By Nzekwe Obianuju
In your lifetime, you will eat about 76,650 meals and more than 60 tons of food, that is if you eat 3 times a day and live up to 70 years.
My grandmother thinks that one should eat at least two bowls of Eba (ground fermented and pounded cassava) everyday. My mother thinks you can skip the Eba once or twice a week but Yam and Rice are constants. My Sister cannot live without Biscuits and my 6 year old cousin would not touch anything but Noodles. So when the topic of nutrition is being discussed, there are various slants to it depending on what set of people are discussing it.
The Council on Food and Nutrition of the American Medical Association defines nutrition as “The science of food, the nutrients and substances therein, their action, interaction, and balance in relation to health and disease, and the process by which the organism ingests, digests, absorbs, transports, utilizes, and excretes food substances.” Nutrition therefore simply means that one does not have to just eat but has to maintain a balanced diet in order to remain healthy and build body tissues from the nutrients (nourishing substances) contained in the food. If the foods we eat build up our body tissues, then it can be said that we are what we eat.
Nutrition has as long a history as man himself. Every human being has been eating right from birth but most times, we still finding it difficult to maintain a good nutrition pattern and be in a good state of health at all times. So many individuals have ignorantly ended up with so many chronic diseases such as heart diseases, stroke, hypertension, osteoporosis, anemia, diabetes and some forms of cancer because they lived on a poor diet coupled with a sedentary lifestyle. Currently, about half of the 4 million African children under 5 years of age who die annually are undernourished. Undernutrition is the most common form of malnutrition in both developing and developed countries. Undernutrition is also responsible for specific nutrient deficiencies that can result in muscle wasting, beriberi, anemia, rickets, goiter and a host of other problems. (Perspectives in Nutrition, 1999).
In Nigeria, a healthy person is generally seen as that person who has the ability to eat and can show signs by putting on weight. What this individual consumes is disregarded as long as he is alive and looks healthy but we all need to understand that eating is so different from being nourished. Ignorance and nonchalance have been the key reasons why most Nigerians do not even pay attention the six classes of food and how important it is to include them in our daily diets. Carbohydrates, Lipids (Fats and Oils), Proteins, Vitamins, Minerals and Water all make up the six classes of nutrients found in food.
There are basically 3 functional categories of these nutrients: (1). those that primarily provide us with energy (Carbohydrate, Proteins, and Lipids or Fats and Oils), (2). Those that promote growth and development (Proteins, Lipids, Vitamins, Minerals, and Water); and (3). those that act to keep the body functions running smoothly (Proteins, Lipids, Vitamins, Minerals, and Water). It is very encouraging to know that our nation has a wide variety of foods that are very rich in the aforementioned nutrients. Some of the most common foods in Nigeria and the nutrients they supply are:
1
Carbohydrates
Garri (Eba), Yam, Cereals, Rice, Maize
2
Proteins
Fish, Eggs, Milk, Beans, Soya beans
3
Fats and Oils (Lipids)
Groundnuts, Fried and baked foods (these foods should be consumed moderately to avoid having fats clog the valves of the heart)
4
Minerals
Plantain, Cereals, Iodized Salts
5
Vitamins
Pumpkins (Ugu), and other leafy vegetables, Pineapple, Pawpaw, Oranges and other fruits, Beverages. The cod oil in fish is also known to be very rich in vitamin A which is very good for the eyes.
6
Water
This moisturizes and cleanses the system. 1.5 litres (7 glasses) of water should be drunk daily to maintain a cleansed system.
The Nigerian child has become a primary victim or target when it comes to nutritional health problems. Originally, a typical Nigerian food like our soups will surely contain leafy vegetables (good vitamin source) but these days, a good number of families can count how many times they have eaten vegetables or consumed fruits in a week! Some mothers believe in cooking their leafy vegetables for too long or washing already cut vegetables. These practices do not help in maintaining the nutritional contents of such foods because most of the nutrients contained therein are lost in the process. Vitamin A deficiency rates in children are higher than 29% in some regions of Nigeria.
Anemia affects 25% of Nigerian women of reproductive age, as many as 61% of women are affected in some regions of the country. During pregnancy is the most vulnerable period when undernutrition poses the greatest health risk. A pregnant woman needs extra nutrients to meet both her needs and that of her developing fetus. Nourishing the fetus is likely to deplete stores of maternal nutrients such as iron. Anemia is therefore one possible consequence in the mother and sometimes the fetus faces major health risks from undernutrition during gestation. The fetus requires a rich supply of Protein, Vitamins and Minerals in order to support growth and development of the brain and other body tissues. If these needs are not met, the infant is often born before 37 weeks of gestation, well before the 40 weeks of gestation period that is considered ideal. The consequences of premature birth include a weakened immune system and a reduced lung function, if the infant survives.
In the past, nutritional diseases were automatically related to poverty. Even though this view holds water, it cannot be said to be the only factor why the Nigerian child is undernourished in recent years. The introduction of foods-on-the-run (fast foods) has reduced the number of hours many Nigerian mothers spend in their kitchens but has also exposed their young ones to eating unbalanced diets. Most of our children are living on Noodles and processed foods from eateries, sometimes as soon as they stop breast feeding and with time the child finds it difficult to be attracted to any other type of good quality food, all due to poor eating habits picked up from the adults around them.
Poor infant feeding and caring practices also contribute to problems of nutrition. Right from birth, poor breastfeeding practices are a major cause of neonatal and infant mortality in Nigeria. UNICEF, The World Health Organization, and Nigeria’s National Breastfeeding Policy recommend that infants be exclusively breastfed from birth to 6 months. Unfortunately, only 17% of infants under the age of six months are exclusively breastfed in Nigeria. The PROFILES analysis shows that 21 % of infant deaths are related to poor breastfeeding practices in Nigeria.
Poor nutrition has drastically affected education in Nigeria. Adequate nutrition is essential for physical and mental development. Iron deficiency anemia limits children’s intellectual development and learning capacity. The effects of iron deficiency anemia are particularly detrimental to the cognitive development of infants and young children. In Nigeria, 29% of children under the age of 5 years are anemic. It is even more disturbing that anemic rates in children in some regions are as high as 50%2. This situation therefore restricts the intellectual development of our children whose optimal school performance is vital for the future of our country. Iron deficiency in children, which is more common in poor children than in less deprived children, can also lead to fatigue, reduced stamina, and stunted growth.
Evidence from different countries has shown that malnutrition reduces children’s learning ability, school performance, and retention capacities. Even before birth, the consequences of malnutrition on children’s development can manifest themselves. Iodine is essential for the development of a child’s brain from conception. Results from several studies show that 3% of babies born to iodine deficient women suffer from cretinism and present severe mental and physical retardation, 10% suffer from moderate-to-severe mental retardation and the remaining 87% suffer from some form of mental impairment. It is also well known that in populations where iodine deficiency is endemic, the average IQ rate is reduced by 13.5 points1. The damage to cognitive development in children caused by iodine deficiency is permanent. Available data on iodine deficiency showed that in Nigeria, 20% of the total population suffered from goiter, the most severe manifestation of iodine deficiency.
The average Nigerian child should therefore be provided with the essential nutrients at all times, seeing that most of the damage done to the cognitive tissues may not be undone in later years. Foods rich in protein and fiber, such as milk and cereals should always be available to growing children of school age especially at breakfast because the brain needs to be vitalized after a whole night of fasting during sleep. At school, the child is faced with subjects that require the applied use of the brain. In such cases, as always, a child who eats unbalanced foods will be uncompetitive in school.
The questions then are- What and how are Nigerian children eating? Are they consuming the right foods in the right amounts?
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