Why are Pinoys short?

Are we malnourished? Who is malnourished anyway?

Is it only the child who has no access to proper nutrition during the first 1000 days of life? Or is it also the privileged child who can afford good food yet does not get the proper nutrition? Both could be suffering from malnutrition. And generally, malnourished children grow up stunted.

Malnutrition is a major challenge for us, given that our youth is our future. We have one of the youngest populations in Asia, which economists have called our demographic sweetspot. But are these youth mentally equipped to be our assets in the next 20 years?

Experts claim that a stunted child will not develop mentally to his or her full potential. So this is why there is a concerted campaign by business groups to take the reins, so to speak. NGOs, civil society organizations (CSOs) and business groups are coming together to find solutions. After all, the next generation (children who are now 3 will be 20 by 2040) will be the future workforce and the engine of growth for our economy.

What can we do in our own community and in faraway towns to ensure that children will get proper nutrition despite poverty, lack of information about nutrition and lack of access to nutritious food?

Community or school gardens. It’s about time we created backyard gardens or community spaces where we can all plant vegetables, for example.

In Basilan, 95 percent of their vegetables are imported from Zamboanga. This is why Mayor Sitti Djalia Turabin Hataman held a first ever Agricultural Summit. At the conference, farmers were apprised about food security and climate change – two things someone in the hinterlands needs to know about so farmers can plant their own food.

Information campaign on stunting. Young mothers must be advised to feed their young properly with breast milk and follow on diets with malunggay (Moringa oleifera), monggo (mungbean) and other nutritious food found locally. This is why a group called Negros Volunteer Foundation (NVF) has been in the manufacture of “Mingo” meals made from rice, munggo and malunggay. These are locally-sourced and locally-produced nutritious energy meals given to schoolchildren rather than importing similar products from France.

Junk food tax? Instant noodles and canned goods must not be the “go to” dole out donated food. Rather, we should give our vegetables, fruits and local food to feeding programs and calamity donations.

Community kitchens. Mothers and fathers as well can take turns manning community kitchens for making soups, conducting feeding programs and making available affordable freshly-cooked complete food for infants and children during their first 1000 days.

Heirloom food production must be encouraged. Instead of high yielding hybrid varieties of staples like rice, we can go back to our history and propagate old varieties of rice, corn and root crops. Every local government must encourage the preservation of its cultural heritage, pre-colonial food and healthier choices for children below three years old. These staples need not be rice but can be root crops like cassava and sweet potato.

Stunting not only affects brain development but also affects physical growth or height. Stunted children will grow in height only to maybe 4 feet 10 inches, and this will be a disadvantage when these children get older and apply for employment. Most jobs will require or prefer a height of 5 feet for women and 5 feet 4 inches for men. This is because office and work places are made to standard heights of normal full grown men and women. Stunted youth will be at a disadvantage even for seeking employment. More than that, what really is stunted is brain development. This stunting will cause a decrease in GDP of about 3 percent due to low productivity of manpower.

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Diabetes and obesity are on the rise.

Because of unhealthy fast food that is readily available and cheap, most of our children turn diabetic at a younger age. Also, instead of gaining height, many young people grow sideways and obesity has also become a major concern. These developments are attributable to consumption of bad food or unhealthy choices. It could also be because anything laden with trans fats, high fructose corn syrup and other cheap ingredients cause these health issues.

Check the labels of what you buy at today’s grocery stores. If you check the ingredient list the first item listed (meaning what it contains most of) is either sugar or high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a sweetener cheaper than cane sugar. Or it could be wheat flour and a lot of additives. What we must aim for is to go back to listing at the most FIVE ingredients: fruits and sugar as preservative; peanuts, salt and sugar for peanut butter, for example. If you cannot say it, it must be some chemical that is not good for you. Even you as an adult could be malnourished if you do not read labels or if you do not choose the right food to buy for your household.

I was a guest at a local leader’s house where the owner brought out specially-made snacks, sauces and dips. Artisan-made or homemade food is the best choice. But since we always complain that we do not have time to prepare, we can find artisan products made by hand and not in a facility. We can shop weekend markets where we find organic and natural food. We have the internet to show us online choices for better food.

I am just so glad the Management Association of the Philippines (www.map.org.ph) has taken it a step further to beat malnutrition. We gathered civil society and NGOs to work with us in educating one and all about this development and a matter of serious concern. We will engage, educate and encourage others to make sure we make headway in legislation, practice and even directing corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the food and non-food companies towards beating the issue of stunting, wasting and all other health issues children face because of bad food.

And that is food for thought: Not all expensive food is good food and not everything cheap is good enough (puede na). We must be conscious of nutrition and not just feed on what tastes good. But first, we must do it ourselves. We feed ourselves before we feed others. Practice good eating so you can help others eat well, too. Take stock of your diet, what you buy for your homes, before you even teach children what to eat. We have to get out of the mentality that a full belly is a good thing. Being full with bad food is not the way to go. Eat less, but eat well.