Malnutrition

Malnutrition, pale half-brother of the Third Horseman of the Apocalypse, rode the tide of spring into war-ravaged Europe. From the shattered ghost town of Eboli in southern Italy, a TIME correspondent cabled this description of its horrifying work:

"When you drag the children out of their hovels into the light of day, they all show the same familiar signs: narrow shoulders, protruding Adam's apple, spidery legs, earth-colored, leathery skin, huge eyes in huge heads. Worst of all, they have the dull, fixed stare of children who have never laughed."

The hallmarks of undernourishment were glaringly apparent not only in dirt-poor Italy (whose 1,300 daily caloric intake in March was the lowest on the Continent). In other European countries, where more than 100,000,000 people were hungry, the familiar, sickening signs were cropping up. Health officials announced last week that Germany would be a vast clinical laboratory, providing the greatest opportunity in history to study malnutrition.

Malnutrition is slow starvation. Doctors agree that 1,500 calories a day (the U.S. Army gets 3,600) is rock-bottom if the body is to perform even the primary function of keeping alive. Below 1,500 calories the body begins to feed on itself. Fat layers between muscles and around vital organs disappear. Anemia sets in. As resistance is lowered, the system falls easy prey to tuberculosis, dysentery, blood poisoning.

While the body grows leaner and weaker, subtler, more dangerous changes occur. Vitamin deficiency causes bones to soften. Protein-deficient diet causes edema--a swelling of arms, legs and abdomen because of waterlogged tissues. Hair and teeth may fall out. Children stop growing.

Because of malnutrition, many of Europe's children will grow to manhood weak and stunted. Rickets will cripple some forever; tuberculosis will make others invalids. The psychological effect is incalculable.

Although doctors in last-ditch starvation cases have resorted to synthesized remedies (amino acids, concentrated vitamins, blood plasma), the best cure for malnutrition is food, and plenty of it.* A build-up diet of simple foods such as cereals, cabbage, and potatoes ( most likely to be available after near-famine) will do the trick if the daily caloric rate attains or exceeds 4,000. Even then, the road back is long.

* For news of U.S. food to Europe, see NATIONAL AFFAIRS.

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