WEJULI MIKE: Encouraging better nutrition for a healthier living

Have you ever wondered why the children of rich or prominent people are found to have nutrition conditions such as obesity, poor growth among others. Well, it all goes back to nutrition and the choices we make.

Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life or basically, it’s is a study of the nutrients and how the body uses them and the relationship between diet and health. Malnutrition, in every form, presents significant threats to human health. Today the world faces a double burden of malnutrition that includes both undernutrition and overweight especially in middle- and low-income countries like Uganda.

According to the World health organization, 149 million children under 5 years of age are too short for their age, 45 million children under five are thin for their height (wasted) and 39 million children under 5 are overweight. These statistics go beyond and affect the youth and the elderly.

Thus, nutrition is important for an improved infant, child, and maternal health, stronger immune system, lower risk of non-communicable diseases, and longevity. Additionally, healthy children learn better. People with adequate nutrition are more productive and can create opportunities to gradually break the cycles of poverty and hunger.

Most school-going children have malnutrition issues mainly because of the poor food choices they make leading to malnutrition. Many students opt for fast food because they are convenient and available yet to some extent those foods do not meet the nutritional demands of the body. This is the same issue for the rich kids because they buy foods that don’t meet their body needs. Many researchers encourage us to always eat fresh and organic food which are composed of higher nutrients that our body needs to grow and fight infirmity. Such foods include fruits, carbohydrate-rich foods, protein food, water etc.

Therefore, all of us have to make informed choices if we are to have healthier bodies. We should generally avoid fast foods and resort to organic and properly prepared food. This will give us the better nutrients that our body demands and thus improve on the well-being.