Diet and serum protein levels of urban Zulu adults.

The serum protein pattern of Africans is usually found to differ from that of Europeans, being characterized by lower albumin levels and higher total globulin levels. There is evidence that this may be due to a number of possibly interrelated factors, viz. parasitism, malnutrition, liver disease, and, to a limited extent, genetic considerations. There is no unambiguous evidence that diet plays a major role in producing the characteristic African serum protein pattern. Various epidemiological studies have indicated the probable importance of diet. Studies in Durban (Powell, 1958), Uganda (Holmes, Stanier, and Thompson, 1955), and Salisbury (Gelfand, 1958) have shown that African male nurses, students, and hospital orderlies, who partake of a relatively good diet, tend to have higher albumin levels and lower globulin levels than other African groups. Further, it has been shown that West Africans domiciled in Britain tend to show a rise in their serum albumin levels, and after some years a limited drop in their initially high serum globulin levels (Schofield, 1957). Similarly, a rise has been found in the serum albumin levels of African students after a few months in residence at Makerere College (Holmes, 1954). In each of these instances, however, the dietary differences were accompanied by a variety of other