Nourish adolescent females,
the future mothers
By Oluwatoyin Oluwastoyin
Friday,
April 6, 2007
|
• Another
malnourished teen mother
•PHOTO: THE SUN PUBLISHING |
|
Motherhood is a serious business. Do you know that it has
been scientifically proven that a mother’s nutrition before and at conception
goes a long way to affect how her baby turns out not only at birth but also later
in life?
Professor David Barker of U.K Southampton University conducted
a research on the relationship between diet and healthy pregnancy. His research
reveals that a fetus’ nourishment in the womb not only affects the baby’s
health at birth, but also in adulthood.
That is, the susceptibility of
a person to infections in adulthood is linked to the nourishment received in the
womb.
A pertinent one is that of a female child. It has been discovered that
“…baby girls who are poorly nourished in utero may themselves go on
to give birth to low-birth-weight babies.”
The implication:Woman,
your diet before and in early pregnancy could safeguard the health of your grandchildren!
Also,
the importance of the consumption of adequate folic acid – rich foods like
oranges and black-eyed beans, by child-bearing age women has been discovered.
Folic acid is believed to reduce considerably the risk of birth defects
like spina bifida.
These facts have placed additional demands on would be mothers
to feed with their procreation role in view.
While some nutritional defects
in pregnancy might not be able to be corrected, there is a second chance to make
up for the poor nutritional foundation of every child at infancy. This could be
rectified during the adolescence period.
Who is an adolescent?
The
World Health Organisation says an adolescent is someone between the ages of 10
and 19. Before this age group is dismissed as insignificant in certain quarters,
let it be quickly said that it consists of a whooping one quarter of the world’s
population. According to the United Nations, every one in four persons in every
country is an adolescent. There is a rapid growth rate next only to ages zero
to five years old at this period. What this translates to is that an adolescent,
if well-nourished, would be able to develop maximally at this stage despite any
form of malnourishment suffered earlier.
This is of paramount significance
when it is a female child. A well nourished meal would ensure that her body develops
proportionately for the procreation task ahead. It also guides against anaemia
and susceptibility to ill-health at the commencement of the menstrual cycle. In
addition, the energy-sapping household chores often handled by adolescent girls,
require that they are fed with the right combination of nutrients for optimal
well being. Meals rich in energy-giving nutrients in form of complex carbohydrate
with abundance of quality protein; liberal amounts of minerals; vitamins plus
adequate water should be taken.
It has been revealed that malnutrition
affects not only the physical outlook but the overall health of people, that is
intellectual, emotional and social health. While stressing the need for meals
high in carbohydrate, consumption of simple carbohydrate like sugar, jelly and
syrup which gives instant energy and lack other basic nutrients; is being discouraged.
Unfortunately,
adolescents have been noted worldwide to love nibbling these unhealthy simple
carbohydrate snacks. This, according to nutritionists, is one of the problems
of adolescents; another is irregular meals. To buttress this point, ask a group
of adolescents who, among them, have taken breakfast this morning and a few, if
not none, would have done so.
It is strongly advised to always eat breakfast.
If there is any meal to be skipped, it should not be breakfast. Even the name
itself depicts this. One is breaking the overnight fast! Nutritionists lament
that the adolescence stage has not been exploited to adequately build up the body
through good nourishing meals. Most adolescents, girls in particular, due to poor
dietary habits, are either stunted, thin and anaemic on one hand or overweight
on the other. The figure-conscious adolescent girl is being advised not to compromise
a healthier future but eat correct combination of proper and adequate meals; that
what makes one fat is eating the wrong foods.
Also, there are several
advocates against adolescent marriage because demands of pregnancy and lactation
on an adolescent body which is still growing could be fatal. There are more cases
of anaemia among this age group who are pregnant than the older expectant mothers.
Also,
maternal mortality rate at this age is 15-19 per cent higher than it is among
older women. When one considers the energy need at pregnancy and lactation which
is 300 kilojoules and 500 kilojoules per day respectively, according to certain
nutritionists, one could see why pregnant adolescents might not be able to cope.
Apart from hese daily energy requirements for her pregnant and lactating stages,
as the case may be, she equally has nutritional needs to cope with her growing
body. Most of the time, she is unable to take enough nourishment to meet the demand.
This eventually leads to rapid weight loss as the foetus would normally resort
to preying on the body of the mother.
Adolescence, time to learn
home cooking
Adolescence for the girl is more than a time to feed
appropriately, it is also a time to start to take more than a curious interest
in the affairs of the kitchen as future wives and mothers. Hence, they should
be skilled in the 5 Ps of a home maker namely planning; purchasing; processing;
preserving and presenting.
Planning
The girls are
encouraged to start acquiring skills in planning meals by getting nutritional
information that will equip them in planning beneficial meals for their household.
They are to learn how to buy fresh products which are more nutritious as well
as purchasing foods from both open and supermarket. Another habit to be inculcated
in these young ladies is the art of reading food labels. This way, items high
in fat and other undesirable nutrients could be avoided.
Processing
It requires skill to process food materials especially vegetables
though most could be taken raw. This is the second P. Adolescents should be challenged
to go beyond just preparing foods to learning various ways of meal preparation-blanching;
boiling; frying; poaching; grilling and so on. They should know which method would
serve which purpose and why it is so.
Preservation
The
third P is preservation. When preserving food, for example in the freezer, care
should be taken to keep off germs. It is unhygienic to refreeze a frozen food
after thawing. This leads to loss of essential water from particularly fish and
meat, in addition to over exposing the food to germs.
Presentation
On presentation, adolescents should be taught the almost lost art
of food presentation in the Nigerian home. The visual impression of a meal could
increase appetite or diminish it. Some homemakers advocate for the use of crotchety
and fresh/artificial flowers on dining tables, striving for a well –laid
table.
In the same manner is garnishing of meals. This should be resuscitated
as well. This singular act of garnishing could make the difference to a child’s
appetite. Citing the example of children and vegetable consumption. A child could
be attracted to eat hitherto detested meals when it is garnished with carrots;
onions and green leafy vegetables. You may say my child will never touch those
with a long pole, but it has been proven that meals with diverse ‘colours’
attract children. So try it with your child, it might work.
Waoh! All these,
just to prepare for motherhood? But, there is no doubt, girls, that nutrition
affects your well-being. So eat well, reason well and perform well.
And mothers,
this is another chance to thank you all.
Apetit joins the rest of the Commonwealth
of Nations to appreciate you .
In deed, motherhood is no mean business. |
