Child life investigations - poverty, nutrition & growth : studies of child life in cities and rural districts of Scotland / by D. Noël Paton and Leonard Findlay ; with the co-operation of Jean Agnew [and others].

  • Paton, Diarmid Noël, 1859-1928.
Date:
1926
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Child life investigations - poverty, nutrition & growth : studies of child life in cities and rural districts of Scotland / by D. Noël Paton and Leonard Findlay ; with the co-operation of Jean Agnew [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Table 103. Percentage (Average) of Energy from Proteins and from Fats in the various Dietary Studies (see Diet Section). Dietary study. Glasgow, 1921, above 85. „ ,, under 85. „ 1922, above 8s. „ ,, under 8s. ,, MacNae, 1924 Dundee, 1923, above 9-3s. „ ,, under 9-3s. Rural Miners, Derby . ,, Durham Percentage of energy from Proteins. Fats. 1212 29-27 10-49 27-21 12-34 31-31 11-76 26-13 11-05 27-84 11-78 25-23 11-16 24-78 11-51 23-56 10-09 32-19 9-81 28-71 In the case of the poorer incomes, however, a larger percentage of these is of vegetable nature, which is cheaper but proportionately less valuable for the animal economy. This relative disproportion between vegetable and animal origin of the food-stuffs is even more true of the fats, and hence the lesser total calorie value of the diets of the poorer families is only a partial evidence of their inferiority. The correlation of energy value purchased per penny and income per man is r14 = -*5982 +-063, and of calories per penny with income spent on food is r24 = —-7431 ±-044. The lower the income spent on, or available for, food the more careful must be the husbanding of the resources, or the more must the palatability of the food be sacrificed for energy value. The correlation of income per man to calories per penny becomes insignificant when the income spent on food is kept constant r = —-0803 ±'098—while income spent on food to calories per penny for constant total income per man becomes r24-i = —’5542+ *068. The final partial correlations show that the income spent on food ayid the energy value purchased per penny are of much more importance with relation to the calorie value of the diet than is income per man. An attempt was made to arrive at the expenditure required to supply a family diet equivalent to 3,000 calories per man per day. If we predict the calorie content of the diet (aq) from the income spent on food (x2) and the calories, purchased per penny (xs) by means of a multiple regression equation, we find that aq = 288-7450 s2 +8*9428 a*-1422*2310 . . . (2) The standard error in predicting from this equation is 9-74 per cent. The original variability in calories per man as measured by the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean value is 23-39 per cent., and for constant income spent on food and calories per penny the initial variability is reduced to 12-21 per cent. The introduction of the other variable (income per man = aq) gives the following regression equation : aq = 268-7583x2 + 9-0573 aq +16-8992 aq-1483-4192 . (3) The standard error in predicting from (3) being 9-62 per cent., the variability in calories is further reduced to 12-06 per cent. This clearly shows that the income per man is of little value in predicting