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Bukola Afeni
Nutritionist in the country has raised alarm over the rate of high consumption of industrialized food in Nigeria.
They made the disclosure at a nutrition walk in Wassa IDP camp Abuja, to commemorate the 2022 National Nutrition Week.
The program was organized by CS-SUNN in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning and its Partners.
The Deputy Director Nutrition Division, Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Mrs Chinto Nelson, said the sensitization is meant to enlighten the populace about the importance of consuming highly nutritious food.
According to her, Nigerians should reduce consumption of industrialized foods.
“The objective of the National Nutrition week is to encourage people to consume nutritious food. It is important to consume local foods, some of our foods are going into extinction, and this is not encouraging.
“Presently, the cost of protein is very expensive, the cheaper alternate is beans,which the whole household can consume. Cereals and beans is highly recommended in terms of nutrients”, she said.
She added that the theme of this year’s event is “achieving sustainable diet through consumption of locally available food” is apt so as to highlight the importance of consuming local foods.
A Nutrition Officer in the Federal Capital Territory, Mrs Tina Okoro said the essence of the nutrition week is to promote good feeding habit that are sustainable.
“This week we are joining our mothers to promote nutrition at national level and sub national level. The reason why we choose the Internally Displaced Camp in Wassa, is that access to good nutrition in such environment could be challenging.
“We just demonstrated to them the importance of consuming food from local environment. They were also taught how to use micro nutritient powder which is used for food fortification.We taught the mothers that whatsoever food they have from their environment they can fortify them with additional micro nutrients to improve their nutrition”, she said.
Okoro explained that the group is also promoting breastfeeding for children that are less than six months.
“We are promoting exclusive breastfeeding because that is the sure way to food security. Breast milk is a Sustainable diet, which which is created by God for mothers. So we are encouraging them to breast feed their baby exclusively as recommended. Then starting from within the first one hour of birth that is putting the baby early to breast , and at six months, they add food variety which contains balanced diets”, she noted.
The Women Leader in Wassa IDP camp, Hafsat Ahmad said the food demonstration is essential to sensitize the whole residents about consuming healthy foods.
“The whole community appreciates their kind gesture,even the carton of eggs being demonstrated will boost the food nutrients of the residents”, she said.