Faulty eating habits and fast-food lifestyle leading to over nutrition are becoming the other problematic face of malnutrition.
The other face of it, the lack of proper nutrition has already seen a downturn in prevalence in preschoolers in the region, said Ma. Teresa Ungson, nutrition program officer of the National Nutrition Council in the Davao Region.
“With the fast-paced lifestyle especially among working mothers nowadays, there’s little time to cook nutritious foods,” she said.
Ungson raised the problem on over nutrition during the Kapihan sa PIA last week in time for the observance of the Nutrition Month, where she also reported a decrease in the malnutrition prevalence rate noted among preschoolers at 8.67 per cent last year, compared to about 10% in 2008.
On over nutrition, she said that busy people would often find convenience in the presently thriving fast food chains “which are mostly serving meat-based meals”.
“With our busy lifestyles, eating at or buying from fast food stores, is the easiest thing to do,” Ungson said.
Ungson said that government “has been doing efforts to help food establishments make their foods healthier”.
“This came after the inevitable proliferation of fast-food chains had posed a challenge to the government in terms of health concerns,” she added.
For instance, Ungson said that the city government of Davao was the first to implement the rice fortification program in the region. Food stores in the city have also been asked to add healthy chunk of food to their meals such as vegetables, she said.
According to Ungson, the Department of Agriculture is also espousing on vegetable production as part of its advocacy program on health in the farming sector.
Ungson has encouraged consumers to buy goods with Pinoy-Sangkap seal.
She stressed on the importance of complementary feeding to address malnutrition problem to comply with this year’s theme of “Sa Pagkaing Tama at Sapat, Wastong Timbang ni Baby ang Katapat”.
The World Health Organization defines complementary feeding as the “transition from exclusive breastfeeding to family foods… typically covers the period from 6 to 18-24 months of age.”
WHO stated that complementary feeding “is the time when malnutrition starts in many infants, contributing significantly to the high prevalence of malnutrition in children under five years of age world-wide”. [PIA 11/Carina L. Cayon]
