Nutrition studies with White Mountain Apache preschool children in 1976 and 1969

Nutrition studies were undertaken with two cohorts of White Mountain Apache preschool children, first in 1969 and again in 1976. Under the direction of the same investigator, similar procedures were used in the two studies to evaluate dietary, clinical, and biochemical status. The proportion of children in 1976 with low intakes of calories and of several micronutrients (calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, thiamin, and iron) and with abnormal biochemical values (hemoglobin, serum iron, vitamin A, and vitamin C), was about half that in 1969. Height for age and weight for age were the same in the two studies. Skinfold thickness were slightly greater in 1976. Overall, these changes in nutritional status were in keeping with changes in the environment and in the economic and health care situations on the Fort Apache Reservation.