Abstract
The importance of adequate nutrition to health maintenance is now recognized. A number of methods have been developed in recent years which provide reliable indices of the nutritional status, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
In order to assess the immune function from biochemical and hematological indices, serum proteins, hemoglobin, hematocrit, complement system and phytohemagglutinin skin reactivity, and anthropometric measurements were made in 41 malnourished and 10 normal children in Guatemala.
In the immune systems, cell mediated immunity and complement system were altered in different manners by protein energy malnutrition. Skin reaction to PHA reactivity was highly correlated with most of the serum biochemical and anthropometric data but the complement system did not show any correlation except factor B and C4 which are closely linked in the MHC loci in human.
The minimum levels of the biochemical indices to maintain the normal response to PHA reactivity and the complement level were discussed respectively.
