‘Vegetables occupy an important place in our daily life’- Achamma Joseph

Trichy, 14, Feb: ‘Vegetables occupy an important place in our daily life. Vegetables are the only source to increase not only the nutritive values of foods but also its palatability.  For a balanced diet, an adult should have an intake of 85 g of fruits and 300 g of vegetables per day’ said Achamma Joseph, Accredited Dietician from Equal Health, Australia in meeting with community Health Workers of SEVAI Institute of Continuing Education, Trichy. Ms.Achamma Joseph, an Indian origin Dietician practices as Accredited Dietician in Australia. She is a team member of Equal Health, camping in SEVAI Trichy from 7-17^th February 2011.During the mission of Equal Health in India, the 19 member medical team serves the poorest of the poor in Trichy District from 7-17,February in the areas of general Health, Dental care, eye care and care for muscular dystrophy with expert physiotherapists. A noted senior Tamil artist visited this medical camp and he has checked his BMI and this Tamil movie Artist Rajesh sat for counseling with Achamma Joseph based on his BMI.Actor Rajesh said to press men that the equal Health from Australia is very kind and explains the particulars of their diagnosis and congratulated SEVAI for organizing such a camp in Trichy for poor.

Ms.Achamma Joseph trains the community health workers on Food and Nutrition and enlightened them ‘Vegetables occupy an important place in our daily life. It has been observed that the vegetable intakes in target families are less than 50gm per day per member. This leads to high level anemic prevalence among the women’ altered the community health workers. The Dietician further said’ Some of the world’s most widespread and debilitating nutritional disorders, including birth defects, mental and physical retardation, weakened immune systems, blindness, and even death, are caused by diets lacking in vitamins and minerals.  Low fruit and vegetable intake is a major contributing factor to such micronutrient deficiencies. Encouraging people to eat more fruits and vegetables is therefore often at the top of nutrition educators’ to-do.  

‘Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption is a major public health challenge at the moment, There are various reasons why different populations tend to shy away from fruits and vegetables — cost, convenience, taste and stigma, to name a few For starters, they are full of vitamins and minerals, which serve an array of important functions in the body: Vitamin A, for instance, maintains eye health and boosts the body’s immunity to infectious diseases; potassium promotes proper nerve and muscle functioning; and B-vitamins are necessary for converting food into energy. Other micronutrients in fruits and vegetables, such as vitamin C and vitamin E, serve as powerful antioxidants that can protect cells from cancer-causing agents; vitamin C, in particular, can increase the body’s absorption of calcium — an essential mineral for strong bones and teeth — and iron from other foods. Many fruits and vegetables are also very high in dietary fibre, which can help move potentially harmful substances through the intestinal tract and lower blood cholesterol levels. Much of fruits and vegetables’ potency is believed to also come from substances known as “phytochemicals”. These unique compounds are naturally produced by plants to protect themselves against viruses, bacteria and fungi’ As difficult as it may be to get people to heed a simple message like “Eat more fruits and vegetables”,
it is important to create public awareness campaigns about the benefits of fruits and vegetables concluded Ms.Achamma Joseph.-Etns

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