Having been involved in the question of black-white differences in hemoglobins and hematocrits from the very start (appropriately published in the Journal of the National Medical Association, Pediatrics, Journal of Pediatrics, American Journal ofClinical Nutrition, etc),1,2 I am intrigued with the statement of Dutton reprinted in the July issue ofPediatrics (66:A62, 1980) suggesting that all of the difference is socioeconomic and dietary in nature.
From the start of our studies we considered this possibility only to reject it first for the State of Michigan, then for the ten states (and New York City) involved in the Ten State Nutrition Survey, and finally in many other data bases including the NCPP (National Collaborative Perinatal Project) of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke.