Essay Example on Nutrition, Health & Learning: Why Investing Now is Vital for Our Future

Introduction

There is an undeniably strong association between nutrition, health, and learning. According to De Onis (2017), nutrition in early childhood influences one's health and academic performance later in life. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) described investing in childhood nutrition as the cornerstone of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. It is vital for children's cognitive development, physical and mental growth, school performance, and future productivity. In 2019, UNICEF reported that 33% of children under five years are either overweight or malnourished. 50% suffer from hidden hunger because of deficiencies in essential nutrients such as vitamins and minerals (UNICEF, 2019). These conditions undermine their capacity to grow and exploit their full potential in school, threatening the development of economies and nations. Globally, Asia has the most substantial proportion of malnourished children.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

A significant proportion of school-going children have poor quality diets, increasing the risk of the triple burden of malnutrition (overweight, undernutrition, and hidden hunger). According to UNICEF (2019), 66.7% do not feed on the minimum recommended diverse diet for healthy brain development and growth. Most do not eat enough vegetables, fruits, dairy, eggs, fish, or meat. In addition, modern children tend to consume a lot of processed food with high calories and low nutrients (De Onis, 2017). Improving children's nutrition requires interdisciplinary collaboration between parents and early-childhood development teachers. They need to establish food systems that deliver safe, nutritious, sustainable, and affordable diets for this vulnerable population. The purpose of this paper is to explore safety and health in children. In this part, the author describes the preparation of nutritious and healthy food for children in early childhood education. It includes factors to consider during this process to ensure the food is healthy and safe for this population.

Factors to Consider When Preparing Children's Meal

The Presentation

The appearance of the food should appeal to the child to make it more inviting for consumption. Spence and Piqueras (2014) recommend varying textures between crispy, crunchy, creamy, and smooth. Most children do not like stringy or lumpy meals. Therefore, preparers should avoid undercooking or overcooking foods, particularly vegetables, to ensure they produce the right texture. They should also ensure that the meal has an appropriate temperature, as the majority of this population does not like very cold or hot foods. At the same time, the meals served should include different colors to make them more appealing and interesting. The shape also matters. Spence and Piqueras (2014) recommend serving the same type of food in nonconventional ways such as triangle sandwiches, apple wedges, round crackers, square chunks of cheese, and cherry tomatoes. Also, balancing food flavors between sour, salty, sweet, spicy, tart, and mild depending on the taste of the child, makes them more appealing.

Child Involvement in The Process

A survey by Olfert (2019) reported that involving children in meal preparations is beneficial in spiking their appetite. They are more likely to eat what they helped prepare, cook, or serve. For instance, encouraging a child to wash or slice vegetables is a brilliant way to get them to eat the foods. The act gives them a sense of accomplishment and pride. During this time, parents should encourage the young ones to employ the knowledge they learn in school to prepare healthy meals. This strategy is also beneficial in improving self-esteem and confidence among children. It is a crucial bonding time between families.

Preference

Parents should pay attention to their children's favorite foods. If it is healthy contains the necessary nutrients, they should serve it often, particularly when the child does not have an appetite. Modifying this dish to include the relevant components is one way to ensure children enjoy healthy meals (Russell et al., 2015). For instance, caregivers can cook a child's favorite meal with honey instead of sugar or reduce the quantity of fat used. They can also add nutritious components that do not interfere with the appearance such as moringa powder. Meal preparers should avoid including ingredients that a child does not like, such as cayenne pepper or other spices.

Introducing New Foods

Caregivers should provide familiar and well-liked foods in every meal to establish a routine, but not too much to make them monotonous. According to (Russell et al., 2015), they should only introduce new dishes one at a time to diversify the diet. It is critical to avoid forcing children to eat foods they do not like since it is likely to increase their resistance. Instead, serving the new dish several times provides more chances to try it and increases the likelihood of acceptance. One way to introduce new foods is by serving finger foods such as fruit chunks, vegetable sticks, and small meats. Also, serving them as snacks or when children are hungry is another strategy.

Meal Times

It is essential to have a feeding plan for children. In some cases, young people can engage in playful activities too much and forget to eat. They may also eat too many non-nutritious snacks or juice, thus becoming too full to eat healthy meals. Caregivers have a responsibility to ensure they prepare meals on time and ensure children eat in moderation to get optimum nutritional benefits. (Russell et al., 2015) reported that serving meals at the same time every day helps this population to develop healthy eating habits. Therefore, it is beneficial to have a well-drafted meal plan that considers children's energy and nutrition needs.

Factors for Safe and Healthy Food

Level of Cooking

Undercooking or overcooking some types of food can make them harmful or unhealthy. Raw or undercooked dishes could harbor harmful organisms such as bacteria or parasites that could cause severe illnesses. For instance, eggs could contain salmonella, a pathogen that causes typhoid if not properly cooked (Linscott, 2011). Some communities serve raw meat that may contain parasites such as tenia that can cause incurable diseases that may reduce the quality of life and exacerbate undernutrition among children. Among Malaysians, seafood is a standard part of the diet, particularly fish sashimi and sushi (Linscott, 2011). These meals may contain flukes that cause debilitating liver diseases if they are not prepared well. Similar cases apply to vegetables, as they may also cause bacterial and parasitic infections when undercooked. However, overcooking is not the solution as it leads to a loss of vital nutrients due to denaturation by heat. It is, therefore, paramount to cook foods under the recommended conditions to remove these potentially harmful pathogens.

Hygiene

Meal preparers must observe maximum hygiene practices to avoid contaminating foods. Some ingredients, such as fruits and vegetables, require thorough washing in running water to remove disease-causing microorganisms found on the surface (Linscott, 2011). Also, people preparing food should consider wearing protective clothing such as hairnets, aprons, and gloves to prevent their bodily secretions from falling on the food. Those suffering from infectious diseases such as flu should stay away from the kitchen or practice proper cough and sneezing hygiene. According to Linscott (2011), meal preparers need to be free of disease-causing pathogens like bacteria or parasites, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic. They ought to practice proper hand hygiene whenever they are handling food to avoid contamination. For instance, the case of Typhoid Mary, where an unhygienic woman was a carrier of deadly salmonella pathogens, resulted in infections and deaths of hundreds of people, including children (Bartoletti, 2015).

Allergies

Another factor for meal preparers to consider is the possibility of allergic reactions among consumers. According to De Onis (2017), food allergies are present in nearly five percent of children aged five years and below. People react differently to different types of food, and some reactions may result in debilitating conditions requiring emergency medical attention or death. For instance, many children are allergic to milk, eggs, peanuts, gluten, and tree nuts. Eating foods containing fish, peanuts, and tree nuts cause the most severe reactions and can be fatal to their health (De Onis, 2017). Therefore, food preparers must consider the allergic needs of children before cooking. Some people cannot take certain types of food because of their cultural and religious beliefs. For instance, Muslims do not eat any pork products, and most Asians are vegetarians or vegans.

Nutrition Level

The quality of food is more important than the quantity. Meal preparers need to understand this fact and incorporate it into their activities. For a meal to be nutritious, it should contain as little processed foods as possible and recommended proportions. Vegetables and fruits should be the majority (50%), followed by whole grains (a little over 25%) and healthy sources of proteins like eggs, nuts, and meat (less than 25%) (NCCoFaN, 2013). For a balanced diet, meal preparers should follow the food pyramid. Bread, noodles, rice, cereal, and tubers should have the most servings in a day, followed by vegetables and fruits. Fish, legumes, meat, and poultry should be moderation and sugars, fats, and salt the least components (NCCoFaN, 2013). For children with special needs due to nutritional deficiencies, food preparers should incorporate ingredients fortified with the specific mineral or vitamin.

Conclusion

Nutrition plays a significant role in health learning. Failure to feed on the minimum recommended diverse diet can result in overweight, undernutrition, and hidden hunger. These conditions interfere with early-childhood development leading to short and long-term adverse health and academic outcomes. Therefore, it is paramount to observe critical factors while preparing children's food to ensure it is safe and healthy. Meal preparers should present foods in manners that appeal to children as well as involve them in the preparation. Also, they should pay attention to the child's preference, only introduce new dishes one at a time and follow a consistent meal plan. It is critical to cook meals under the right conditions and observe maximum hygiene to avoid contamination. While overcooking denatures nutrients, undercooking can cause severe parasitic or bacterial food-borne diseases. Meal preparers should also consider the allergic needs of children and follow the provided guidelines for nutritious and balanced diets.

References

Bartoletti, S. C. (2015). Terrible Typhoid Mary: A true story of the deadliest cook in America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

De Onis, M. (2017). Child growth and development. In Nutrition and health in a developing world (pp. 119-141). Humana Press, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-43739-2_6

Linscott, A. J. (2011). Food-borne illnesses. Clinical microbiology newsletter, 33(6), 41-45. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196439911000092

NCCoFaN, N. C. C. F. N. (2013). Malaysian Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents-Summary. Putrajaya: Ministry of Health. http://nutrition.moh.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/penerbitan/buku/MDG_Children_adolescent_2014.pdf

Olfert, M. D., Hagedorn, R. L., Leary, M. P., Eck, K., Shelnutt, K. P., & Byrd-Bredbenner, C. (2019). Parent and school-age children's food preparation cognitions and behaviors guide recommendations for future interventions.