Banning the maize meal is bad policy
The debate about maize meal is as amusing as it is incredible. Based on scientific facts and knowledge, it cannot possibly be the basis for solutions to childhood malnutrition and intellectual performance. The main part of the debate is that maize meal is 100 percent carbohydrate and has no other nu
By Sam Okuonzi
The debate about maize meal is as amusing as it is incredible. Based on scientific facts and knowledge, it cannot possibly be the basis for solutions to childhood malnutrition and intellectual performance. The main part of the debate is that maize meal is 100 percent carbohydrate and has no other nutrients.
That it was introduced by the colonial government to feed prisoners who were a source of manual labour. Now it is widely used to feed school children, but it is inappropriate for children, because it gives muscle power, not brain power. That it is the cause of malnutrition and low IQ in Africa, and is the reason why Africans are intellectually inferior. Therefore, maize meal should be banned and rice should instead be promoted.
But it is not true that maize meal is 100 percent carbohydrate or devoid of any other nutrients. According to “Food Composition Table For Use in Africa†compiled by Food and Agriculture organisation (FAO), the three common forms of maize flour (white, pale and yellow) have at least 12 nutrients in addition to carbohydrates (http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/X6877E/X6877EO5.htm). The white maize, which is highly polished, has slightly less nutrient levels. It is remarkable to note that even the white maize flour has calcium, phosphate, iron, carotene, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin.
Compared to unripe bananas (matooke), Uganda’s glorified food, maize meal – in any form – is superior. Matooke has less of most of the nutrients available in maize meal flour, and in fact misses in three nutrients altogether – nutrients available in the maize flour. If banning nutrient-deficient foods were a rational nutrition policy, it should be matooke, not maize meal, to be banned in Uganda.
Fortunately, banning food stuffs is simply untenable as a policy measure – for reasons such as low cost, availability and taste. The human body requires over 100 nutrients everyday. The nutrients are grouped as carbohydrates, vitamins and phyto-nutrients, minerals, proteins and fats/oils. But no single foodstuff on its own can provide all the nutrients the body needs. The way to have all nutrients everyday is to have a variety of food types in the diet. It is recommended that one should have optimal (not optional) amounts from each of the five groups, on a sliding scale, with the largest amount being from carbohydrates and least amount from fats and oils. This is called the daily “food pyramidâ€. In Japan, where the most balanced diets are eaten, the government recommends eating of at least 30 different types of food each day.
Yes, children’s nutritional demands are exceptional. They need good nutrition because they produce at least a billion cells daily as part of growth and development, because they have to develop cognitive (learning and memory) skills, and because they have the highest level of metabolism (biochemical reactions) and the highest levels of physical activity. And yet children are often fed with carbohydrates and fats only, and don’t take whole grains, fruits and legumes which cover all the other nutritional demands. A reasonable policy would be to encourage eating a variety of foods, and to promote balanced and adequate diet. The policy should not be to ban some food stuffs.
The nutrition situation in Uganda is appalling but not because of the maize meal. Some 40 percent of children are chronically malnourished, and 60 percent of all childhood deaths are associated with malnutrition. Maternal malnutrition, which is also rampant, compounds childhood malnutrition. Probably over 50 percent of all children in Uganda perform below the expected intellectual potential. Moreover, overall, food is becoming less available in Uganda as food production is currently increasing at only 1.5 percent per annum as compared to the population growth of 3.4 percent.
Malnutrition, disease-burden and reproductive crises, and the deliberate inaction by the Government to address these crises, characterise and define today’s Uganda. The nutrition stress is caused by inadequate nutrition, poor breastfeeding and food insecurity arising from poor agricultural production and disasters/wars. It is also caused by the ignorance about dieting even where food is available.
People who suffer from malnutrition when they are accessible to abundant food usually practice “channel eating†– eating the same food, such as cornflakes at breakfast, over and over for 365 days a year. Another reason for malnutrition is the lack of access to resources by women who are responsible for food preparation to get the required foodstuffs.
According to Fogel W.R 1999 in “The Conquest of High Mortality and Hunger in Europe and America: Technology, Growth and Economic Development since Industrial Revolutionâ€, nutrition is the basis and foundation for industrialisation and prosperity of a nation. The improvement of human capital by government intervention through better hygiene, food and nutrition, and health care leads to longer lives, better physique and cognitive skills, self-confidence and self-esteem of the citizens.
These in turn lead to innovation, entrepreneurship and prosperity. Many scholars (such as Frenk J, 2000) and the White Hall Study have reached this undeniable conclusion. Nutritional social benefits are cumulative, long-term, running through lifecycles and generations. So, proper nutrition of a nation is the foundation and strategy for her prosperity, if only her leaders appreciate this fact and act accordingly.
In Uganda, nutrition has remained a non-issue. industrialisation will after all be carried out by foreigners – remember foreign direct investment? The constitutional requirements to promote food production, to establish food reserves and to provide nutrition education have remained empty gestures. The Food and Nutrition Policy and Strategy is gathering dust on the shelf.
We can make a fresh start as a minimum effort. Let us re-dedicate ourselves to promoting breast-feeding and appropriate complimentary feeding of all children. We should embark on diet and nutrition education, and campaign with the same vigour as we did against HIV/AIDS. Food supplementation consisting of vitamin A, iron, iodine and zinc already planned needs to be promoted and expanded to include other nutrients in the future through planned and phased programming.
The policy of continuing to feed sick children should be enforced through sustained campaigns and public education. Sick children very easily tip into malnutrition. Finally, nutrition support and feeding programmes should be started for children under the UPE. Instead of banning the maize meal, food variety should be used within affordable means to provide appropriate diet to school children.
The writer is the Director of Regional Centre for Quality of Health Care, Makerere University School of Public Health
The debate about maize meal is as amusing as it is incredible. Based on scientific facts and knowledge, it cannot possibly be the basis for solutions to childhood malnutrition and intellectual performance. The main part of the debate is that maize meal is 100 percent carbohydrate and has no other nutrients.
That it was introduced by the colonial government to feed prisoners who were a source of manual labour. Now it is widely used to feed school children, but it is inappropriate for children, because it gives muscle power, not brain power. That it is the cause of malnutrition and low IQ in Africa, and is the reason why Africans are intellectually inferior. Therefore, maize meal should be banned and rice should instead be promoted.
But it is not true that maize meal is 100 percent carbohydrate or devoid of any other nutrients. According to “Food Composition Table For Use in Africa†compiled by Food and Agriculture organisation (FAO), the three common forms of maize flour (white, pale and yellow) have at least 12 nutrients in addition to carbohydrates (http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/X6877E/X6877EO5.htm). The white maize, which is highly polished, has slightly less nutrient levels. It is remarkable to note that even the white maize flour has calcium, phosphate, iron, carotene, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin.
Compared to unripe bananas (matooke), Uganda’s glorified food, maize meal – in any form – is superior. Matooke has less of most of the nutrients available in maize meal flour, and in fact misses in three nutrients altogether – nutrients available in the maize flour. If banning nutrient-deficient foods were a rational nutrition policy, it should be matooke, not maize meal, to be banned in Uganda.
Fortunately, banning food stuffs is simply untenable as a policy measure – for reasons such as low cost, availability and taste. The human body requires over 100 nutrients everyday. The nutrients are grouped as carbohydrates, vitamins and phyto-nutrients, minerals, proteins and fats/oils. But no single foodstuff on its own can provide all the nutrients the body needs. The way to have all nutrients everyday is to have a variety of food types in the diet. It is recommended that one should have optimal (not optional) amounts from each of the five groups, on a sliding scale, with the largest amount being from carbohydrates and least amount from fats and oils. This is called the daily “food pyramidâ€. In Japan, where the most balanced diets are eaten, the government recommends eating of at least 30 different types of food each day.
Yes, children’s nutritional demands are exceptional. They need good nutrition because they produce at least a billion cells daily as part of growth and development, because they have to develop cognitive (learning and memory) skills, and because they have the highest level of metabolism (biochemical reactions) and the highest levels of physical activity. And yet children are often fed with carbohydrates and fats only, and don’t take whole grains, fruits and legumes which cover all the other nutritional demands. A reasonable policy would be to encourage eating a variety of foods, and to promote balanced and adequate diet. The policy should not be to ban some food stuffs.
The nutrition situation in Uganda is appalling but not because of the maize meal. Some 40 percent of children are chronically malnourished, and 60 percent of all childhood deaths are associated with malnutrition. Maternal malnutrition, which is also rampant, compounds childhood malnutrition. Probably over 50 percent of all children in Uganda perform below the expected intellectual potential. Moreover, overall, food is becoming less available in Uganda as food production is currently increasing at only 1.5 percent per annum as compared to the population growth of 3.4 percent.
Malnutrition, disease-burden and reproductive crises, and the deliberate inaction by the Government to address these crises, characterise and define today’s Uganda. The nutrition stress is caused by inadequate nutrition, poor breastfeeding and food insecurity arising from poor agricultural production and disasters/wars. It is also caused by the ignorance about dieting even where food is available.
People who suffer from malnutrition when they are accessible to abundant food usually practice “channel eating†– eating the same food, such as cornflakes at breakfast, over and over for 365 days a year. Another reason for malnutrition is the lack of access to resources by women who are responsible for food preparation to get the required foodstuffs.
According to Fogel W.R 1999 in “The Conquest of High Mortality and Hunger in Europe and America: Technology, Growth and Economic Development since Industrial Revolutionâ€, nutrition is the basis and foundation for industrialisation and prosperity of a nation. The improvement of human capital by government intervention through better hygiene, food and nutrition, and health care leads to longer lives, better physique and cognitive skills, self-confidence and self-esteem of the citizens.
These in turn lead to innovation, entrepreneurship and prosperity. Many scholars (such as Frenk J, 2000) and the White Hall Study have reached this undeniable conclusion. Nutritional social benefits are cumulative, long-term, running through lifecycles and generations. So, proper nutrition of a nation is the foundation and strategy for her prosperity, if only her leaders appreciate this fact and act accordingly.
In Uganda, nutrition has remained a non-issue. industrialisation will after all be carried out by foreigners – remember foreign direct investment? The constitutional requirements to promote food production, to establish food reserves and to provide nutrition education have remained empty gestures. The Food and Nutrition Policy and Strategy is gathering dust on the shelf.
We can make a fresh start as a minimum effort. Let us re-dedicate ourselves to promoting breast-feeding and appropriate complimentary feeding of all children. We should embark on diet and nutrition education, and campaign with the same vigour as we did against HIV/AIDS. Food supplementation consisting of vitamin A, iron, iodine and zinc already planned needs to be promoted and expanded to include other nutrients in the future through planned and phased programming.
The policy of continuing to feed sick children should be enforced through sustained campaigns and public education. Sick children very easily tip into malnutrition. Finally, nutrition support and feeding programmes should be started for children under the UPE. Instead of banning the maize meal, food variety should be used within affordable means to provide appropriate diet to school children.
The writer is the Director of Regional Centre for Quality of Health Care, Makerere University School of Public Health