Tuesday, June 12, 2012

GOOD nutrition in the first three years of a child is crucial to ensuring his health and success in adulthood, according to a study that began in 1980 in Metro Cebu.

Anthropologist Linda Adair of the University of North Carolina, citing the results of the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS), said proper nutrition from infancy to early childhood adoes not only affect the physical growth of a child, but also his performance in school and his career as an adult.

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The CLHNS looked into the pregnancy of 3,327 women in 33 barangays in Metro Cebu between May 1, 1983 and April 30, 1984. The study traced their childbirth and the way they raised their children.

The results of the CLHNS, which was conducted by US and Philippine researchers, were presented during a forum yesterday on childhood and health, organized by the Consortium of Health Orientated Research in Transitioning Societies.

Fr. Dionisio Miranda, University of San Carlos (USC) president, said studies like the CLHNS are good bases for drafting health and nutrition policies. But he said many issues raised in the forum have not been addressed by policy-makers yet.

Format

Dr. Florentino Solon, former Cebu City mayor and Nutrition Center of the Philippines founder, said the results of the study should be presented in a format that policymakers can understand.

He said that in Cebu City, 500 children under the age of five die every year for various reasons.

Read more:
Study says nutrition makes child tall and more likely to have good career