Annual Patterns of Family and Children's Diet in Three Guatemalan Indian Communities.

Three Mayan Indian towns in the highlands of Guatemala were selected for a field research project by the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP). As part of the exploratory phase of the project a dietary survey was made in each of the three towns, and was repeated every year for 4 years in order to compile detailed information on the food consumption of preschool children. The collection of such information, on an individual basis, presents many problems, particularly when dealing with children in this age group, and it was often necessary to study the total family consumption simultaneously. The survey included, therefore, both preschool children and their families, and was designed, not only to estimate the nutrient intake on one particular occasion, but to learn also if such intakes varied from time to time or remained at about the same level. The opportunity seldom occurs of studying the food habits of communities over 4 years and at the same time to observe the people’s reaction to different methods of inquiry. Flores and her colleagues conducted surveys on previous occasions in two of the towns (Flores & Reh, 1955; Flores, Flores & Meneses, 1957). Representative population samples were taken in which the family consumption was recorded over a period of 7 days. The results of these earlier surveys were similar to the figures obtained during the study now recorded.