Background
Everyone feels hunger especially when there is not much food left to eat. This is a common scenario in third world and developing countries. At some point, hunger could also be seen even in developed and industrialized countries such as the U.S, Japan, and other prosperous countries in Europe. Whenever one feels hunger, it simply means that it is time to eat. But what if there is simply not enough food to eat or worse, there is nothing to eat at all? In that case, that person’s body, although still starving, will try to compensate by turning the body’s compensatory mechanisms on (e.g. metabolism rate goes down when the body enters starvation mode). However, the body could only do so much. A person’s body cannot suffer from a nutrition deficit for far too long. There are several factors that could greatly influence a body’s resistance to hunger and the amount of time it will take before the body starts to yield because of hunger (SA, 2004).
According to Worldhunger.org (2010), there were over 925 million people who suffered from hunger and malnutrition last 2010. This is mainly the reason why there is a great need to conduct more studies that will lead to the discovery of ways how to address food shortages. Unfortunately, even without a food shortage, there is still a significant percentage of the world population that suffers from hunger and malnutrition. In such cases, the answer could be merely an effective nutritional and weight status education program. This paper will discuss the benefits of conducting a nutritional and weight status program—this program aims to fill a target population with all the necessary information they have to know about hunger and malnutrition, using related and the latest evidences (e.g. journals, articles, books, etc.).
Review of Related Literatures
Below are several related literatures that are also relevant in answering the question whether conducting a nutrition and weight education program for a certain target population could really help reduce incidences of hunger, malnourishment and poor weight status.
According to a study conducted by Muller & Krawinkel (2005) about protein-energy malnutrition, malnutrition continues to be a major burden in developing countries. It is one of the important risk factors to be considered for illnesses and deaths because hundreds of millions of pregnant women and young children are already affected. A common intervention used to decrease the malnutrition rates is through traditional and food-based strategies such as promoting breast-feeding for lactating mothers and other food supplementation scheme.
In the past years, such interventions have become more efficient. However, such strategies failed to address the nutrition and weight status problems of people living in rural areas who usually have little or no access to formal health services. Muller & Krawinkel (2005) stated in their study that there are several factors that could influence nutrition and weight status in a given population. Some examples were failure to address poverty and lack of proper information about health and nutrition. The researchers have recommended a variety of actions to effectively address malnutrition problems and these include: provision of safe drinking water, support for and education about healthy diets with greater emphasis on more vulnerable groups particularly the young children and pregnant women.
A study conducted by Imai & Katsushi (2008) aimed to compare the effectiveness of autonomous and government-funded women’s organizations in reducing child malnutrition rates in New Guinea. These women’s organizations are often trained and educated by medical practitioners. Some of the things they learn inside their organization include the proper way of improving a child’s nutritional status, how to prevent malnutrition and other information which could be relevant to the health and nutritional status of their child. Most of the women who became members were married women with 2 or more children. Imai & Katsushi (2008) mainly focused on the impact of the autonomous and externally-funded women’s organizations in Papua New Guinea in reducing the prevalence of child malnutrition.
So basically, they used it as their main outcome measure in determining which among the two groups is more effective. Results of this study show that autonomous women’s organizations that provide nutritional and weight status education for young children are more efficient than externally supported women’s organizations. However, one limitation of this study is that the researchers have failed to analyze the way how these two organizations operate and use their resources to improve children nutritional status. Nevertheless, they have not failed to reiterate the social and economic relevance of such organizations, whether autonomous or externally supported, in decreasing malnutrition levels in New Guinea.
Schmidhuber & Shetty (2005) was able to identify the possible changes in food and nutrition that could take place over the next years. They stated that it is likely that there will be considerable increases in food consumption and significant changes in food consumption patterns over the next couple of years. This research basically outlines the possible future changes in food consumption patterns in the next 30 years. This is significant because a slight increase in food consumption levels could be equated to an even higher rate of malnutrition and poor weight status for pregnant women and young children. According to the results of the research, developing countries will indeed undergo rapid nutrition transition characterized by higher calorie intakes. The authors have noted that such could lead to higher rates for obesity, underweight, non-communicable diseases and malnourishment.
Some factors that could have affected such transitions include the falling of real prices for food and the increasing income levels of citizens. Combined, these two scenarios would result to a higher food buying power for consumers. The researchers have suggested that governments and states resort to seminars and education programs addressing the benefits of a healthy & balanced diet and maintaining a low-calorie diet. It was also suggested that educators for such programs should focus on the disadvantages of obesity and being overweight while trying to encourage participants to cut their calorie and food intakes into normal levels.
Galasso & Umapathi (2009) provided evidences about the effectiveness of using behavioral changes as the main tool in improving nutritional status of the participants in their research. Galasso & Umapathi (2009) devised a certain behavioral change program that aims to decrease underweight and poor nutritional status cases for children. The main objective of their study was to measure the effectiveness of a behavioral change-centered program in improving nutritional outcomes of children.
The authors used different outcome measures and falsification tests to provide evidences for their assumptions. The outcome measures that they used were at a community level; meaning, their study could be generalizable because there were a lot of participants involved. After synthesizing the results of their research, the researchers found out that their program helped young children aged 0-5 years bridge their gap in weight and lessen the incidence of malnutrition in the participating communities. Results have also showed that more the gains in nutritional outcomes were larger for more educated mothers and for villagers with better facilities. This research clearly shows the importance of maternal education and perhaps community infrastructure in improving nutritional outcomes for young children.
Young children and pregnant women are not the only ones that could suffer from the effects of malnourishment and a poor lifestyle. College students could be as vulnerable as these two groups. This is why it is also important for college students, given that they usually undergo more strenuous activities and more hectic schedules. In the study of Kicklighter et al. (2010) about college students’ perceptions in different aspects of nutrition education, results have showed how college students are more educated about weight and nutrition compared to other individuals who belong to a different age group.
The researchers interviewed 34 college students and used a questionnaire to extract the information that they needed. Results show that college students have increased knowledge on food portions, healthier breakfast and snack choices. However, it was also seen how college students are prone to obesity because of spending too much time in front of a computer or playing console games. This study is significant because it could be used as a basis for formulating health education programs for college students and out of school youths who are at the same age group even though based on results of this research, it shows that college students are more educated about healthy foods and nutrition compared to young children. The researchers have suggested education programs that are made specifically for college students because they basically have different lifestyle patterns with young children to begin with.
Individuals, especially the ones who tend to be more concerned about their health, will usually go to physicians and nutritionists whenever they have something to ask about their diet or its relation to nutrition and the prevention and treatment of diseases (Gramlich et al., 2010). According to Gramlich et al., medical students could also be vulnerable to the long term effects of malnutrition despite the nature of their courses. This is why they have conducted a study that aims to determine whether undergraduate medical students still need to undergo nutrition instruction programs or not. 9 Canadian universities were able to participate in the study.
The primary tool used was a 23-item English questionnaire made by the researchers. Results of the research show that students from the 9 Canadian universities who participated need to receive additional nutrition instruction because they although some can already teach their patients the basics of nutrition and keeping a balanced diet, majority of the students who participated are still not confident in educating their patient. This could either mean that they do not know what to teach to their patient because they do not know any nutrition instruction or they simply lack confidence. Results have also showed that the participants were not that confident when it comes to educating their patients about the relationship between good nutrition and prevention and treatment of diseases. It is clear, based on the results of this study that even medical students could benefit from a nutrition and weight education program.
It has long been reviewed how nutrition and weight status could affect a child’s intellectual and academic performance. This was the objective of Handa & Peterman’s (2007) research. They investigated the nutritional and weight status of children from South African villages and started to observe their schooling outcomes for a certain timeframe. According to the researchers, the relationship between nutrition and weight status and a child’s intellectual performance is a complex one. However, the authors have strongly recommended the formulation of a team of professionals who know a lot about nutrition. This team will then try to educate the parents and children in South Africa who are at high risks of malnutrition and see if there are any changes in their nutritional outcomes.
Poor nutrition is a major risk factor that could lead to a delayed or poor development for children. Shor & Friedman (2009) argued that most professionals who deal with children at risk of malnutrition (e.g. preschool and elementary teachers) put less emphasis on nutrition-related components. Teachers for example, focus more on the psychosocial and educational components of the pupils they handle but they almost always ignore the nutrition-related components. This is one of the reasons why young children are the most vulnerable ones to poor nutrition and being underweight. The participants in this study were mostly teachers who had no experiences and professional training related to nutrition. The researchers used questionnaires and survey forms to gather the information that they needed from the participants such as their preferred teaching style and the things that they focus on whenever the class starts. Results show that majority of the participants have neglected the nutritional components of educating their pupils and have focused more on the psychosocial and academic aspects.
According to Shor & Friedman (2009) children should be taught basic knowledge, enough to enable them to assess the risk of poor nutrition. However, teaching children these things will require interdisciplinary collaboration with experts in the area of nutrition. Therefore, a team composed of professionals and support staff willing to educate young children and parents about the importance of the right amount of nutrition and a normal weight status is needed. The authors also added that educating young children about proper nutrition is an integral and necessary aspect of an instructor’s work especially if they always deal with children at risk for poor nutrition.
Conclusions and Findings
After reviewing several related literatures, it is clear that there is indeed a need for a comprehensive and thorough education program not only for secondary school students but also for pregnant women, young children, college students and even undergraduate medical students. Evidences have revealed that there is a huge gap in the current education system. Primary school instructors keep on focusing more on the psychosocial and academic aspects of pupils while their health and foundational knowledge about nutrition weak. This could be balanced by forming a team of health and nutrition professionals (e.g. nutritionists, dieticians, etc.) and make teach people about the proper way of choosing foods that they are to eat as suggested by Shor & Friedman (2009). It would also be important to note that educating young children’s parents could greatly boost the gains in nutritional outcomes as suggested by Galasso & Umapathi (2009).
Works Cited
Galasso, E., & Umapathi, N. (2009). Improvimg nutritional status through behavioral changeL lessons from Madagascar. Journal of Development Effectiveness.
Gramlich, L., Olstad, D., Nasser, R., Goonewardene, L., Raman, M., Innis, S., Wicklum, S., Duerksen, D., Rashid, M., Heyland, D., Armstrong, D., Roy C. (2010). Medical Students’ perceptions of nutrition education in canadian universities. Applied Physiology, Nutrition & Metabolism.
Handa, S., & Peterman, A. (2007). Child Health and School Enrollment. Journal of Human Resources.
Imai, K., & Eklund, P. (2008). Women’s organizations and social capital o reduce prevalence of child malnutrition in Papua New Guinea. Oxford Development Studies. Print.
Kickligter, J ., Koonce, V., Rosenbloom, C., Commander, N. (2010). College Freshman Perceptions of Effective and Ineffective Nutrition Education. Journal of American College Health.
Muller, O., & Krawinkel, M. (2005). Malnutrition and health in developing countries. Canadian Medical Association Journal. Print.
Rivers, D., & Vuong, Q. (2003). Child Health and nutrition. Journal of Food and Medicine Vol 23.
Schmidhuber. J., & Shetty, P. (2005). The nutrition transition to 2030. Why developing countries are liely to bear the major problem. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica Section C Food Economics. Print.
Scientific American. (2004). How long can a person survive without food. Scientific American.
Shor, R., & Friedman, A. (2009). Integration of nutrition-related components by early childhood education professionals into their individual wok with children at risk. Early child development and care.
Thomas, F. (2005). Education and Malnutrition. Journal of Human Resources. Issue 29.
World Hunger.org. (2010). World hunger and poverty facts and statistics. Accessed February 2012. Available at http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm.
