Maternal Nutrition and Traditional Food Behavior in Haiti

Rural Haitian nutrition has long been a matter of concern to health workers. The diet is seriously restricted and there is widespread malnutrition. This is especially striking among lactating women. The Haitian government, under François Duvalier, began comprehensive programs designed to alleviate s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human organization 1976-01, Vol.35 (2), p.193-200
Main Author: WIESE, H. JEAN C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavior/Behavioral
Biomedical technology
Child nutrition
Diet
Environmental technology
Feeding Behavior
Female
Food
Food availability
Foodstuffs
Foodways
Haiti
Haiti/Haitian/Haitians
Humans
Lactation
Malnutrition
Maternal Health Services
Medicine, Traditional
Nutrition
Nutrition/Nutritional
Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
Pregnancy
Staple foods
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Summary:Rural Haitian nutrition has long been a matter of concern to health workers. The diet is seriously restricted and there is widespread malnutrition. This is especially striking among lactating women. The Haitian government, under François Duvalier, began comprehensive programs designed to alleviate some of the economic and technologic factors which limit the diet. An equally serious restricting influence on the diet, however, and an influence which has gone largely unnoticed, is the hot/cold classification of life-states and foods stemming from an adherence to humoral medicine. Even though belief in humoral medicine is widely and consistently held in rural Haiti, there is no apparent recognition of its impact on nutrition by those working in this field. There is no mention of this belief system in the available literature on Haiti. This study examines and delineates the impact of humoral medicine upon the diet of the lactating Haitian woman. The data indicate that practices stemming from this belief system have an even more serious limiting impact upon rural dietary behavior than the economic, technologic and environmental factors, and must, therefore, be considered in any nutritional intervention program for Haitians either in Haiti or abroad. L'alimentation des population rurales de Haiti est un problème sur lequel les spécialistes de la santé se penchent depuis longtemps. Le régime alimentaire est considérablement restreint et la sous-alimentation très répandue. C'est une caractéristique très évident chez les femmes qui allaitent leurs enfants. Le gouvernement Haitien sous François Duvalier prit de vastes mesures afin de limiter l'influence de certains facteurs économiques et technologiques sur l'alimentation. Il existe cependant un facteur dont l'influence est tout autant néfaste à l'alimentation et que l'on a jusqu'ici presque toujours ignoré, c'est la classification extrême des conditions de vie et des aliments provenant de l'usage de remèdes humoraux. Bien que la croyance aux remèdes humoraux soit très largement répandue dans les régions rurales de Haiti, il est impossible aux spécialistes de l'alimentation de prouver l'évidence de son influence sur le domaine alimentaire. Nullepart ce système de croyance est mentionné dans le livres sur Haiti que nous avons à notre disposition aujourd'hui. Cette étude a pour but d'examiner et de tracer l'influence de remèdes humoraux sur le régime alimentaire des femmes haïtiennes durant la maternité. Les données de
ISSN:0018-7259
1938-3525
DOI:10.17730/humo.35.2.u28u6162x3135482