The Interdepartmental Committee on Nutrition and National Defense of the US federal government has organized cross-sectional surveys in Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Pakistan, Burma, Thailand, Korea, Republic of China (Taiwan), Viet Nam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Libya, Ethiopia, Spain, the West Indies, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Uruguay, and Turkey. Unfortunately, a comparable representative study has not yet been done in the United States. Furthermore, cross-sectional and retrospective studies leave many questions to be answered by additional approaches.
Woodruff's study, reported in this issue (page 214), compares selected observations in Lebanon, Venezuela, and Ethiopia with more intensive observations carried out in Michigan.
Newly Developing Countries.—
The underdeveloped areas offer scientists a laboratory of fairly homogeneous cohorts of undernourished children and mothers due to environmental influences. To public health workers, nutrition is recognized as a fundamental factor in health, development, and population dynamics.In these areas, the apathetic stunted children call out for a better