" SO Tr AE SELENA oer eCENERO Se - ct ete ae TA ae Ee ETT Table 3. Comparison of the average adult diet model for the Northern Marshall Islands with the average adult diet for the United States and for Japan. Average adult diet Average adult diet for the United States model for the Northern Marshall Islands Imports available Food intake, g/d Fluid intake, g/d Imports unavailable Yang and Abraham Nelson, et al., 1979 Rupp, 1986 1980 Average adult diet for Japan Japan's Hisamatsu Ministry of et al. 1987 HYealtha 1450 900 1066 — 1232 1253 1352 3231 1256 1853 1925 — — — —-2326b 758 1526 — 1351 — — Caloric intake, kcal/d 4 Reported by Hisamatsu etal. (1987). 5 Milk is listed under both food andfluid intake. supporting 3. 4. 5. 6. atoll-specific data are unavailable. There’is still some uncertainty about what the average diet really is at any atoll. Many factors can affect the average diet over any specific year. Further atoll-specific dietary data are needed to improve the precision of the dose assessment for each resettlement situation. Even though there is some uncertainty in the precise adult diet at an atoll, the relative difference in average intake between adults and infants and children are consistent between the two surveys (Robison et al., 1980; Naidu et al., 1980). Teenage (12 to 17 y} Children (4 to 11 y) At this age, the children are essentially on a diet similar to that of the adults. The intake of drinking coconut fluid and coconut milk may approach that for adults, but diet surveys indicate it to be less (Robison et al., 1980; Naidu et al., 1980). Consumption of other food products, both local and imported, is less than that of adults (Robison et al., 1980; Naidu et al., 1980). Children (1.5 to 3 y) At about 1.5 y, children are weaned from breast- or bottle-feeding with mixtures of soft rice and tea, or flour boiled in water and mixed with tea, and/or foods cooked for longer periods of time to make them softer in texture (Marsh, 1973; Pollock, 1974). Flaherty (1988) mentions end of the age group may well exceed the that rice or flour-tea mixtures are preferred even if local dishes such as Pandanus pudding and breadfruit soup are available. This weaning leads to a diet by about age 2 that is similar in composition to the adult diet, but with total intake being significantly less than that for average adult intake (Robison et al., 1980). teenagers or adults (Robison et al., 1980, 1982a; The average total daily intake of food for this age is very similar to that of adults. Although the average intake is somewhat less than for adults, some individuals at the older 5000162