To contribute to the fertility discussion -- I think it is important to
distinguish between malnutrition and starvation. Starvation is caused by
inadequate caloric intake, and that is what causes anorexics, Olympic
gymnasts, famine victims, etc. to stop having periods (or to never get them,
if they are adolescents. This is why some adult female gymnasts have the
bodies of prepubescent girls.)
Malnutrition, on the other hand, is caused by a diet which lacks one or
more essential nutrients. It is possible to have malnutrition with excessive
caloric intake if you eat a lot of junk food, for example. The tea and toast
diet that Marina Yereshenko mentions being common in Tajikistan probably has
enough calories to maintain fertility but is seriously lacking in protein,
vitamins and minerals. Women on such a diet who have babies will deplete
their own body stores to supply the fetus, and then will deplete them further
through breastfeeding. A steady chain of pregancies under those conditions
is draining and dangerous to the mother.
The baby also has problems as soon as it is weaned; there is an African
disease called "kwashiorkor", which means "the disease the first baby gets
when the second baby is born." This is the disease that causes the bulging
abdomens in the rail-thin children in photos from the Ethiopian famine back
in the 80's. Kwashiorkor is caused by protein deficiency, resulting from the
child switching from high-protein milk to an extremely low-protein grain
diet.
Regarding science fiction:
Charles Oberndorf's _Foragers_ focuses on a humanoid race similar to men, but
much less social. In primate terms, they are like orangutans while humans
are more like bonobo chimpanzees. One of the major conflicts of the book is
a pregnant humanoid who knows she is expecting twins and is trying to get
someone to adopt her second child, as she knows she will be unable to raise
two babies on her own.
_Foragers_ is a difficult but very rewarding book, and I've been meaning
to bring it up for some time. Has anyone else read it?
>From: MARINA YERESHENKO <my0203@BRONCHO.UCOK.EDU>
>Subject: Re: Birth Control Books
>
>Anny,
>I'm afraid that the "natural birth control" (i.e. that semi-starved women
>are not fertile) is overestimated. In the place I came from (Tajikistan,
>in Asia) majority of women (especially in remote villages) have babies as
>often as every nine months, since they are married and until the menapause
>(that is if they live through it).
>
>First reason is that Muslim religion prohibits birth control. Second, a
>couple would not even try to use it,if they do not have a son yet. Girls
>are not considered worth anything, so if a family has eight daughters, the
>woman ill still be forced to have babies until she has a boy. The infant>
>mortality is one of the highest in the world, so only 7-8 children survive,
>but that's enough to keep the family at such poverty level, that the only
>food they can afford is bread and tea -- for years. Which does not seem to
>prevent more pregnancies.
>
>What I am saying, it would probably save a lot of
>lives, if women would not have children until they are well-nourished,
>but unfortunately, it's not the case. Of course, this is not a scientific
>fact, just something I had a chance to witness for the first 20 years of
>my life.
>
>Marina
[snip]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:28 PDT