The strength of the relationship between a correct nutrition and a
healthy
menstrual condition is often undervalued and unknown. Sometimes,
in fact,
the consequences of malnutrition are pervasive and massive but
also hidden.
This is why the malnutrition, specially concerning under
nutrition, represents
a global challenge that requires both social and economic efforts.
Malnutrition can be seen as an outcome of bad interaction between
different
agents, such as: agricultural food system, environment, health
system, and
the individual-household decision making process. It is
fundamental that in an
enabling environment, completed with specific intervention and
programmes,
woman are allowed to have access to safe food, social safety nets,
physical
and mental care, health and family planning services and water
sanitation.
Moreover, all those factors contributes to the empowerment of
women,
increasing their acknowledge and consciousness about nutrition and
hygienic
issues.
A big role in women's empowerment is played by agriculture. In
fact,
agriculture not only has effects on expenditures and consumption
of food, but
also has a strong link with women's employment and their own
nutrition and
health conditions. A problem related with agriculture, as findings
shows, is
that farmers tend to sell more expensive and nourishing products,
retaining
less expensive cereals for domestic consumption. This is why is
necessary to
support an environmentally sustainable food production that
includes a
diversification of products, allowing the availability of
nutrient-dense foods
and small-scale livestock.
Speaking more particularly about woman’s health, we should
consider the
age group between 15 and 25 years old, the younger women group
among
whom fertility is more concentrated, who face the largest
disadvantage in
India. This is considered a problem especially in relation to the
pre-pregnant
underweight condition in India, in fact scholars affirms that
approximately
42.2% of pre-pregnant women have their Body Mass Index (BMI) under
18.5kg/m2, this means that a strong percentage of Indian women
before
pregnancy suffers from underweight and malnutrition.
But how this reflects on women's life? First of all, it has
implication in work
capacity and productivity, regardless the work they carry out. It
means that in
a work environment women in this condition may be considered less
productive. Another reflection implicates the social-physical and
cognitive
sphere. Good nourishment allows developing all spheres in the most
appropriate way, in order to improve individual benefit. Finally,
a very
important reflection of nourishment in women's life is related to
the fetal and
child nutrition and development. An improvement of consciousness
and
awareness in this field not only helps to ameliorate maternal
healthcare and
safety, but also may largely reduce mortality in childhood and
child's
undernourishment. In this sense, an improvement may have great
reflection
on new generations learning capacity, improving the whole society.
But what does balanced diet means? A balanced diet is a correct
consumption of a large variety of food, which means that is
appropriate to
consume a right quantity of various nutritious daily. An
inappropriate diet may
cause healthy problems such as micronutrient deficiency, like a
lack of
important vitamins and minerals, generating various types of
symptoms.
In conclusion, all those evidences bring us to consider how much
important
are good and healthy diet habits, balancing correctly all
nourishments, in
order to ameliorate woman’s health and lifestyle.
-Grandoni
Laura
