Food and Health

"Your Diet is a Bank Account, Good Food Choice are Good Investment"- Bethenny Frankel

Non-communicable disease is one of the global headaches of public health. Research from a few decades concluded that, total 41 million worldwide deaths are results of non communicable disease which is the main reason of 71% of all deaths throughout the world in developed as well as developing countries, apart from death such disease are root cause of physical disability.  Diabetes, Hypertension, Obesity, Cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease and Cancer are listed as a main cause for such circumstances.

Non communicable Disease prevalence is still unknown in Nepal. Government of Nepal has not yet formulated concrete policy regarding such disease which may due to Ministry of Health and Population doesn't have evidence based finding. Non communicable disease are health condition which occur in, or are known to effect individuals over a long period of time and for that no known causative agents that are transmitted from one effective individuals to another. Some different risk factor are identified which steps towards prevalence of non communicable disease such as life style, environmental and genetic factor and main leading risk factor for developing non communicable disease are Tobacco and alcohol use, unhealthy diet, and physical inactivity are some of the established risk factor. Non communicable disease information are scanty on Nepal, even so available hospitals records on non communicable disease suggested significant increasing of non communicable disease. A community level survey results by W.H.O estimated non communicable disease accounted for 39% of the total country, and nearly half of all deaths were due to non communicable disease.

These major global non communicable diseases encompass some lifestyle related and behavioral risk factors like Alcohol consumption, Tobacco smoking, inadequate physical activity and particularly poor dietary patterns. What? dietary pattern is, totality of what individuals used to eat or drink in daily life which synergistically acts on human health  many research paper suggested that dietary choice contribute to the risk for developing hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, obesity which ultimately associated with the non communicable disease like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.

More than 2500 years ago the father of medicine Hippocrates said: "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" to enlighten the concern of food on human health. The consequences of food on health matters is not today's topic of concern, it was the concern of before human civilization. Bhagavad gita, Holy Scripture of Hinduism which was likely composed in the 1^st or 2^nd century EC through the aadhya 17 of sloka 8, 9, and 10 Hindus supreme god Bhagwan Shree krishna enlighten the importance of Satikvik bhojan over Rajasik bhojan and Tamasik bhojan. Satikvik bhojan are natural food like Split pulses, Vegetables, Fruits, Curd, Rice like food which is good for health and helps to stay calm and come up with mental peace.

Eating a healthy diet is all about nourishing the body and soul for having more energy, improving mood, feeling great and physical activities and more important healthy body weight are essential parts of a person's overall health and wellbeing. Indeed, The marked rise in chronic non communicable disease has usual link to global dietary pattern that are being increasingly, being characterized by lacking in fresh fruits and vegetables but significantly including high levels of fatty and processed meats, saturated fats, refined grains, salt and sugar in daily diet. Everyone need food to live but too much food, too little food or the wrong type of food has negative consequences for health. There is complex correlation between food and health; there is no dough many short term and long term health issues may can optimized by choosing the healthy dietary pattern/balanced diet.

Human nutrition process is the substance of food that provides energy by transforming into body tissue for a full range of physical and mental activities that make up human life all the time. Proper meal plans help to attain ideal body weight and reduce the risk of chronic disease like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other types of cancer by maintaining a balanced diet and essential nutrients required for the body. In simple words a balanced diet is a diet that supplies the nutrients to help our body function properly. Importance of a diet lies in the intake of the right quantity of calories. Our body gets the right nutrition when we consume a wide variety of food rich in calories such as fruit, vegetables, whole grains & proteins. Calories are an indicator of the energy content in the food, to maintain body weight of individuals an average person may require about 2000 calories per day along with source of calories is equally important as the amount,  although a calories requirements may varies with respect to physical activity, gender and age moreover men need more calories than women.

In the present context, urban children and youth generations found stuffing of food with empty calories i.e. food doesn't contain any nutrition value which doesn't help to boost health. Cake, Butter, Cookies, Sugar, Energy drink, Pizza and Ice-cream are some notorious examples of such foods from all around the world. Some specific healthy food groups fall under a balanced diet including leafy green vegetables, fruits that include whole fruits, whole grains and refined grains, proteins and dairy products such as low fat milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese. Organ and tissues of the human body need appropriate nutrition by consuming the right amount of nutrition to properly function the human body. A diet which contains 50 to 60 % of carbohydrates, 12 to 20 % protein and 30 % of fats are said to be a balanced diet.

Carbohydrates, lean protein, essential fat and fluid are needed in the body which are consumed by regular exercise to maintain well being and physical health, these are utilized to maintain body weight, healthier lifestyle. Green leafy vegetables, fruits are good sources of natural fiber, vitamins, minerals and other compounds. They are also low in calories and fat which requires the body to function properly. Results from the governmental, nongovernmental, academic, instructional and professional health research at the world wide level need to improve dietary pattern has been recently pointed out, to combat malnutrition and to prevent manifestation of non communicable disease such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and cancer.

According to World Health Organization (W.H.O) healthy diet for adults includes the following:

1.      Fruit, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains.

2.      At least 400 gm of fruits and vegetables per day.

3.      Less than 10 % of total calories intake from free sugar.

4.      Less than 5 gm of salt (equivalent to approximately one teaspoon) daily. Salt should be iodinized.

5.      Less than 30 % of total energy intake comes from fats. Unsaturated fats (found in fish, avocado, nuts and sunflowers, soybeans, olive oil) are preferable to saturated fat (found in fatty meat, butter, coconut oil, cheese, ghee) and trans fats of all kinds, including both industrially produced trans-fats (found in baked and fried food, pre packed junk food) it suggested that intake of saturated fats be reduced to less than 10% of total energy intake and trans fat to less than 1 % of total energy intake.                            

Prevalence of non-communicable diseases, mainly diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease is the leading cause of death in Nepal. Various survey and research results stated that the burden of non communicable disease is significantly increasing over the past few years in Nepal. The latest survey for non communicable disease risk factor steps in Nepal 2019 shows that unhealthy behavior such as tobacco and alcohol use, unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity remains high amongst the Nepali people. Some key points from the survey have been pointed out, smoke and smokeless tobacco use is very common in men, 50% of men are using tobacco. Only 3% of the populations eat sufficient fruits and vegetables (as recommended by W.H.O); the remaining 97% of Nepali people eat insufficient fruits and vegetables. Per day Nepalese people consume nearly double the quantity of salt (WHO recommends) which leads to hypertension. One fourth of the populations are suffering from hypertension, which is a major risk factor for stroke and cardiovascular disease. Along with the whole world, the burden of non communicable disease continues to become a serious threat to national social and economic development in Nepal and need urgent action towards the prevention and control of non communicable disease.