BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the National Nutrition Council (NNC-CAR) recently launched a massive information and education campaign to make Cordillerans fully aware of the benefits of good nutrition and healthy lifestyle to their productivity.
Rita Papey, NNC-CAR regional nutrition program coordinator, stated that people must first understand nutrition which is the study of how the body uses food and it is a process which living organisms use food to maintain life, growth and human functions while food is what people eat and drink to stay alive and healthy for growth, development, work and other physical activities.
She cited people must have adequate amounts of a variety of good quality and safe foods to be healthy and well nourished.
“Foods are sources of the substance called nutrients that are responsible for giving energy, building and repairing body tissues, and regulating body processes. In this way, food not only maintains life but also influences the quality of life of the people,” Papey stressed.
The NNC-CAR official pointed out all foods contain one or more nutrients in varying amounts and that no single food provides all of the nutrients needed for normal functions.
According to her, nutrients are substances which are responsible for giving energy, building and repairing body tissues and regulating body processes.
Papye asserted the human body is not able to produce essential nutrients, thus, people have to get them from the foods they eat.
On the other hand, she explained nutritional status is the physiological state of an individual and it is determined by the quantity and quality of foods consumed and by the ability of the body to use them.
Papey claimed malnutrition is a condition of the body resulting from a deficiency, excess, or imbalance in one or more nutrients.
She cited people need nutrients to live and the body can survive for up to six weeks without food, but not after seven days without water.
Further, she stated the human body is not able to produce essential nutrients, thus, humans have to eat to get the prescribed nutrients from the foods that they take in.
Studies show that nutrients are classified into two groups, namely, macronutrients, which include carbohydrates, protein and fats, and micronutrients that include vitamins and minerals.
The six nutrients are carbohydrates that provide energy or calories to the body; protein which is used by the body for building, repairing and maintaining tissues; fats that give energy but in a more concentrated form; vitamins which are the partners of other nutrients in building, repairing of and maintaining tissues and regulating body processes; minerals which are similar to vitamins that do not provide calories and are needed in small amounts.
By Dexter A. See