Towards a better new normal in nutrition

THE pandemic has both negative and positive impact on nutrition. More families are suffering from hunger based on hunger incidence surveys of the Social Weather Stations. The Rapid Nutrition Assessment Survey (RNAS) of the Department of Science and Technology – Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DoST-FNRI) confirmed that two in every ten children were observed to have lost weight. The pandemic affected too the delivery of nutrition and related services including OPT plus, deworming, supplementary feeding, and vitamin A supplements. People suffered from food insecurity due to disruptions in food supply chains, loss of income and livelihoods, a widening of inequality, disruptions to social protection programs, altered food environments, and uneven food prices. The lockdowns resulted to stress eating for some often consuming foods that are high in fats, sugars, and salt and less of fresh foods like fruits and vegetables due to the limited access to grocery stores and wet markets.

The positive effect is that nutrition service providers found ways of delivering nutrition and related services in innovative manner. Some people also preferred to eat healthier to develop better resistance against infections. The National Nutrition Council (NNC) also pointed out positive impacts that have affected the people's access to nutrition. One of these is the change in lifestyle habits that now focus on nutrition and healthy choices. Another, is the sprouting of food gardens in many residential areas, providing fresh fruits, vegetables and spices to consumers. And a third is kindness, a basic human virtue that overflowed during the pandemic as community pantries, and sharing food.