Almost every child in the developing countries is handicapped by malnutrition. Nor, indeed, is this condition limited to the developing countries, for a recent report estimated that seven pupils out of ten in England are inadequately nourished to the point of being at risk (1). Minority groups in the richer countries are particularly prone to suffer in this way, shown, for example, by the widespread malnutrition among Australian Aborogines and part-Aborigines, beginning often in the immediate post-weaning period and in many cases imposing a permanent handicap on physical and mental development (2).