Bukenya’s advice is misleading!
SIR — The Vice-President Prof Gilbert Bukenya has <br>recommended that posho be banned from school menus. His assertion that rice contains the essential minerals for brain development, and in amounts greater than can be obtained from most other foods and vegetables is misleading. Generally, the
SIR — The Vice-President Prof Gilbert Bukenya has
recommended that posho be banned from school menus. His assertion that rice contains the essential minerals for brain development, and in amounts greater than can be obtained from most other foods and vegetables is misleading. Generally, the best sources of minerals (and vitamins, which are also critical for brain development and function) are fruits and vegetables.
However, a quick comparison of equal amounts of rice and maize in the forms in which we usually consume them in Uganda also shows that maize has more ash (the part of food that remains after complete burning; this corresponds to the mineral content) than rice does. If we look at some specific nutrients, maize has more iron and provides more protein than rice does. Yellow maize has the potential to provide beta-carotene, a compound from which we can obtain vitamin A.
Whereas rice has been genetically
engineered to produce beta-carotene, this so-called “Golden rice†still needs further development and is not yet available for human consumption. Our own upland rice is certainly not yet “golden†(at least not in terms of nutrient content!). Furthermore, populations that depend on one foodstuff tend to develop deficiency diseases. in South East Asia, dependency on rice led to beri-beri (due to deficiency of the vitamin
thiamine. it was in the attempts to treat beri-beri that this vitamin was
discovered in Japan in 1910.
Secondly, while it is true that maize flour (and almost all other cereals including rice) contain mainly carbohydrates, carbohydrates are not used for building muscle but are a source of energy in the diet of the majority of
Ugandans. Muscle is built by protein and the body needs protein and not carbohydrates to build muscle. Be that as it may, young children and
adolescents do need a lot of energy — for growth, for physical activity and
even for brain function. If a child's brain does not get enough energy it will “shut down†— just like a computer does when the supply of
electricity runs out.
Inadequate attention and drowsiness are indicators of imminent “shut-downâ€. Replacing maize with rice is not going to sort out the problem of inadequate nutrient intake of children in boarding schools because both rice and maize are first and foremost sources of carbohydrates and energy. they provide very little, and in some cases, none of the other nutrients.
What is required is the implementation or enforcement of a school feeding policy based on the nutrient needs of young children and adolescents.
Schools should be allowed to include a variety of foodstuffs in the diet to meet the needs of their students in a cost-effective way. If some of these needs cannot be met, supplementation (as Government policy) should be considered, for example, giving school-going adolescent girls iron
supplements.
The potential of using foodstuffs that are “non-traditional†—from the school-feeding point of view, such as millet, should also be explored.
The use of yellow maize should be
revisited; perhaps if the Vice president supports it as a prestigious food, school-children (and their parents) will accept it! The VP would also do well to promote the more nutritious forms of rice: parboild rice and "brown
rice".
Rhona Baingana
Makerere University
recommended that posho be banned from school menus. His assertion that rice contains the essential minerals for brain development, and in amounts greater than can be obtained from most other foods and vegetables is misleading. Generally, the best sources of minerals (and vitamins, which are also critical for brain development and function) are fruits and vegetables.
However, a quick comparison of equal amounts of rice and maize in the forms in which we usually consume them in Uganda also shows that maize has more ash (the part of food that remains after complete burning; this corresponds to the mineral content) than rice does. If we look at some specific nutrients, maize has more iron and provides more protein than rice does. Yellow maize has the potential to provide beta-carotene, a compound from which we can obtain vitamin A.
Whereas rice has been genetically
engineered to produce beta-carotene, this so-called “Golden rice†still needs further development and is not yet available for human consumption. Our own upland rice is certainly not yet “golden†(at least not in terms of nutrient content!). Furthermore, populations that depend on one foodstuff tend to develop deficiency diseases. in South East Asia, dependency on rice led to beri-beri (due to deficiency of the vitamin
thiamine. it was in the attempts to treat beri-beri that this vitamin was
discovered in Japan in 1910.
Secondly, while it is true that maize flour (and almost all other cereals including rice) contain mainly carbohydrates, carbohydrates are not used for building muscle but are a source of energy in the diet of the majority of
Ugandans. Muscle is built by protein and the body needs protein and not carbohydrates to build muscle. Be that as it may, young children and
adolescents do need a lot of energy — for growth, for physical activity and
even for brain function. If a child's brain does not get enough energy it will “shut down†— just like a computer does when the supply of
electricity runs out.
Inadequate attention and drowsiness are indicators of imminent “shut-downâ€. Replacing maize with rice is not going to sort out the problem of inadequate nutrient intake of children in boarding schools because both rice and maize are first and foremost sources of carbohydrates and energy. they provide very little, and in some cases, none of the other nutrients.
What is required is the implementation or enforcement of a school feeding policy based on the nutrient needs of young children and adolescents.
Schools should be allowed to include a variety of foodstuffs in the diet to meet the needs of their students in a cost-effective way. If some of these needs cannot be met, supplementation (as Government policy) should be considered, for example, giving school-going adolescent girls iron
supplements.
The potential of using foodstuffs that are “non-traditional†—from the school-feeding point of view, such as millet, should also be explored.
The use of yellow maize should be
revisited; perhaps if the Vice president supports it as a prestigious food, school-children (and their parents) will accept it! The VP would also do well to promote the more nutritious forms of rice: parboild rice and "brown
rice".
Rhona Baingana
Makerere University