A Diet Survey in Kalene Hill Area

Abstract

This survey of local diet was undertaken into two chiefdoms near Kalene Hill hospital during September, 1968. The inquiry was' undertaken` as a corollary to, and at the same time as, clinical studies of nutritional, state in the same areas. Special emphasis was `given to blood sugar testing in view ' of in earlier geographical suggestions that a high incidence of diabetes mellitus The area lies in the protrusion of Mwinilunga district into a bulge north-westwards between Angola and the Congo (Kiushasa) Republic. The soils are ferrallitic sandy textured sediments which have been strongly leached and have very low inherent fertility. Drainage, although locally north and west, forms the headwaters of the south and east flowing Zambezi. Watertemperatures ncar this continental water parting are cold, which accounts for the absence of bilharziasis locally. The rainy season is longer here in the extreme north-west than in the rest of Zambia, extending usually from mid-October to late April. In this period 60 inches (150cms.) of rain is received, mostly in heavy deluges.