The effect of replacement of rice in a poor vegetarian diet by tapioca macaroni on the general health and nutritional status of children.

One of the most important food problems of India and many other east and south-east Asian countries, in general, is the provision of adequate amounts of cereals in the diet to meet the caloric requirements of the people. The total production of food grains has been steadily increasing as a result of improved methods of agriculture, but the demand from the rapidly growing population has also correspondingly increased. As a result, the estimated per capita national cereal supplies have remained more or less static (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 19 56). Countries like India continue to import food grains. In certain countries, such as Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia, efforts have been made to make up the caloric deficit by increasing the production and consumption of high-yielding tuber crops like sweet potato and tapioca (Munihot utilissima). The average per capita consumption of roots and tubers in these countries has been estimated to be now well over 5-6 oz./day (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 19 56). A suggestion for meeting the food deficit in India by the use of a blend of tapioca flour and groundnut flour was made by Subrahmanyan, Doraiswamy, Swaminathan & Sankaran (1953-4). It must be mentioned, however, that flour, though readily acceptable to wheatand millet-eaters, is disliked by rice-eaters who are accustomed to eating rice in the form of cooked grains. Provision of a substitute for rice has therefore become one of the major food problems, not only for India but also for all Asian regions where rice is eaten. In a previous publication from this laboratory, Subrahmanyan, Bhatia, Swaminathan & Bains (1954) reported that rice-shaped grains with a chemical composition similar to that of natural rice could be manufactured from a blend of tapioca flour, groundnut flour and semolina. This product, originally called ' synthetic rice ', has more recently been named tapioca macaroni as the process is essentially similar to that followed in the manufacture of macaroni products from semolina (Hummel, 1950). Besides ' synthetic rice', other shapes such as shells, tubes, sago-like granules and vermicelli can also be made from the same blend on a commercial macaroni press by using different dies. More recently, the production of tapioca macaroni on a pilot-plant scale has been carried out in this Institute, with a view to finding out the acceptability