Day: January 25, 2023

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and large-scale food business players should innovate their products to improve public food consumption and resolve the problem of stunting, the National Food Agency (NFA) has said.

“For example, we encourage MSMEs in Maluku, who produce sago noodles, to enrich them with fish, vegetables, and peanut flours to produce innovative processed food products,” NFA’s Deputy for Diversification of Food Consumption and Food Safety Andriko Noto Susanto said at a CIPS webinar here on Wednesday.

According to him, innovating processed food products could contribute to the achievement of the Desirable Dietary Pattern (DDP) and help achieve the target of reducing the stunting rate to 14 percent nationwide.

DDP is an instrument for assessing the situation of regional food consumption to plan for future food consumption needs by considering the social, economic, cultural aspects, and people’s preferences.

In 2022, DDP reached 96.80, up from 95.70 the previous year.

People with very low incomes have the strongest tendency to leave their DDP unachieved, Susanto said. Therefore, the government has carried out several interventions such as distributing food assistance to low-income people.

The 2021 National Socioeconomic Survey shows that the average cost of balanced nutritious food in Indonesia is Rp22,126 per day or Rp663,791 per month per person.

Based on the average cost of a healthy meal in 90 cities in Indonesia, around 68 percent or 183.7 million Indonesians cannot afford them.

According to Susanto, regulations are needed to accelerate the diversification of food consumption using local resources.

“We are drafting a presidential regulation for the diversification of food consumption. (The regulation) will bind the central government, local governments, and food business actors to jointly mobilize resources for diversifying food consumption based on local creativities,” he explained.

He said he expected business actors to work together on creating food innovations to meet people’s nutritional needs.

Source: Antara News

Bogor Agricultural Institute’s (IPB’s) Food and Nutrition Professor Ali Khomsan advises people to walk at a speed of five km per hour (kph) every day to achieve normal body weight and live an active lifestyle.

“If we walk five kilometers per hour, or four thousand to six thousand steps a day, we can achieve an active lifestyle with 10 thousand steps a day,” Khomsan stated at the event themed “National Nutrition Day: The Importance of Balanced Nutrition in Everyday Life” here on Wednesday.

Khomsan said brisk walking for five kph is classified as aerobic, and this has an effect on weight loss. Different bodily processes occur when someone runs fast until they are left gasping for breath.

“When you are panting because you are running fast, it is no longer aerobic but anaerobic. Anaerobic probably has no effect on weight loss,” he stated.

A study conducted by doctoral students at IPB showed that obese people, who walked for 60 minutes, had better weight, body mass index, and waist circumference than those who walked for 40 minutes.

Khomsan proved that walking regularly five days a week did not make him lose weight. However, speed when walking turned out to be one of the influential factors.

“Students who carry out trials using tools that measure speed and obey the tools used produce significant results,” he stated.

Referring to the 2013 and 2018 Basic Health Research data, he said around a third of Indonesians lack physical activity while pointing out that the trend of degenerative diseases is increasing.

Lack of physical activity and obesity are risk factors for several non-communicable diseases.

Khomsan said the average Indonesian walked up to around 3,500 steps a day.

Hence, the maximum number of steps achieved is around seven thousand per day, from the target of 10 thousand steps per day and this even has to be combined with exercise as an additional measure.

“I suggest exercise for 150 minutes at least two days per week. If possible, it can be done for five days per week, that is very good,” Khomsan stated.

Source: Antara News