QUICK-FIX solutions like vitamin supplements are not the answer to nutritional needs.
Instead, community-based programmes promoting the consumption of high-value foods are key to optimum health, nutritional experts say.
Nearly 500 public health nutrition experts and students have gathered at the World Nutrition Congress (WNC) at UWC to discuss interventions to improve food security and deal with the growing burden of malnutrition.
The experts say while reactive and easy-to-implement remedies or "magic bullets", like the easily accessible vitamin A supplements and ready-to-use therapeutic "foods" like peanut butter with added vitamins and minerals given to malnourished children have their place, the cost of manufacture, marketing and then distribution of these products could often be better spent on food-based solutions.
While current community-based programmes are perceived as more expensive and time-consuming than implementing a "magic bullet", they are the solution to long-term improved nourishment.
According to WNC chairperson David Sanders, “a much broader-based approach is necessary. It will not have immediate effect, but over the medium to long term it will be far more sustainable”.
Sanders used the example of the vitamin A capsules, which only stay in the blood stream for a few months. Thereafter, sustainable solutions are needed to maintain optimum nutritional intake.
The experts say making a healthier choice is being drowned out by aggressive advertising campaigns promoting indiscriminate use of ready-to-use therapeutic foods.
Varied diets, increased agricultural production of nutritional foods, taxes on sugar, community education and the promotion of breast-feeding are some of the sustainable solutions.
UWC dietician and nutritionist Rina Swart said: “A magic bullet solution is popping a small pill… We are not saying have one or the other, but long-term intervention should be part of the parcel."