“Although
they are attractively packaged, tasty and filling, empty calorie foods, often
called 'junk foods', contain little or no nutritional value. Choosing to
consume too much empty calorie foods is detrimental to good health”
Nutritionist Lisa Hunt
commenting on the findings of the IICA (Inter-American Institute for
Co-operation on Agriculture) research paper titled “Hunger and nutrition from
bellyful to body fuel”
Jamaicans
today, despite living a better lifestyle then their forefathers, are still
malnourished.
To
be precise, approximately 200,000 Jamaica are undernourished according to the
UNFAO (United Nation Food and Agriculture Organisation) as declared in the
article “200,000
Undernourished People In Jamaica - UN Report”, published Monday December
28, 2015, The Jamaica Gleaner.
According
to the UNFAO's report, the following countries have undernourishment levels of
10% or higher:
1.
Bahamas
2.
Belize
3.
Dominica
4.
Jamaica
5.
Trinidad and Tobago
The
UNFAO cited the following factors that contributed to this situation:
1.
Income inequality
2.
Food access
3.
Poverty
4.
Unemployment
Still,
we're not that bad in the Caribbean, as the undernourished are getting, well,
better nourished:
1.
8.1 million in 1990-92
2.
7.5 million in 2014-16
Strangely
enough, the UNFAO report claims that income inequality exist in the following
countries:
1.
Haiti
2.
Jamaica
3.
Suriname
I
guess by “Income inequality” they mean the gap between the wealthy in Jamaican
society and the poor somehow affects our diet. However, this is the flaw in the
UNFAO, as that's not quite the case; the wealth in Jamaican society are also
undernourished as well.
Wealthy Jamaican making
bad food choices - Eating foods high in processed sugar, fats and salt
Researchers
from IICA
(Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture) have published
some interesting research under the title “Hunger and nutrition
from bellyful to body fuel”.
The
IICA's research came to light at the Caribbean Pacific Agri-Food Forum held at
the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus in the week of Sunday
November 1st 2015.
The
IICA's research points to a very strange situation occurring within the
Caribbean. Caribbean nations who based on their demographics are counted among
the wealthy, are making bad food choices. Good to note that both the IICA and
the UNFAO reports are valid; the IICA is a little more specific in terms of
identifying the malnourished as being the wealthier class within Jamaica.
Even
though they can afford to eat more nutritious food, they are instead lavishing
their money on food that's high in refined carbohydrates, fats and salt and
offers little or no nutrition. At the same, they are not consuming enough
fruits, vegetables, roots, tubers, legumes and nuts, to quote the IICA
report: “This has resulted from a rise
in consumption of a diet high in refined carbohydrates, fats and salt, and a
fall in consumption of fruits, vegetables, roots, tubers, legumes and nuts”.
The
result: an increase in CNCD's (chronic non-communicable diseases) such as
obesity which can lead to stroke, heart attack and cancer. All associated with
eating processed foods i.e. canned foods and packaged snacks.
Many
of these foods, be it canned or fast food, contain empty calories as Jamaica eat
less of the foods that our forefather ate. Contrary to popular belief,
malnutrition isn't a disease of the poor but one that's associated with the
wealthy, to quote the IICA report: “Under nutrition is no longer automatically
associated with the poor, downtrodden and hungry. Malnutrition is now
increasingly being associated with the other extreme - over- nutrition - which
is linked to rising affluence, availability, easy access and affordability of a
diverse range of food products generally referred to as 'empty calories'”.
As
such, albeit you may feel a sense of well-being as well as satisfying your
desire to be associated with a certain social class, you are not getting the
adequate amount of nutrition from the food that you eat. The result is that many
Jamaicans are becoming obese and experiencing deteriorating health in terms of
their immune system and energy level.
This
affect the proper function of their internal organs, their immune system and
external functions e.g. defection and excretion, all taking a toll on their
overall health and making susceptible to CNCD's.
So
why is this happening? And what can we do about it?
Fast food, canned foods
and packaged snacks - The source of malnourishment in Jamaica
It
may mainly be because of the increasing influence of North American media as
well as the experience of Jamaican travelling to the US of A.
Jamaicans,
in their desire to be seen as being modern, mimic the eating habits of their
American counterparts, eating and drinking the same processed foods that they
eat.
This
includes fast food, canned foods as well as packaged snacks high in refined
carbohydrates, fats and salt as pointed the IICA research, quote: “It is the
overconsumption of such foods that has caused a sharp spike in CNCDs among
Caribbean populations. Even more worrisome is that CNCDs are now strongly
linked to a rise in adult diseases, among infants and children, particularly
diabetes”.
To
fix this problem, the diet of children and adults has to be changed. This
includes diversifying the foods that children, mainly consisting of consisted
mainly of bread made of white flour, with cheese or butter, rice and skimmed
milk to include more fruits, vegetables, roots, tubers, legumes and nuts.
Nutritionist
Robert Best suggests that attempts should be made to wean children off eating
this regular fare as well as fast food and canned foods.
They
should also be dissuaded from eating packaged snacks such as biscuits and bag
juice, which is yet to be properly regulated by the BSJ (Bureau of Standards
Jamaica) as noted in my blog article
entitled “BSJ's
Bag Juice Regulations – Why Ministry of Education must support School Gardens
as Sugar in Bag Juice linked to Lifestyle Diseases”.
This
can be done by making fruits, vegetables, roots, tubers, legumes and nuts more
attractive to children. Once they are hooked from a very young age, they'll
continue onwards with these good eating habits, thereby reducing their chances
of becoming obese and co-morbidity of CNCD's.
Ministry of Health Junk
Food Tax – Expand to processed foods as well as packaged snacks
As
for the Ministry of Health, a Junk food or Fast Food tax is needed to not only
tax sellers of Fast food as argued in my blog article
entitled “Min.
of Health, Dr. Fenton Ferguson proposes Junk Food Tax - Jamaican High Schoolers
Addiction to American Fast Food”.
This
Junk food tax should also be expanded to include canned foods as well as
packaged snacks, many of which are imported as opined out in my blog article
entitled “Why
Jamaica's Basic Item Food Bill mostly from 1st World Countries despite being
Made in Jamaica”.
The
US$5 billion per year Imported food bill that’s' shared between Jamaica and
Trinidad & Tobago, Haiti and The Bahamas needs to be reduced, as we need to
grow more of what we eat.
This
is preferred to partaking of the rich First World fast food, canned foods as
well as packaged snacks high in refined carbohydrates, fats and salt that
leaves us malnourished or undernourished, whichever study you choose to
believe.
Here’s
the link:
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