SOUND NUTRITION IN THE MIDST OF POVERTY. THE OTOM® REVISITED
The word OTOMI has a accent over the "i" throughout this paper. It appears it does the accent and not the "I". The problem is this web master has not figured how to do it. |
| Louis E. Grivetti | OFFICE: (530) 752-2078 |
| Professor | FAX: (530) 752-8966 |
| Department of Nutrition | e-mail: legrivetti@ucdavis.edu |
| University of California | |
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| Davis, CA 95616 |
ABSTRACT
Nutritional anthropology stems from the pioneering work of Audrey Richards conducted in south-central Africa during the mid 1930s. Richards collaboration with Isabel [Elsie] Widdowson was the first between an anthropologist and a nutrition scientist. During the early 1940s, a research team headed by Richmond Anderson surveyed the OtomÅ of the Mezquital Valley, Mexico. His team of American and Mexican scientists concluded that poverty in the Mezquital Valley did not correlate with malnutrition; that the OtomÅ had achieved good nutritional status in the midst of poverty by balancing cultural and environmental factors; and that the government of Mexico should not assist the OtomÅ by changing their food-related practices. Both Richards and Anderson documented extensive use of edible wild plants by the traditional peoples they surveyed, foods that provided high quantities of essential nutrients. This theme subsequently was noticed by Robert Harris who concluded that the diet of humans is circumscribed by geography; food patterns must be different in different geographical areas; traditional foods and food-related customs are not always inferior; and the diets of people should not be changed hastily. The Cuernavaca Conference convened in 1960 at the urging of Paul Gyõrgy, brought together social scientists and nutrition-related professionals interested in food habits. After Cuernavaca several prominent physicians, all trained in nutrition science, supported the position that the social sciences were critical to understanding human diet. Among these pioneering physicians were: William J. Darby, Derrick Jelliffe, Jacques May, and Nevin Scrimshaw.
Key Words: History of Nutrition; Nutritional Anthropology
INTRODUCTION: FROM ANTOINE LAVOISIER TO AUDREY RICHARDS
Interest in human food patterns is ancient, traceable to ancient China, Greece, India, and Rome. Nutrition science, in contrast, is recent. If the claim of Graham Lusk is accepted that Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794) was the first nutritionist, then nutrition science dates only from the late 18th century (Lusk, 1964). The specialization of nutritional anthropology is more recent still, and dates to the 1930s and the pioneering work of Audrey Richards. Richards was the first anthropologist to collaborate, professionally, with a nutrition scientist (Richards and Widdowson, 1936). During the mid 1930s, Richards worked in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, and lived among the Bemba, a traditional bantu agricultural society. Her dissertation, later published as a book, remains a classic today (Richards, 1939). It was Richard's systematic overview of Bemba food-use, set within the context of ethnography, social organization, and environmental setting, that established the foundation of nutritional anthropology (Table 1).
RICHMOND ANDERSON AND THE OTOM® INDIAN SURVEY Five years after publication of Richard's pioneering work on nutritional anthropology -- and half a world away in Mexico -- a nutrition field project was implemented and conducted in response to a nutritional-medical problem: how to help the poorest and most economically deprived of the indigenous Native Americans of the Mezquital Valley, north of Mexico City. The survey team was composed of American Rockefeller Foundation and Mexican scientists and was headed by Dr. Richmond Anderson. His colleagues included Jose Calvo, Gloria Serrano, and George Payne. Their survey was conducted October-December, 1943, and March-September, 1944 (Anderson, et al., 1946).
Introduction to the OtomÅ
The OtomÅ were Native Americans with a rich heritage that pre-dated the Spanish Conquest. OtomÅ lands were characterized by arid, poor soil and agricultural diversification was limited. Food- and economic-related activities focused on cultivation of maguey, an important New World species used to produce pulqu˜ (beverage prepared from fermented sap), mescal and tequila (distilled spirits), and sisal (fiber). The OtomÅ lived in dire poverty: water was scarce and environmental conditions were un-hygenic. Well water throughout OtomÅ territory was polluted, and family income was estimated at $1.40/week; 75% of this figure was spent on food. At the time of survey there were no clinics in the valley.
Data Collection
Medical histories and physical examinations were obtained from 1,149 OtomÅ in four villages, and specific attention was directed to clinical signs of malnutrition. Dental examinations were completed on a sub-set of 592. Dietary data included food consumption records, household inventories, weighed intake, and food waste information.
Results
OtomÅ diet consisted of four basic foods: maize (consumed as tortillas), dried beans, chili peppers, and pulqu˜, the lightly fermented beverage prepared from maguey juice. Minor foods included meat, usually sheep or goat, and blood of these animals was consumed more frequently than meat, since the meat usually was sold. Other minor animal products included: milk, eggs, poultry, and occasionally wild rabbits. Minor vegetable foods included: garlic, onion, and tomate (an indigenous local fruit). Other domesticated fruits and vegetables played only minor roles in OtomÅ diet. Lard was the most common cooking fat. OtomÅ diet also was characterized by use of numerous edible wild plants, identified in the Anderson manuscript as "weeds," complemented by a wide range of unidentified worms and insects. Pulqu˜, drunk universally within OtomÅ communities, substituted for drinking water. The survey team noted that pulqu˜ was produced under un-hygenic conditions, but that its acid pH probably prevented growth of potential pathogenic organisms. The team concluded that local well water was polluted and pulqu˜ was the safest beverage in the valley.
Despite poverty and an unsanitary environmental setting, the OtomÅ appeared well nourished. Adults were short and lean, but not thin. Some children and adults exhibited pallor, but clinical signs of pellagra, rickets, and scurvy were not apparent (Table 2). The most commonly encountered nutritional signs were angular lesions/cheilosis and glossitis, which the survey team attributed to a combination of low riboflavin intake and environmental conditions (a dry, dusty, sunny climate). The OtomÅ also exhibited remarkably sound teeth. But while dentition was sound, the incidence of bleeding gums, gingivitis, and tartar formation was very high. As such, respondents exhibited extensive periodontal disease, but not dental carries.
OtomÅ Summary
The OtomÅ ate relatively few foods. While consumption of meat, dairy products, fruits and vegetables was extremely limited, the population exhibited a remarkable nutritional status based upon a primary diet of tortillas, beans, pulqu˜, and edible "weeds."
Signs of vitamin A deficiency were essentially absent. Although xerosis was common, the survey team related this feature to aridity and poor personal hygiene. Hyperkeratosis was identified in 20 of the 996 surveyed, but serological and dietary data revealed that vitamin A intakes in these cases were normal. Ocular signs associated with vitamin A deficiency, specifically Bitot spots, were not observed.
Niacin intake was low by American standards, but pellagrous dermatitis was not seen. Further, scurvy was not observed, nor rickets. Survey data revealed the diets were high in carbohydrate, low in sucrose, and low in fat.
The OtomÅ generally exhibited low riboflavin intake and the research team suggested a correlation between low intake and presence of angular lesions-cheilosis and glossitis. But Anderson concluded that the glossitis was highly variable and could be attributed to the OtomÅ cultural practice of eating large quantities of chili peppers.
While the number of foods in OtomÅ diet were few, they were nutritionally significant. Tortillas contributed 77% of the daily caloric intake; 73% of the protein consumed; 85% of the carbohydrate; and 79% of the daily fat intake. Tortillas also contributed 74% of the thiamin; 55% of the niacin; 48% of the riboflavin; 69% of the calcium; and 51% of the iron. Pulqu˜, in turn, contributed an additional 12% to daily caloric intake; 6% to the protein consumed; an additional 10% of the thiamin; 24% of the riboflavin; 23% of the niacin; 48% of the vitamin C; 8% of the calcium; and 20% of the iron (Tables 3-5).
In essence two foods -- tortillas and pulqu˜ -- provided more than 70% of daily intake requirements for energy, protein, B-complex vitamins, calcium and iron. OtomÅ use of edible wild plants and chili peppers accounted for 85% of daily vitamin A requirement. In a land of sunshine, vitamin D was not a problem. Cultural use of iron skillets and cooking pots also contributed to elevated iron intakes. The research team concluded: "[Any] attempts at [dietary] change would be a mistake until [OtomÅ] economic and social conditions can be improved and something better substituted." The survey team drew three conclusions:
| 1) | The OtomÅ were well nourished despite poverty and limitations imposed by the severe landscape; |
| 2) | Poverty in the Mezquital Valley did not correlate with malnutrition; |
| 3) | The OtomÅ -- essentially -- should be left alone, and should not be encouraged to change their food-related practices. |
The OtomÅ had survived initial Spanish contact, weathered the 100 years of disease and pestilence that followed the Conquest, and adjusted to their new environmental setting as they were forced into less desirable regions of the Mezquital Valley by the more powerful Spanish. Those OtomÅ who survived the 17th and 18th centuries in their new lands, achieved a new balance between cultural practices, environmental offerings, and nutritional status. The key to their survival was imbedded in Anderson's text when he wrote: "Almost every conceivably edible plant, including many of the cacti, are used as food. Many [of these] grow without cultivation during the rainy season, and by most [Americans] would be considered as weeds." Maize and beans presented a balanced protein through complementary amino acids, pulqu˜ provided a nutrient supplement especially for B-complex vitamins, while OtomÅ use of chilies and their attention to edible wild plants, "weeds" was essential in maintaining vitamin A status in their semi-arid land.
FROM THE MEZEQUITAL VALLEY TO THE CUERNAVACA CONFERENCE
Food, culture, and environmental associations continued to be discussed during the decade of the 1950s, but the conversations primarily were independent and divorced from the Anderson paper. Then in 1952 Paul Gyõrgy argued that cultural anthropology had not been given an "adequate place in both national and international efforts to improve the nutrition of malnourished peoples" (Burgess and Dean, 1962).
Eight years after Gyõrgy's comment, a conference was convened in 1960, the first to consider malnutrition and food habits. The site, appropriately enough, was in Mexico. The Cuernavaca conference was a milestone that linked the social and nutritional sciences (Burgess and Dean, 1962). The assembled group was committed to understanding the anthropology of food and a broad cross section of disciplines and professional interests were represented (Table 6).
BEYOND CUERNAVACA: THE CONTRIBUTION BY ROBERT HARRIS
Two years after Cuernavaca conference, Robert Harris reviewed Anderson's OtomÅ data and concluded that human diet is circumscribed by geography; food patterns in different geographical areas must be different; foods consumed in the United States were not always the best nutritionally; foods of traditional societies were often very nutritious; and diets should not be changed hastily (Harris, 1962).
Harris cautioned that it was inappropriate to introduce any food -- no matter how nutritious -- unless it could be grown locally and was accepted culturally. These were radical, perceptive views given in the decade of the 1960s when the government of the United States regularly shipped surplus foods abroad -- and regularly mismatched destinations: rice to wheat consuming areas, wheat to rice areas of India, milk powder to geographical regions where people did not consume milk, where Wisconsin dairy butter was sent to countries like Egypt -- where in 1966 I witnessed five gallon tins of Wisconsin butter rotting in the North African sun, and saw U.S. supplied powdered milk being used to line soccer fields and to "white-wash houses," a pattern of mismatched food destinations that continues today in 1999.
The Cuernavaca conference and the subsequent Harris paper also changed how nutritionists think and influenced their approaches to understanding local and global malnutrition. During the early 1960s, several prominent physicians recognized the value of taking a social-science approach to understanding human diet. These pioneering physicians included: William J. Darby, Derrick Jelliffe, Jacques May, and Nevin Scrimshaw.
CONCLUSION
Richard's nutritional anthropology classic, Land and Labor, the Anderson and co-worker OtomÅ paper, the Cuernavaca conference, and Harris paper, influenced a generation of social science and nutrition science scholars. Incorporated in these important documents were two critical concepts:
| 1) | Culture and environment influence nutritional status, and |
| 2) | Edible wild plants are critical components of diet in many world societies. |
The Cuernavaca conference drew together a diverse mix of scholars, among them: agricultural educators, anthropologists, community development specialists, economists, endocrinologists, epidemiologists, health educators, nutritionists, plant scientists, politicians, and psychologists. The sons and daughters of two of the scientists that attended the Cuernavaca Conference have made their own unique contributions to the study of food and culture: Adel Den Hartog currently is the leading nutritional geographer in Europe, while Susan Scrimshaw is a nutritional anthropology leader in the United States. My own career as a nutritional geographer reflects influences from Norman Borlaug, Anne Burgess, Joaquin Cravioto, Derick Jelliffe, Margaret Mead, and Nevin Scrimshaw.
Finally, I would like to comment that it is highly probable that I would not be addressing you today had it not been for the pioneering efforts of Audrey Richards, the OtomÅ survey team headed by Richmond Anderson, and the efforts of my mentor and friend, William J. Darby, Emeritus Professor at Vanderbilt University. It was Professor Darby who hired a raw, young eager social scientist back in 1964 and brought me into his nationally-respected Department of Biochemistry, Division of Nutrition at Vanderbilt University, almost 35 years ago. Let us each think back to our humble academic and professional beginnings and take time to thank our mentors. And as we think back, let us also look to the bright future filled with young scholars today interested in blending social science with nutrition science.
REFERENCES CITED
Anderson, R., J. Calvo, G. Serrano, and G. Payne. 1946. A study of the nutritional status and food habits of OtomÅ Indians in the Mezquital Valley of Mexico. American Journal of Public Health. 36: 883-903.
Burgess, A., and R. F. A. Dean. 1962. Malnutrition and food habits. Report of an international and interprofessional conference. London: Tavistock Publications.
Harris, R. 1962. Influences of culture on man's diet. Archives of Environmental Health. 5: 144-152.
Lusk, G. 1964. Nutrition. Clio Medica. New York: Hafner.
Richards, A. 1939. Land, labour and diet in Northern Rhodesia. An economic study of the Bemba tribe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Richards, A. and E. Widdowson. 1936. A dietary study in northeastern Rhodesia. Africa. 9: 166-196.
Table 1.
Audrey Richards' Land and Labour, 1939.
Table of Contents
THE BEMBA AND THEIR COUNTRY
| Material culture and economic organization; Social structure; Country and climate |
| Bemba view of food: Meals; Bemba dietetic theory; Cravings and preferences; Religious attitudes towards food. Eating and Drinking; Infant feeding; Eating customs; Beer drinking; Granary and Kitchen; Storage methods; storable foods; granaries and storage vessels; the Bemba kitchen; preparation of porridge and relishes; beer-making; The Routine of Housecraft; Housework; meal preparation; housecraft education |
| Local and Kinship Groupings; The Bemba village; matrilineal descent groups; modern changes in village structure; The Domestic Unit; Symbolism of cooked food; value of the cooking team; Hospitality and Labour Payment; Types of hospitality; division of meat and cooked food; tribal distribution of food and the individual ration; Food Distribution in a Typical Village; Character of a Bemba village; village food supply; calendar of food-related events |
| Ownership Rules and Education in Sharing; Ownership of garden crops; rights over granaries; prerogatives of age; education in food distribution and sharing; Budgeting, Wealth, and Exchange; Budgeting; magic and food use; Bemba conception of wealth; use of money and types of food-related exchange |
| Land and Land Tenure; Bemba attitude towards land; locality and residence; division of land; tribute on land; tribute as rent; land tenure and political organization; Soil Selection; Choice of village sites; choice of garden sites; soil types recognized; success and failure in soil selection; Methods of Cultivation; Millet cultivation; cultivation of subsidiary crops; sequence of crops; adoption of fixed cultivation in special environments; Fishing and Hunting; Fishing methods; fishing rights and ceremonies; sociology of fishing villages; hunting |
| Religion and Magic in Economic Life; Nature of economic ritual; spirit centers; special court ceremonial activities; morphology of food-related rites; the economic cycle; Labour and Time; Division and organization of labour; work and time sequence; the rhythm of work; work on specific tasks; the will to work. |
| n | % | |
| Dry skin | 681 | 68 |
| Photophobia/eyes burning | 300 | 30 |
| Recent weight loss | 219 | 22 |
| Fatigue/irritability | 184 | 18 |
| Recent weight gain | 170 | 17 |
| Calf tenderness | 155 | 16 |
| Painful/burning tongue | 153 | 15 |
| Bleeding gums | 126 | 13 |
| Angular lesions/cheilosis | 92 | 9 |
| Enlarged spleen | 20 | 2 |
| Enlarged liver | 20 | 2 |
| Hyperkeratosis | 20 | 2 |
| Positive malaria smear | 8 | 1 |
Table 3.
OtomÅ Diet.
Principal Energy Sources: %[2]
| Item: | Protein | CHO | Fat | Calories |
| Tortillas | 73 | 85 | 79 | 77 |
| Pulqu˜ | 6 | 5 | - | 12 |
| Beans | 3 | - | 1 | 5 |
| Greens | 5 | - | - | - |
| Fruits/Vegetables | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Meat | 1 | - | 6 | - |
| Chilies | - | 2 | - | - |
| Lard | - | 2 | 4 | - |
Table 4.
OtomÅ Diet.
Principal Vitamin Sources: %[3]
| Item: | Vitamin A | Thiamin B1 | Riboflav B2 | Niacin | Ascorbic Acid |
| Tortillas | 5 | 74 | 48 | 55 | - |
| Pulqu˜ | - | 10 | 24 | 23 | 48 |
| Beans | - | 7 | 5 | - | - |
| Greens | 52 | - | 9 | 4 | 32 |
| Fruits/Vegetables | 2 | 4 | 1 | - | 7 |
| Meat | - | 2 | 1 | 2 | - |
| Chilies | 33 | - | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| Lard | - | - | - | - | - |
Table 5.
OtomÅ Diet.
Principal Mineral Sources: %[4]
| Item: | Calcium | Iron |
| Tortillas | 69 | 51 |
| Pulqu˜ | 8 | 20 |
| Beans | 3 | - |
| Greens | 9 | 14 |
| Fruits/Vegetables | 2 | 4 |
| Meat | - | 1 |
| Chilies | - | - |
| Lard | - | - |
Table 6.
Cuernavaca Conference, 1960.
Partial List of Participants.
| Ermengarda de F. Alvim | J. GÖngora y LÖpez | John A. Pino |
| M. Marcel Autret | Paul Gyžrgy | B.S. Platt |
| Norman Borlaug | C. den Hartog | Poorwo Soedarno |
| Anne Burgess | J. Pilar Hernandez Lira | K. Someswara Rao |
| R.C. Burgess | E. Field Horine, Jr. | J.R. Rees |
| John Burton | Ruth L. Huenemann | F.T. Sai |
| Joaquin Cravioto | James M. Hundley | Nevin S. Scrimshaw |
| A. Chavez | D. B. Jelliffe | W. Henry Sebrell, Jr. |
| R.F.A. Dean | Isabel Kelly | Jean Stoetzel |
| Esther de Zayas | Otto Klineberg | Lester J. Teply |
| S. Frenk | Margaret Mead | J. Velasco Alzaga |
| Victoria GarcÅa de Yazigi | L. Perez Navarrete | A.T.M. Wilson |
| Federico G…mez | Jerome S. Peterson | S. Zubir¸n |
