Nutritionists urge complementary feeding

ASIDE from breastmilk, nutrition experts suggest giving food and liquids to infants aged six months and above or complementary feeding to combat increasing cases of malnutrition.

According to the recent data from the Cordillera Regional Nutrition Council, some provinces in the region still have high prevalence of malnutrition based on the study of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), with high occurrences of underweight, under height, and nutrition-deficient children.

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In the FNRI study, National Nutrition Council-Cordillera Administrative Region (NNC-CAR) Director June Falancy said two out of 10 Cordillera children are malnourished.

Falancy said the provinces of Abra, Kalinga, Apayao, and Ifugao still have high prevalence of malnutrition, exceeding the country's national average of 26.2 percent and the regional average of 19.9 percent for children aged 0 to 5 months old.

Falancy said complementary feeding helps children grow healthy. It also helps prevent stunted growth among babies aged 6 to 24 months old.

She added even with optimum breastfeeding, children can become stunted if they do not receive sufficient quantities of quality complimentary foods and increasing meal frequency suitable to the child's age.

Experts in a recent Nutrition Month press conference also revealed increasing food consistency and adapting the diet to the infant's requirements and abilities will combat malnutrition.

Falancy, however, warned mothers not to use infant formula because doctors from the Department of Health (DOH) have started advocating for the breastfeeding as colostrums from mother's milk provides infants with the needed antibodies that combats early childhood diseases.

She also highlighted success of the regional nutrition council's efforts in lowering the number of nutritionally at risk pregnant women, which at 16.9 percent is way below the Philippine average of 26.3 percent.

Other successful campaigns of the council also resulted to lowering of iron deficiency anemia and iodine deficiency disorder cases in children and lactating mothers in the region.

However, despite the DOH and the nutrition council's efforts to increase awareness and usage of the Sangkap Pinoy Seal manufactured food products, Falancy reported food fortification in these aspects remain at a low of 12.2 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively.

But with all these setbacks, Falancy and other inter-agency members of the regional nutrition council remain unfazed as their 36-year-old advocacy since the implementation of the Nutrition Month are now nearing fruition. (JM Agreda)