The whole picture was believed to be due to some kind of nutritional disorder. The name “kwashiorkor” was first used in medical literature in the Gold Coast Colony in 1933 to denote a disease characterized by these changes in the hair and by failure of growth and development shortly after weaning, together with waterlogging of the tissues, fatty degeneration of the liver, and a characteristic skin rash. But under the influence of nutritional deficiencies, the color of the hair may be altered so that it takes on rather a reddish hue and later may become grayishwhite even in childhood, and at the same time the texture is altered so that it becomes finer and more delicate and loses some or all of its curl. The Negroes of Central and West Africa and the related Bantu people of Southern Africa ordinarily have jet-black, short, tightly curled hair. It would now appear that protein deficiency is more important than either of these other factors. Their backwardness has been attributed in the past mainly to the effect of tropical parasitic diseases and the enervating climate. It is tempting to speculate on the possible effect of food deficiency, especially protein deficiency, on African peoples. Yet the red-headed African has turned out to be an important clue to the most serious and most widespread nutritional disorder of the world. FEW persons would imagine that a search for red-haired Negroes in Africa could have any far-reaching significance in relation to world food supplies or the health of large numbers of people.
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