Investigation of the nutrition problems of Central America and Panama

From its earliest years, INCAP gave a high priority to a multidisciplinary effort to learn as much as possible about the dietary habits, nutritional status, and their consequences in the populations of Central America and Panama. Most of the papers in this Special Issue contain some of this information. The first studies were in schoolchildren but were soon extended to preschool children, pregnant and lactating women, and other adults. This paper describes the principal findings of the initial dietary, biochemical, and clinical community-based studies. From 1965-67, very extensive studies were carried out in all six countries including dietary, biochemical, clinical, and anthological studies were carried out in all six countries, the results of which are summarized.