Child diet and suffering due to malnutrition and nutritional factors.

Child diet and mother health care are 2 most least focused health issues. Both mother’s and child’s nutritional care are very important. It is very necessary to make the young generation very healthy for a Nation to stand strong. And for that having knowledge about the related nutritional factors is also very important.

Teri Reynolds once said that-

“It is hard to talk about a middle ground for something that is a fundamental right.”

This is true. When applied to child health and child diet care around the globe.

Some facts about child diet care are :

Some observations made for many years about child health and maternity care in India.

That says- there are lack of the general medical facilities available. In rural areas, there are 70% chances of providing wrong medicines to the mother and 55% chances of providing non-nutritious diet to the child.

Which results in making them sick and weak.

Suffering of child due to diet is relevant to health crisis also. Malnutrition is a major contributor to global health disease. And many survey reports shows that nutritional factors and malnutrition is always the main reason for several harmful diseases.

In 2012, the World Health Assembly identified six nutrition targets for maternal, infant and young child diet and nutrition to be met by 2025.

1. to reduce stunting by 40% in children under 5
2. prevalence of anemia by 50% among women in the age group of 19-49 years
3. ensure 30% reduction in low-birth weight
4. no increase in childhood overweight
5. increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months up to at least 50%
6. reduce and maintain childhood fasting to less than 5%.

There are plenty of resources which provides the accurate data and expert advice. One of them is WHO. You can check some universal guidelines provided by them. WHO guidline for early childhood development.These organisations provide accurate data and facts. They also give the improvement details. One can surely rely upon this organisation

Under-nutrition contribute to more than one-third deaths in newborn child. Kids who are not born yet, are also the victims of malnutrition and undernourishment.

Many child diet experts from WHO and some NGOs are there who look after the health issues faced by the new born child worldwide.

They had stated that “On an average the wastage of food happening over the globe is enough to feed the children coming from remote areas. The areas where the basic necessity is not fulfilled by the government”.

This is one of the contributor in child malnutrition .

Child health is not constrained to diet and medical awareness. It is also related to the daily routine followed by them. Which should include the following:

1. the regular exercise
2. balanced food intake
3. appropriate knowledge of health and well being
4. basic ethics during eating and food wastage.

Further studies reveals that optimal nutrition in the first 2 years of a child fosters healthy growth. This improves cognitive development as well. It also reduces the risk of becoming overweight or obese. And prevents from developing NCDs later in life.

Here are some important NUTRITIONAL FACTORS related to CHILD DIET to be kept in mind.

Breastfeeding:

• Breast feed during first 6 months until 2 years of age and beyond.
• Avoid Salt and sugars to complementary foods for 6 months to 2 years of child birth.

Fruits and Vegetables in child diet:

• Always include high proportion of vegetables in meals.
• Eating fresh fruit and vegetables that are in season.
• Eating as much as variety of fruit and vegetables.

Fats:

• Reducing saturated fats to less than 10% of total energy intake.
• Reducing trans-fats to less than 1% of total energy intake.
• Replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats.
• Replacing trans-fats with polyunsaturated fats.

Avoiding Oily:

• Steaming and boiling. Instead of frying when cooking.
• Replacing butter, lard and ghee with oils.
• Oils which are rich in polyunsaturated fats. Such as soybean, canola (rapeseed), corn, safflower and sunflower oils.
• Eating reduced-fat dairy foods and lean meats.Or trimming visible fat from meat.
• Limiting the consumption of baked and fried foods.
• Avoiding pre-packaged snacks and foods (e.g. doughnuts, cakes, pies, cookies, biscuits and wafers). These contain industrially-produced trans-fats.

Salt Intake in child diet:

• Limiting the amount of salt and high-sodium condiments (e.g. soy sauce, fish sauce and bouillon).
• Not having salt or high-sodium sauces.
• Limiting the consumption of salty snacks.
• Choosing products with lower sodium content.
• Keeping these in mind while preparing food.

Sugar Intake for child health:

• Limiting the consumption of foods and drinks containing high amounts of sugars. example are sugary snacks, candies and sugar-sweetened beverages.
• Eating fresh fruit and raw vegetables as snacks. Instead of sugary snacks.

Overall, child’s diet and healthcare is very notable for its impact on our society. After all the present generation is going to become the future of this world.

The healthier they’ll become, the more developed their body will be. And the more healthy future we’ll have.

Child health is a rich subject for further investigation and influence.