4M malnourished Filipino children
Rising costs to increase number -- FNRI
By Kristine L. Alave
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 17:11:00 07/05/2008
Filed Under: Food, Children, Food, Government, Consumer Issues
MANILA, Philippines -- Four million Filipino children are malnourished and the number is expected to grow as record-high inflation force households to cut down on food, officials of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) said.
FNRI revealed that the prevalence of malnutrition is highest in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, the Zamboanga Peninsula, Southern Tagalog, Southern Mindanao, and Eastern Visayas regions, where up to one-third of children under the age of 10 are either underweight or short for their age.
But malnutrition is not just prevalent in rural regions, FNRI said. In Metro Manila, 4 out of every 100 children are underweight and two out of every 100 preschoolers are overweight.
FNRI officials said the increasing food prices would only worsen the malnutrition in the country.
Techie Mendoza, FNRI planning officer, said households cut down their food budgets in time of economic crisis.
“If they don’t have much buying capacity, they will only serve what they can afford. It also limits their food choices,” she said.
“If the prices are high, there is less food intake,” FNRI executive director Mario Capanzana said.
When households scrimp, the first thing that goes away from the household’s grocery list are fruits, Mendoza said, followed by meat. Vegetables and fish usually remain on the table because they are relatively cheaper, she said.
Capanzana said Filipino children are not eating enough vegetable. Their diet, he said, consists mostly of foods high in salt and sugar and low in nutrition.
“Our estimate is that there are 3.7 million schoolchildren who are malnourished,” he said.
Most of the schoolchildren, Capanzana said, are undernourished or have low protein, energy, and vitamin intake.
About 1.6 million kids are over-nourished, meaning they are either overweight or obese, he said.
Capanzana said the number of undernourished children has been declining, but it is not fast enough as the average rate of improvement is only less than one percent every year.
On the other hand, the number of overweight or obese children, he said, is rising because of their consumption of fatty foods.
According to Capanzana, an average Filipino child’s diet is low in fruits and vegetables and consists mostly of convenient and junk foods that are high in salt, sugar, and fat.
A recent study by the National Nutrition Council revealed that children below 5 years old are eating an average of only 23 grams of vegetables per day, 50 percent less of the recommended intake that their growing bodies need.
Furthermore, vegetables are not in FNRI’s list of 10 food items commonly consumed by children five years old and below. Among those commonly consumed by children are rice, comprising over 80 percent, coconut oil, refined white sugar, powdered filled milk, brown sugar, egg, pan de sal, chocolate drinks, and instant noodles.
To aggravate matters, an average Filipino child leads a sedentary lifestyle, the FNRI official said. They don’t exercise, preferring to be couch potatoes in front of the computer or television, he said.
This is worrying because children who don’t are overweight or obese tend to have lifestyle diseases when they become adults, Capanzana explained.
Both FNRI officials admitted that it would be difficult for parents to force children to eat vegetables because their palates are so used to fast food fare and meat.
The trick, Mendoza said, is to make sure that the children eat vegetables at a young age. Parents should also try to be creative in preparing vegetables, she said.
Capanzana said the FNRI have developed food items that are fortified with vegetables. They have manufactured pan de sal using Vitamin A-rich squash flour and noodles using pureed saluyot, Capanzana explained.
According to FNRI, children who consume more vegetables are expected to lead more productive adult lives. They tend to have higher IQs, longer attention span, and better immunity to diseases than children who avoid vegetables.
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