In Memoriam: Nevin Scrimshaw, HSPH alumnus and global nutrition pioneer

Nevin Scrimshaw, a nutritionist who pioneered the use of protein supplements to save the lives of children at risk of dying from malnutrition, passed away on February 8, 2013. He was 95.

Scrimshaw, M.P.H. ’59, who received HSPH’s Alumni Award of Merit in 1995, devoted his seven-decade career to the field of international nutrition. Soon after training as a physician, he moved his young family from the University of Rochester to Guatemala, where he founded the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama. His professors told him that by devoting himself to the then-exotic specialty he would be throwing away his career, Scrimshaw told the Boston Globe in 2008.

In the 1950s, Scrimshaw pioneered the use of indigenous protein sources to create an inexpensive mixture that could be fed to young children to combat deadly malnutrition. His product, Incaparina, is still given to 80 percent of Guatemalan children during their first year. He guided the production of a similar food in India, and his approach is still used to develop other such products in developing countries.

Scrimshaw also worked to reduce endemic goiter, a thyroid condition in children caused by a mother’s iodine deficiency. He developed a method of iodizing local salt and worked with governments to require iodation of all table salt. He also was a leader in research on the link between malnutrition and infection.