Comment by
Prof. Manuel Moya MD. University Miguel Hernandez Campus of S. Juan Alicante Spain
Indigenous agriculture and food systems are quite inhomogeneous all over the world, even within a specific country, then aiming a general attitude to adequate these foods panorama for establishing right recommendations would be delusory. This is by no means an undervaluation of traditional feedings specially in early ages as we will see. Let`s take the Bangladesh example.
In 1993 the Food for Education Program (FFE) was launched in Bangladesh at that moment with 105 million of inhabitants of which a vast majority could not afford an adequate diet (1 ) . The program provided a monthly ration of rice or wheat to poor families if their children attended primary school. By 2000 this program covered 27% of all primary schools in the country with a total of 5.2 million students of which 40% received the familial monthly ration. The educational effectiveness was only related to greater school attendance, but this can be an acceptable starting point now
After the Bangladesh Government actions on nutrition and agriculture and data from the National Census and the Demographic and Health Survey two facts are evident: the first is the improved reliability of data and the second the remarkable success on children’s malnutrition. We should remember that the term malnutrition also includes overweight and obesity and also it should be considered their eventual coexistence. As results of the gradual application of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations of 2015 as well as other global initiatives underweight in children aged from 0 to 5 years decreased from 70% in 1998 to 30% in 2022. In the same population and periods of time the decreasing trend of stunting was respectively 80% and 22%. (2). Micronutrients Fe, I, Zn, Vitamin A, folate and B12, are now measured and being below standards, despite the USAID programs for diversifying agriculture. These positive advances appearing in successive reports of the National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT) were related to improved food security, stable breast feeding (63%), better complementary feedings, decreasing of infectious diseases, better sanitation facilities, although in 2019 only 38% of households had an adequate latrine and handwashing place (3) and better socioeconomic status. No mention of indigenous pattern of food.
Why should be supported the persistence of the different patterns of the Indigenous People?
From the nutritional point of view, first because with small complements it will preserve the growth rate of children and adequate nutritional status of both child and adult as it has happened in some LMIC in Central Africa. Second, because if the attachment is weak, the commercial colonization of fast food and particularly of ultra-processed food will surreptitiously settle with obesity risk (in Bangladesh 16% of pregnant women are overweight or obese, NIPORT 21), with the normally associated comorbidities such as elevated blood pressure, cardio vascular disease, T2D, steatotic liver disease… and thirdly because in this agricultural countries some preservation of green surfaces can be expected.
Probably a survey covering different areas of indigenous people life will be necessary. Concerning the nutritional area the questionnaire should contain precise data of origin , age, sex, weight, height waist circumference and an elementary set of questions about food and knowledge, that would permit a real assessment about the quality of indigenous food regimes.
References
1 Ahmed A, Del Nino C. Food for Education Program in Bangladesh: An Evaluation of its Impact on Educational Attainment and Food Security. IFPRI 2002. (www.ifpri.org/divs/fcnd/dp.htm)
2 Idris A. Nutritional status of Children in Bangladesh: Changes and Challenges for Development. May 2nd 2024. Doi: 10.21203/rs-4345998/v1
3 U.S. Agency for international Development (USAID). Bangladesh: Nutrition Profile. Updated November 2021
Manuel Moya