Modern technology contributes to the growing number of malnourished in the country.
This was reported during the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) Workshop held recently at the Quezon City Health Department, where malnutrition problem – which can manifest itself as undernutrition or overnutrition — was scrutinized for proper plan of action.
During the workshop, it was pointed out that overnutrition — which is characterized by obesity — is caused by excessive food intake, particularly unhealthy food from fastfoods and lack of physical activity due to influence of modern technology or gadgets like computers, laptops, cellphones, tablets and iPad.
Most children, even in poor families, now enjoy playing gadgets either in sitting or lying position after eating, thus affecting their proper digestion of food and this eventually results in obesity, according to QC health nutrition program coordinator Marivic Perlada.
She said that, unlike in the past, children were physically fit because of physical sports and games like patintero, tumbang preso, luksong tinik, piko, sipa and other native sports, which are now almost forgotten due to modern technology.
Perlada said one way of preventing poor fitness is for parents to monitor their children’s activities and, as much as possible, encourage them to be active in physical sports rather than spend hours focused on computers and other gadgets.
She also urged the city’s 142 barangays to have barangay nutrition staff that will encourage and teach parents to prepare cheap but nutritious food for the family.
Meanwhile, PPAN is set to revive some health programs for QC, including nutri-bingo, and other wellness programs like zumba sessions. (Maureen)
Posted By: Edrillan Pasion
