Ever wonder why so many people are getting sick? The earth is getting sick and so are the people living on it.
The soil where we grow our crops is depleting in microorganisms to make the soil fertile and micronutrients that are essential for our health. The vegetables and fruits we eat are lacking the necessary nutrients to fight the disease of our times.
We eat at least 3 meals a day. What we eat constitute to our growth, health and resistance to sickness and diseases. As the saying goes: “Garbage in, garbage out”. We are what we eat. Choosing to eat unhealthy food with full of preservatives, pesticides and ingredients used that is striped off its natural minerals (bleached) makes us sick.
What is Hidden Hunger?
Hidden hunger is the lack of vitamins and minerals necessary for our growth, development and healing process. It is called Hidden hunger because it is not something we can feel like the hunger in our belly. It is a hunger that our body is not absorbing enough vitamins or minerals from the food we eat. It can be a form of undernutrition for vitamins and minerals such as zinc, iodine, iron or folic acid etc. which occurs when they are too low to sustain good health and development.
In a publication from the American College of Nutrition in 2004, a study conducted on 43 garden crops showed a reduction in 6 nutrients.
While there are some visible symptoms that we can diagnose a deficiency in micronutrients, e.g. a lack of vitamin A that causes night blindness, a lack of iron that causes anaemia, or a lack of iodine that causes goiter, but there are some deficiency that is “hidden” which is the cause for diseases and infection. This is also the cause to the top 10 killers disease of our times which includes heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease, cancer, diabetes and cirrhosis, just to name a few.
What causes micronutrient deficiency?
- Poor diet: Our present day diet is consuming too much highly processed food where nutrition is mostly leached during the process. We consume a high amount of staple food such as corn, rice and wheat, which provide a large amount of energy but relatively low in vitamins and minerals. Our diet may not include micronutrient-rich food and drinks. Hidden hunger is not just a malnutrition for not getting enough nutrition but it coexist with overweight/obesity when a person consumes too much dietary energy from macronutrients such as fats and carbohydrates. Too much of one kind of food with no diversification can mess up your body. Read this article on how a boy turned blind with only fries, chips and white bread.
- Life stages: As we go through the different stages of life, our body will increase in the demand for micronutrients. For example, during pregnancy and lactation. Children and adolescent also have a higher demand as they are in the stage of growing and developing.
- Nutrient absorption: Micronutrient deficiencies may be caused by impaired absorption or use of nutrients from infections or parasites. Infections and parasites can spread easily in unhealthy environments with poor water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions. Unsafe food handling and feeding practices can further exacerbate nutrient losses. Diet also affects absorption. Fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin A are best absorbed when consumed with dietary fat, while consumption of some compounds such as tannins or phytates can inhibit iron absorption. Alcohol consumption can interfere with the absorption of micronutrients.
Why Organic?
Food grown organically are grown in nutrient rich soil with no chemical fertilizer, no pesticides or herbicides. When we consume plants grown in such conditions, we will also benefit from this natural source. When our body is equipped with the necessary nutrients, we can fight against infections, diseases and heal our body.
Reference:
https://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/ghi/2014/feature_1818.html