Ilonggos urged to eat vegetables everyday
With the overall drop in the national daily vegetable consumption in the country, the Food and Nutrition Research Institute is still strong in its drive to encourage Filipinos to get benefits from nutritious vegetables.
In Iloilo City, the FNRI stated during the Nutricomnet Media Forum that consuming green leafy and yellow vegetables would help maintain good eyesight, keep the blood red, maintain healthy nerves and make bones strong, among others.
Science Research Specialist Ma. Susan Encarnacion of FNRI-DOST said that based on food consumption survey, the trend in mean one-day per capita vegetable consumption remains low.
The trend dropped from 145 grams in 1978 to 110 grams in 2008. The low intake is disturbing considering that the country has abundant vegetable products or that these plants are easy to be cultivated in backyards.
For Western Visayas, Encarnacion said the study recorded 114 grams compared to 102 grams for Region 7 and 105 grams for Region 8.
The low intake of vegetables can be attributed to economic capability or “sometimes it is also to their choice,” or lack of knowledge of the importance of vegetables to body well-being, Encarnacion said.
She said the government has several programs to counter the Filipinos’ low intake of vegetables. The objective of the program is to encourage increased vegetable consumption particularly among children.
Examples of green leafy and yellow vegetables that are very nutritious are malunggay leaves, sayote tops, carrot, gabi leaves, sili leaves, saluyot, upo tops, spinach, ampalaya leaves, kamote tops, alugbati, kangkong, mustasa, mpetsay, squash leaves, fruits and flowers, among others.
The green leafy and vegetables are among the best sources of Vitamin A, good sources of fiber.
Green leafy vegetables contain calcium, iron and folate, while some contain Vitamin C like cauliflower, cabbage, green pepper and tomatoes, the others are good sources of potassium, zinc and magnesium like turnips, spinach, green beans and tomatoes.
Encarnacion said that eating vegetables will also help in digestion and removal of waste, provide roughage and bulk to prevent constipation.
Other vegetables have cholesterol lowering effects due to its fiber.*PIA
