MANILA, Philippines – As aggressive marketing campaigns for processed animal foods continue to woo the buying preferences of children and their parents, nutritional experts are now taking a closer look at the other end of the diet spectrum—at plant-based foods —and its greater potential to fight dreaded diseases.
Last week’s press conference at the University of the Philippines National Institute of Health (“Oplan FLUnas, the ABCs of Flu Prevention”) which discussed personal hygiene, environmental sanitation and immune system strengthening, saw NIH director Doctor Lulu Bravo saying that strengthening an individual’s resistance would have to include loading up on vegetables such as malunggay.
Malunggay, as Filipino nutrition experts have known and declared, is gram for gram seven times more concentrated in Vitamin C compared to oranges, four times the calcium and twice the protein compared to milk, four times the vitamin A in carrots, and three times the potassium content of bananas. It also contains minerals and amino acids, and has been cited by the Asian Vegetable Research Development Center in Taiwan as the most nutritious plant in the world.
Isn’t only superstar
Malunggay, however, isn’t the only superstar in a veritable superhero collection of plant-based foods. Pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Nancy Bermal stressed that one must eat a mostly plant-based diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables (and low on red meat). In combination with a lifestyle that reduces stress and has enough sleep (7 to 8 hours), this provides the optimum environment for a strengthened immune system.
“The immune system is a network that helps you avoid illness—or sometimes it can become the underlying reason you get sick,” Bermal said.
Former health secretary Dr. Jaime Galvez-Tan’s “12 tips on How to be Healthy at any Age” stressed the health-boosting effects of a plant-based diet and destructive effects of processed foods.
Daily must-eat foods
Galvez-Tan’s “daily must-eat foods” are:
• Vegetables, eaten raw or as salad or pickled
• Fruits, all kinds, eaten fresh or taken as fresh juice
“Our diet today is filled with empty calories, carcinogens (cancer-causing chemicals), high-sugar, foods high in bad cholesterol and fat. Eating a plant-based diet will boost your health and well-being,” he said.
On the other hand, Galvez-Tan’s “must-avoid foods” are:
“The World Cancer Research Fund’s report in 2007, based on a five-year project spanning more than 7,000 clinical studies, declared that all people should immediately stop buying and eating processed meat products and that all processed meat should be avoided for life. Processed meats contain chemical additives that greatly increase the risk of various cancers, including colorectal cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, leukemia, brain tumors, and pancreatic cancer,” he said.
Not milk?
Galvez-Tan also stressed: “Milk by itself is a good source of nutrients. Organic milk is still a good source of nutrients today. However, milk bought from the supermarket is full of hormones and chemicals injected to cows in order to increase milk production. The US General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Consumer’s Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, have warned of the potential hazards to human health caused by consuming products derived from Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone or rBGH-treated cows.”
“Shell fishes, though naturally good, are no longer safe to eat today. These seafood are filter-feeders, meaning these are the scavengers of the aquatic world. Thus, these are easily contaminated by oil spills, pesticide run-offs, and other dangerous chemicals collecting in the seawater,” Galvez-Tan said.
The “must-avoid foods” according to Galvez-Tan are:
• Products with trans fats or hydrogenized vegetable oils
• Foods fried in soya oil or corn oil or hydrogenized vegetable oil
• Processed foods using white sugar, refined flour or processed grains.
