras

157.5

25.7

16.5

Nicaragua

63.6

16.2

24.1

Average

100.4

23.4

18.0

Source: Agriculture Ministries
The countries with the highest dietary standards for maize are Honduras, which sets a standard of an annual 157 Kilograms per capita, Guatemala, with 100.2 Kilograms, and El Salvador, with 80.3 Kilograms. Nicaragua has the lowest dietary standard, at an annual 63.6 Kilograms per capita. The average across all countries is 100.4 Kilograms.

With regard to beans, the regional average is 23.4 Kilograms. The highest dietary standards are those of El Salvador and Honduras, with 28.4 and 25.7 Kilograms. Guatemala and Nicaragua set the lowest dietary standards.

In the case of rice, the situation is different. Nicaragua has the highest standard, at more than twice that of Guatemala. In percentages terms, it exceeds El Salvador and Honduras by 22 percent and 46 percent respectively (see also Annex 15).

2. Habits and customs

All countries concerned have very similar customs with regard to the consumption of traditional foods in the food basket. Indeed, the composition of the basket is the same for all countries. There are, however, certain forms of food preparation and certain wild herbs, favoured by individual peoples, that mark differences between the nations.

In this regard, the introduction, 40 years ago, by INCAP,26 of a combined cereal (based on maize, soya and other nutrients), was received very positively in Guatemala, to a lesser degree in El Salvador and Honduras, and was rejected in Nicaragua, despite the fact that it was introduced under emergency conditions, following the earthquake that destroyed the capital, Managua, in 1972.

The most striking factor, which is common to all countries, is the absence of a strategy for diversifying consumption, or for diversifying traditional forms of preparing the most popular foods. When some form of financial assistance is obtained for such diversification, it ceases to be sustainable when the funds run out. It would therefore appear that there is no desire to pursue this sort of initiative. Indeed, there are times when one might think that certain sectors of society regard such initiatives as an inconvenience.

3. Malnutrition

With respect to malnutrition in countries affected by the hurricane, assessments carried out in 1998 (see Table 24) indicate that the country where conditions are least favourable for children under five is Guatemala, where the indicator for growth or height retardation per age (chronic malnutrition) is 47 percent. The next worst is Honduras, where height censuses taken under the Government's Family Allowance Programme reflect a rate of 40.6 percent. Nicaragua and El Salvador are the countries with the most favourable statistics in this regard.

With regard to acute malnutrition, which measures weight loss against height, the highest prevalence is found among the children of Nicaragua, where the rate is three percent. Rates in the other countries in the region are all below 2.2 percentage points. Lastly, global malnutrition, or the relationship of weight to age, shows that, with a percentage weight of 24.5 percent, Honduran children suffer the greatest weight loss. This may be related to childhood diseases or to the lack of food provided at home. El Salvador and Nicaragua have the lowest levels, with percentages of 16.1 and 14.0, respectively.

Table 24. Malnutrition in countries affected by Hurricane Mitch 1998

Country

Malnutrition

Chronic

Acute

Global

Average

38.2

1.8

13.0

Belize

N/a

N/a

N/a

Guatemala

47.0

2.2

22.0

El Salvador

31.7

2.1

16.1

Honduras

40.6

1.5*

24.5*

Nicaragua

33.4

3.0

14.0

* 1996 figures; N/a: Not Available; Source: Health and Education Ministries
With regard to adult malnutrition, throughout the whole region, without exception, the proportion of women who are overweight is around 30 percent. With the exception of Honduran women, there is a tendency for women in the region to be short, as well as to suffer from chronic lack of energy, according to the assessments carried out in the countries concerned.

Note that efforts by the countries concerned to keep this information current are not as systematic as they should be. In many cases, the information is far from impartial.

During the visits made to the various countries, it was noted that, with the exception of Nicaragua, the remaining nations did not conduct assessments after the hurricane regarding children living in the affected areas. Only CARE in Honduras conducted an assessment in a specific area, which was non-representative of the child population, in view of the magnitude of the disaster. Nor was any assessment made among the adult population.

It is noteworthy that, within extremely poor sectors in the countries assessed, consumption of carbohydrates had increased, as substitutes for other foods, which provide more energy. As a result, there is clearly a state of under-nutrition, especially among children, whose diet is supplemented by a high content of sweet drinks and cakes.

4. Deficiencies in micronutrients

At the time the visits occurred, there were no recent studies available on deficiencies in micronutrients. Nicaragua was conducting an assessment after a delay of eight years, while the remaining countries submitted unsatisfactory indicators.


26 Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama

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