Nevin Stewart Scrimshaw, (born Jan. 20, 1918, Milwaukee, Wis.—died Feb. 8, 2013, Plymouth, N.H.), American nutritionist who developed a number of inexpensive formulas to provide nutrients for protein-deficient and malnourished children in less-developed countries. While working in Guatemala during the 1950s, Scrimshaw created Incaparina, for which he used locally grown ingredients (such as cottonseed flour) in addition to vitamins and assorted flavourings; the nutrient-rich substance helped prevent the disease kwashiorkor, which afflicts impoverished children who lack proper amounts of protein. Costing only a penny per glass, Incaparina, which had the same nutritional properties as milk (but was less expensive), helped alleviate hunger and disease throughout Central America. Scrimshaw developed a similar formula using peanut flour and wheat to battle malnutrition and disease during the 1967 famine in India. He also pioneered a method of iodizing salt to alleviate endemic goiter, a common affliction among Central American children. Scrimshaw earned both a doctorate in physiology (1941) and a master’s degree in public health (1959) from Harvard University. He founded several organizations that conduct research on nutritional issues, including the Nevin Scrimshaw International Nutrition Foundation at Tufts University, Boston, and the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP), based in Guatemala City, Guat. He was also responsible for establishing nutrition departments at MIT and the United Nations. Scrimshaw was the recipient in 1991 of the World Food Prize.
Nevin Stewart Scrimshaw