ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 18, 1996 TAG: 9603180076
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: TABATINGA, BRAZIL
SOURCE: Associated Press
Sallow and sullen, with a swollen belly and dull, listless eyes, Lucas was a portrait of the misery of Brazil's impoverished shantytowns only a few months ago.
Now the 2-year-old's weight is up, his hair and skin are smooth and lustrous, his eyes are alert. He's even regained his smile.
The cause of this turnaround is an experimental food supplement called Prothemol, Brazilian experts say. Based on cow blood and egg whites, it is being hailed as a breakthrough in the fight against malnutrition that affects 40 percent of the children in Brazil's drought-stricken northeast.
Lucas was among 800 children between 6 months and 12 years of age who began taking Prothemol last year in Tabatinga and other poor towns around Recife, capital of Pernambuco state 1,160 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro.
``I can hardly control him now,'' Lucas' 18-year old mother, Marlene, said proudly, standing in the doorway of a two-room shack made of adobe and palm thatch.
Prothemol arose from an effort to find new ways of dealing with malnutrition, given the problems of traditional handouts of food and milk.
Because of the cost, government and relief agencies usually can't provide enough milk and food for a whole family, so the aid often is traded for something less nutritious but more filling.
``Our children needed proteins containing the essential amino acids that the human body does not produce but are necessary for development and growth,'' said Dr. Naide Teodosio, a professor of physiology at the Federal University of Pernambuco and one of the developers of Prothemol.
``We had plenty of it at no cost, and we were wasting it.''
The answer, she and other doctors decided, was in the slaughterhouses of Recife. Cow blood is even more nutritious than meat, containing plenty of eight essential amino acids the human body must obtain through food.
Scientists compare amino acids to construction material in which proteins are the body's bricks and amino acids are the grains of sand and clay making up those bricks.
While 100 grams of meat proteins have 39.1 grams of essential amino acids, cow blood has 46.1 grams, Teodosio said in a paper she wrote during the early experiments of Prothemol.
``As a nutrition supplement, it's unbeatable,'' Teodosio said. And it's free.
Specialists agree on the nutritional value of cow blood.
``There is no secret that blood is very rich, an excellent nutrient, particularly in proteins and iron,'' said Dr. Ken Brown, of the Nutrition Department of the University of California, Davis.
A similar experiment was tried at Guatemala's Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology.
``Cow blood-based supplements are extraordinarily good. They are a solution to malnutrition,'' according to the institute's director, Dr. Hernan Delgado.said by telephone from Guatemala City
In 1990, Delgado said, the institute came up with a food supplement called ``Harina de Sangre'' (Blood Flour). But the program stalled when it ran out of money.
That same year, spurred by an anti-poverty campaign of Catholic Bishop Helder Camara,
In 1990, the Pharmaceutical School at the University of Pernambuco began to experiment with blood. The plasma was separated in a centrifuge, and dried egg white, vitamin A and flour were added.
The result was a yellowish, odorless, flour-like substance. It was called Prothemol, from protein and hemo, the Greek word for blood.
The price proved a boon, costing 1.20 reals (about $1.30) a pound - cheaper than milk.
In 1992, the first experiment was conducted in a day-care center with 53 children aged 5 and younger, all with nutrition-related problems. Each child was given 5 grams of Prothemol with meals, dissolved in food or in sweetened beverages.
``After one month, the change was impressive,'' Teodosio said. ``Even their hair recovered its natural sheen.''
In 1994, the area of Tamaragibe, which includes Tabatinga, was chosen for a broader trial. The area has a population of 120,000, and malnutrition among children is widespread.
To distribute the powder, the state called on the ``Agentes de Saude,'' a group of nonprofessional ``health agents'' who are a mainstay of public health in the northeast. They went house to house, giving out the supplement and keeping tabs on the children who took it.
Agents reported that the area's monthly supply of 330 pounds was not enough to meet demand. Authorities said production would increase this year and Prothemol would be given to tens of thousands of children across the state.
``At the beginning, only a few trusted Prothemol. But as the results became evident, everybody was enthusiastic,'' said health agent Marisela Lopes Batista. ``Now requests come even from the state's most remote places.''
The sole ``complaint'' about the supplement is a welcome one, Batista said.
``Some parents complain that after a short time of giving Prothemol to their kids, they grow much faster,'' she said. ``And soon they face another problem - they have to buy new clothes.''
LENGTH: Medium: 96 linesby CNB