The metabolism of nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus in undernourished children. 6. The effect of partial or complete replacement of rice in poor vegetarian diets by kaffir corn (Sorghum vulgare).

in different parts of India. Over considerable parts of the Deccan plateau and Cental
India it is eaten as a staple food by millions of people. It is also grown to a considerable
extent in other countries, especially in Africa, China, the U.S.A. and Latin
America. The grain is usually ground to flour and cooked and eaten as dumplings
or unleavened bread. The poorer classes generally prefer kaffir corn to softer grains
like rice because of its cheapness and sustaining qualities. Diets containing kafh
corn and other cereals have been compared in growth experiments on albino rats
(Sur, Swaminathan & Subrahmanyan, 1955 ; Subrahmanyan, Kuppuswamy, Ramarao,
Swaminathan & Bhatia, 1954). These studies have shown that the general nutritive
value of a poor vegetarian diet containing kaffir corn is higher than that of rice, but
slightly less than that of similar diets containing ragi (Eleusine coracana) or wheat.
Our metabolic studies carried out on children in India have so far been confined
to diets containing rice and ragi (Murthy, Reddy, Swaminathan & Subrahmanyan,
1955 ; Joseph, Narayanarao, Ganapathy, Swaminathan & Subrahmanyan, 1958;
Joseph, Kurien, Swaminathan & Subrahmanyan, 1959). We have not previously
reported any metabolic studies in children on kaffir-corn diets. Because of the acute
shortage of rice in the country, the use of kaffir corn and other millets as partial
substitutes for rice needs to be studied. The present paper describes the results of
investigations on the effects of partial or complete replacement of rice in a poor
Indian diet by kaffir corn on the metabolism of nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus
in children.