Mongolians nowadays talk about maintaining a balanced diet and eating healthy once a year. This discussion coincides with Tsagaan Sar (Lunar New Year), which is the time we consume the most food. It is no secret that when we are having trouble maintaining a good diet, despite the talk around it. We have increasing obesity because adults are not eating healthy, let alone ensuring their children have a balanced diet.
A 2013 report produced by the United Nations indicates that more than half of 15 to 64-year-old Mongolians today are overweight, and one fifth of them are obese. Compared to 2005, when one third of the population was overweight and 10 percent obese, you can see that we are a nation that is quickly growing chubbier. Ten percent of children below the age of five are obese in Mongolia, which puts us second to Indonesia in obesity in Asia. What does it mean that our children are becoming overweight twice as fast as adults?
We consume meat and buuz to excessive amounts, as if there were no tomorrow, while repeating our phrase, “You get full sometimes, but always on Tsagaan Sar.”
QUALITY AND VOLUME OF THE FOOD WE CONSUME
Mongolia has focused on reducing nutritional deficiency, but never on decreasing obesity, and has not done anything about it. Highly developed countries around the world are attempting to reduce obesity, but have not achieved significant success at a national level. At an individual level, people are preventing obesity by consuming healthy food and exercising regularly. Even though Mongolians are eating a lot, we are not getting a sufficient amount of essential vitamins and minerals.
Mongolians have a nomadic culture based on animal husbandry. Therefore, food consumption is largely composed of meat, milk, flour, and potato. We are making enough of these products to meet our demands. However, we are not doing so when it comes to vegetables and fruits that are rich in vitamins and minerals. Our vegetable production meets half of the nation’s demand, whereas the amount of fruits we grow makes up even less of our demand. This is why we expensively import fish, seafood, fruits, vegetables, and other products from abroad. The amount of fruits and vegetables we consume daily is three to eight times less than the 400 grams recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Seventy-five percent of our population does not consume cellulose in our food, which explains why we lack vitamins and minerals in our diet. We are still consuming too much sugar and salt. The production of baked goods, soft drinks, and dairy products that are high in sugar is increasing rapidly. The average Mongolian consumes 11.1 grams of salt (13.5 grams in some provinces) daily. It is two to three times more than the five grams recommended by the WHO. A 2011 study on salt consumption carried out by the Ministry of Health and Sports suggests that 82 percent of our most commonly consumed food products, and 84 percent of food served to the public, contain more salt than the advised level.
While a certain percentage of the population is consuming too much food and not exercising enough, another group is suffering from nutritional deficiencies. Although the deficiency levels have been decreasing at a national level, they have not completely disappeared yet. For example, nutritional deficiency among children decreased from 30 percent to 10 percent in 2000 to 2013, but it still varies at province and household levels.
People in the western region (Uvs, Khovd, Zavkhan, Bayan-Ulgii, Govi-Altai provinces) and poor households have children who are critically suffering from malnutrition. Approximately 20 percent of the children below the age of five in the western provinces are underdeveloped in terms of weight and height, which barely puts these provinces before North Korea (28 percent) and Vietnam (23 percent). Children from poor households are three times more vulnerable to nutritional deficiency than those from wealthy households.
We are unable to reduce vitamin and mineral deficiency. Vitamin A deficiency, Vitamin D deficiency, and poor blood test results among children under the age of five occur in 32, 22, and 28.5 percent of the population respectively. These numbers have not changed for the last 20 years. A study of children and women indicates that 26.5 percent of pregnant women and 14.4 percent of women at reproductive age have deficiencies evident in their blood. Also, 28.2 percent of women of reproductive age lack iron, and 30 percent have a Vitamin D deficiency. Deficiency in vitamins and minerals are common for adults. A report prepared by the medical institute claims that 98 percent of our population becomes deficient in Vitamin D in winter and 40 percent during summer.
It can be said that it is time for Mongolians to carefully reflect on the amount and quality of the food we are consuming.
WHAT TO DO
International experts defined ten of the world’s most important challenges and reflected on them in the 2012 Copenhagen Consensus. The challenges included armed conflict, chronic disease, education, infectious disease, population growth, climate change, hunger and malnutrition, natural disaster, and water and sanitation. They emphasized that the most urgent and significant problem among them is combating malnutrition. The experts reminded policy makers and charitable organizations that every dollar invested in reducing malnutrition sees 30 dollars in returns.
Our country should pay extra attention to treating and preventing malnutrition and raising public awareness about healthy eating. However, our medical schools have not even started preparing professionals in this area. It is common that patients in hospitals have their meals prepared by their family members at home and brought in.
Also, people are consuming food and soft drinks that are high in calories, fat, salt, and sugar, but low in vitamins and minerals. Advertisements for unhealthy products have been spreading, while schools are selling them at inexpensive prices. It is contributing to increasing obesity among children.
All places that serve food to the public, including those that have a kitchen in the basement of a building, need to be regularly inspected, and it should be disclosed how much trans fat they are serving. Who is ensuring the implementation of the law that requires all products to have ingredients and volumes on their labels? Who is guaranteeing that the milk we produce does not have toxic melamine, and that the sausages we eat do not contain sodium nitrate? Is it the Authority for Fair Competition and Consumer Protection, or the General Agency for Specialized Investigation? Who checks whether toxic products are being imported? Are we using food that changes growth hormones? Society demands that the government answer these and other related questions.
Every one of us needs to understand that we cannot become a healthy nation unless we pay special attention to the amount and quality of the food we consume and if we do not exercise enough.
Post a Comment