st>catsed fo0d on the family diet will 52 a function of the first twe items listed above and the willingness of the family to purchase food. The whole-body counting data also indicates that previous estimates of the type of food and amount of various components in the Bixini diet did not adequately describe the dietary patterns that existed between 1974 and 1978. As certain local food crops, coconuts, became available in 1976, they were incorporated into the diet in the form of jekaru (the water sap of the coconut tree), jekomai (a syrup concentrate made from jekaru) and waini (drinking coconuts). The maturation time of the coconut tree is 5-7 years. Consequently, one would expect to observe a steady increase in the 13765 body burden through 1978 at which time an equilibrium body burden would be reached. observed reduction in che Comparison of the 1376, body burden from April 25, 1978 to January 24, 1979 with the expected reduction in the body burdens from September 1, 1978 to January 24, 1979 yields almost identical results for the adult male and adult fe- Male groups as shown in Tables 7 and 8. This implies that the Bikial population could have attained equilibrium and that the body burdens on September 1, 1978 were not significantly different than those measured in April 1978. The child data do not agree with the expected value; however, the difference is not bevond the range of half-times listed in NCRP Report 52 (NCRP 77). Although NCRP Re- port 52 lists a mean half-time for children ages 5 through 15, ify the age distribution of the sample. it does not spec- Most of the Bixini children were in the 5-10 year category; hence, one would expect the observed reduction factor for this group to be somewhat higher than the expected value. Although the data indicates that the 137 Cs body burdens may not have in- creased between April and September 1978, this is not assurance that the body 17