Being overweight, obesity increasing

CEBU, Philippines — All sectors including the government, private companies, academe, government officials, among others are being called to focus the problems of the so-called “triple burden” of malnutrition in their respective localities as inaction now would result in millions if not billions in losses in terms of manpower and resources.

This triple burden of malnutrition are overnutrition (overweight and obesity), undernutrition (stunting, wasting, and underweight), and micronutrient deficiencies or hidden hunger. Being overweight and obesity has increased across all age groups.

Dr. Parolita Mission, regional nutrition program coordinator of the National Nutrition Council-7, speaking during the regional launching of 50th Nutrition Month yesterday, said that based on the data by Nutrition International that the “cost in inaction” amounted to $48 billion in productivity due to stunting by 2030.

With this year’s Nutrition Month theme, “Sa PPAN: Sama-sama sa Nutrisyong Sapat Para sa Lahat!”, Missions said malnutrition can be prevented particularly during the first 1,000 days of life by antenatal multiple micronutrient supplementation to reduce risk of stillbirths, low birthweight and small-for-gestational age babies; provision of supplementary food in food-insecure settings; use of locally produced, ready to use supplementary and therapeutic food to manage acute malnourished children; preventive small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplementation for children aged 6 to 23 months for positive effects in child growth; integrated interventions including diet, exercise, and behavior therapy for prevention and management of childhood obesity; nutrition-sensitive programs that yield nutritional benefits including malaria prevention, preconception care, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) promotion; and improved coverage of interventions to reach the most vulnerable groups.

Earlier, NNC-7 explained that stunting in early life, which affects 26.6% of children below 5 years has adverse functional consequences including poor cognition and educational performance, low adult wages, lost productivity and, when accompanied by excessive weight gain later in childhood, an increased risk of nutrition-related chronic diseases in adult life.

The 2021 Expanded National Nutrition Survey of DOST-FNRI showed that 14% of children 5 to 10 years old, 13% of individuals 10 to 19 years old, and 40.2% of adults are overweight and obese.

Micronutrient deficiencies particularly the lack of iron, iodine and vitamin A affect the population including pregnant and lactating women and children. Along with malnutrition, food insecurity also affects 33.4% of Filipino households or 3 in every 10 households have moderate or severe food insecurity.

The PPAN 2023-2028 aims to improve nutrition across all the life stages through strategies such as improving consumption of healthier diets, adoption of positive nutrition practices and increased access to quality nutrition services and enabling mechanisms.

Interventions include nutrition specific services to address the direct causes of malnutrition and nutrition-sensitive interventions to address underlying causes of malnutrition such as food insecurity and poverty. — (FREEMAN)