Abstract
In an earlier study it was found that the nutritional status of young, rural Philippine children improved after their diets were supplemented for one year, while the status of nonsupplemented children deteriorated. The current study is concerned with the effects of nutrition on the mental development of those children. Following a year of supplementation (experimental group) and monthly checkups (experimental and control groups), 40 children, 24 girls and 16 boys, responded to the mental scale of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. While there were differences in nutritional status between the experimental and control groups, there were no significant differences on the measure of mental development. The control group consisted of 2 barrios whose responses were significantly different from one another in an unexpected direction-the barrio with significantly higher Bayley scores had a significantly poorer nutritional status than the other control barrio. These results suggest that there is a complex relationship between nutrition and mental development.
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