Eliminating hunger, malnutrition and overweight-related diseases must be a key goal in improving people's quality of life. Therefore, actions in the food and nutrition sector must be structured in the context of food and nutrition security, integrating a set of actions aimed at respecting, protecting, promoting and providing the human right to health and food.
Important actions to promote health, prevent and treat malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies have been carried out in the sphere of Food and Nutrition, which has contributed significantly to improving the nutritional status of Cape Verde's population. Among the interventions of the National Food Plan (PNAN 2015-2020), the following should be highlighted:
- Monitoring of the nutritional status of the population, with emphasis on children and pregnant women; promotion of breastfeeding;
- The distribution of hot meals to all primary school children;
- Deworming them;
- iron supplementation for children and pregnant women;
- Vitamin A supplementation for puerperal woman and children at risk;
- Fortified food distribution and food fortification, among others.
Integrated promotion of healthy eating
PNAN 2015-2020 has thus brought an approach that integrates different sectors aimed at strengthening strategies for access to food and drinking water, and the promotion of healthy and adequate nutrition. An important feature of PNAN is its interface with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Post 2015 Agenda. It should be noted that 7 of the MDG targets, are directly related to nutrition and food:
- Eradication of Extreme Poverty and Hunger,
- Universal Primary Education,
- Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment,
- Reduction of child mortality,
- Improving maternal health,
- Ensuring environmental sustainability, and
- Combating HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis malaria and other diseases.
For the organism, variety is very important, because no one has all the necessary nutrients for it to perform all the functions.
The exact composition of a diversified diet cannot be pre-established, since the needs may depend on the individual characteristics of each one (such as age, sex, lifestyle and degree of physical intensity).
However, the basic principles of what makes up a healthy diet remain the same.
The foods that are part of this balanced diet are: fruits and vegetables (400 g or 5 servings a day); pulses (e.g. lentils and beans); nuts; whole grains (unprocessed maize, oats, wheat and brown rice); foods of animal origin (for people who are not vegetarian or vegan).
For meat, the best choice would be lean meat with little fat. Always give preference to cooking or boiling the food rather than frying it.
Salt, when consumed in large quantities, can raise blood pressure and consequently cause hypertension, one of the main risk factors for heart disease.
Most people consume larger amounts than recommended by the WHO, by means of foods rich in sodium, which is at most 5 g, or one teaspoon per day.
These sodium-rich foods (usually found in processed foods) do not contain the necessary amount of potassium, increasing the risk of developing disease and even stroke.
Even if you do not salt the food once it has been prepared, it is important to keep an eye on the large amounts in processed foods and drinks.
Simple changes can reduce excessive salt intake, such as replacing processed foods with natural, fresh foods during the day, checking food labels and looking for products with lower sodium content.
In addition, limiting the amount of salt and seasonings with high sodium content (e.g. soy sauce, fish sauce and meat broth) when cooking and preparing food is a valuable tip in reducing salt.
The taste can quickly adjust to new conditions, so removing condiment from the table during meals by habit can lead to eating food with less salt.
Reducing salt intake to less than 5g per day can deduct about 1.7 million deaths each year.
Fat can be beneficial to health, but when consumed in small amounts (up to 30% of daily food consumption) and in the right way. However, some types of fat can increase the risks of obesity and cardiovascular disease.
Unsaturated fats (found in fish, avocado and nuts, and in oils such as sunflower, soy, canola and olive oil) are preferable to saturated fats (found in fatty meats, butter, ghee, palm and coconut oil, cream, cheese and lard) and trans fats.
Saturated fats should be consumed at less than 10% of daily food consumption - trans fats should be avoided altogether. They are present in baked and fried foods, snacks and foods such as frozen pizza, pies, biscuits, crackers, oils and creams, in addition to the fat found in foods of animal origin.
Sugar consumption has become very high in recent years. One of the WHO's healthy eating tips is that consumption should be less than 10% of daily energy consumption.
Not only are sugars harmful to dental health, they can also encourage obesity. Free sugars influence blood pressure and serum lipids, increasing the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.
To reduce these rates, it is recommended to limit the consumption of foods and beverages containing high amounts of sugars, such as sweetened snacks, sweets and sugar-sweetened drinks.
These include carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks, fruit or vegetable juices or drinks, liquid and powdered concentrates, flavoured water, energy and sports drinks, ready-to-drink tea, ready-to-drink coffee and flavoured dairy drinks.
Eating fresh fruit and raw vegetables as snacks instead of sugary snacks is also an alternative for reducing blood sugar levels.