The relationship between nine nutrients in food ingested and physical growth in school children and youth was investigated. Height, body weight, chest girth and sitting height, and the process of physical growth were also investigated, during the period 1948 to 1973, by age, on a national level.
The results were as follows:
1) The growth rate of height was smaller than that of body weight through the secular trend ascendence, first acceleration and second acceleration. This means that weight increased at a faster rate than height.
2) In the changing patterns of nutrition intake by secular trend, curves of three different groups were clearly shown. The first group consisted of the six nutriments fat, animal protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and vitamin B
2, the second group of the three nutriments total protein, vitamin B
1 and calories, and the third group of carbohydrate.
3) The above-mentioned second curve showed a similar pattern to that of the growth curve of height.
Therefore, the nutriments fat, animal protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and vitamin B
2 seem to have contributed mainly to the increase in height, while the nutriments of the first group seem to have made a major contribution to weight increase.
4) Furthermore, three nutriments protein, fat and sugar (carbohydrate) had a significant influence on general physical growth overall, in the early period of the secular trend.
5) Vitamin B
2 showed the largest contribution to height growth, and fat, calcium and animal protein, in this order, showed the next largest contributions. On the other hand, fat, vitamin B
2, animal protein and calcium, in this order, showed larger contributions than the other nutriments to the increase in weight. Of course, the degree and order of contribution of some nutriments showed different variations by secular trend.
The degree of contribution of the nutriments to physical growth differs in relation to the secular trend. Therefore, research into the relationships between estimated physical growth and nutrition intake will be a most important factor in the study of physical growth.
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