Eighty blind school pupils in a boarding house, 6 to 25 years of age, were grouped into two. Forty pupils of the experimental group were given the supplementary diet of each 40g non-fat milk solid, vitamin B
1 and cerebrolysin tablets per day for six months.
The other 40 pupils were grouped as the control and given placebos. The dietary records of the boarding house were obtained for ten consecutive days in the summer and the autumn to calculate the nutritive values of the diets.
Physical examinations (height, weight, girth of the chest and sitting height) and analyses of blood constituents (protein, vitamin A, total cholesterol, and alkaline phosphatase activity in serum) were conducted prior to, during and at the end of the experiment.
The following results were concluded:
I) The nutrient intake of the boarding house was relatively good compared with mean values for Japanese people. However, vitamin intakes were deficient compared with their recomended allowance.
II) No significant effects on the physical measurements were detected which could be attributed to the supplements except the mean weight of the experimental group.
III) Serum protein and vitamin A concentrations did not show significant difference in both groups and those values kept normal levels.
IV) Greater percent of the lower level of total serum cholesterol was found at the experimented group compared with the placebo treated group.
V) Alkaline phosphatase activity in serum was signifficantly higher at the experimented group than the other.
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