The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Are you sure your child is eating right?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 05, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Are you sure your child is eating right?

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: Poor nutrition contributes to one out of two deaths associated with infectious diseases among children under five years in developing countries, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Many children in India suffer from malnutrition caused not just by lack of nutritious food but also inappropriate feeding of infants and children.

While lack of awareness of proper feeding habits and the necessity of breastfeeding early in newborns may, to a large extent, cause under-nourishment in children; a tendency to feed rich refined foods to children and giving tinned supplementary foods to infants may also cause much harm, say doctors and nutrition experts.

National Nutrition Week is being observed across the country from September 1 to 7 and the theme this year is “Varied diet is wholesome and nutritious – Nutrition promotion for a stronger nation.”

“With rapid urbanisation, there is a tendency among both literates and non-literates to feed unhealthy refined foods to their children. Apart from breast-feeding for the first six months of birth, a variety of nutritious home-based foods is best as a supplement for the baby,” says Swarupa Kakini, chief dietician at Sagar Apollo Hospital. According to WHO, one in four preschool children suffers from under-nutrition, which can severely affect a child’s mental and physical development.

Under-nutrition among pregnant women in developing countries leads to one out of six infants born with low birth weight.

The National Family Health Survey-3, reveals that only 35.6 per cent of children in Karnataka are breastfed in the first hour of birth while 82.7 per cent of children between 6 to 35 months, were anaemic.

Moreover, 38 per cent of children under three years had stunted growth and 41 per cent were underweight.

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