Philippines one of lowest vegetable consumers in Southeast Asia, says expert

By GABRIEL S. MABUTAS

January 31, 2011, 2:39pm

MANILA, Philippines – Philippines has remained to be one of the lowest vegetable consumers in Asia although it has been going down since 1978, a returning scientist under the Department of Science and Technology’s (DoST) Balik Scientist program, said.

Citing data from the National Nutrition Council, Dr. Custer Deocaris said the low consumption of vegetable in the country registered even in 2003 when annual capita vegetable consumption was just 40 kilograms.

For this, he said, the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) recommended that the country makes an annual vegetable consumption at least 69 kg per capita.

“The stigma that vegetables are only for the poor and the incompetent should be taken away," the NCC said.

Deocaris said that China has remained the highest vegetable consumer in the world, with a per capita vegetable consumption of 250 kg per year.

While saying that there is a close relationship between the decreasing vegetable consumption and the decreasing vegetable production in the country, he stressed that there is more problem than production.

“The other reasons why Filipino adults have low consumption of vegetables is preference for meat. Since 1978, Filipinos have also increasingly become meat-eaters with an increasing trend of the share of food from animal sources from 20.3 percent in 1978 to 28 percent in 2003, according to an FNRI report,” Deocaris said.

The declining vegetable consumption, Deocaris said, is among the major factors in the increase of incidence of illnesses in the country. In 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) said low vegetable intake is estimated to cause some 2.7 million deaths each year, and was among the top 10 risk factors contributing to mortality.

“To increase vegetable consumption of Filipinos, we need to target children. Schools and family will need to seize the opportunity in educating them,” said.

He also cited the need for media to do its part in molding food choices of the youth.

“Aggressive marketing by food companies encourages consumption of greater quantities of energy-dense, low-nutrient foods, like junk foods and fast foods,” Deocaris said.

“There is a need for regulatory opportunities at the national and local levels to mandate action and allocate funds for delivering health-promoting strategies to this vulnerable group,” he added.

The balik scientist noted that despite the high levels of malnutrition among our youth, “Filipinos have also grown to be the 3rd "fattest population" in Asia behind its opulent neighbors, Malaysia and Singapore.”