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- Category: Region 9
Did you know that seafood is rich in iodine? Iodine is an essential mineral. Its most important role is to ensure proper thyroid function. It helps to regulate the production of the thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) which control the body’s metabolism and many other important functions and for proper bone and brain development of the fetus during pregnancy. A lack of the trace element iodine can lead to iodine deficiency. It results from inadequate thyroid hormone production secondary to iodine insufficiency, which may cause irreversible effects during pregnancy and early infancy. (Zimmermann, 2009). Based on the recent Expanded National Nutrition Survey of the DOST-FNRI, several pregnant women and lactating mothers have insufficient iodine intake and only thirty-six percent of the households were using adequately iodized salt.
Read more: How essential is Iodine to our growth and development?
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- Category: Region 9
As good and evil elements exist in this world, so as the presence of good bacteria and bad bacteria. For some, their thought of bacteria can be associated with ill effects that they may cause in our body. But do we know good ones also exist and they made great contributions to our body? So, what are these good or friendly bacteria? Probiotics are good or friendly bacteria that are significant for health-promoting and immunomodulatory properties. Bifidobacterium and lactobacillus are probiotics used to maintain a healthy digestive tract (stomach and intestines). It may also help maintain healthy bacteria in the reproductive organ of females to support vaginal health.
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- Category: Region 9
You're cooking your favorite pasta dish, and you happen to cut your finger. Hurriedly you wash the blood off, but the blood keeps flowing out of your finger. What could go wrong? Maybe it's because you need more vitamins in your body, specifically Vitamin K, your blood clot vitamin.
Vitamin K is one of the fat-soluble vitamins together with Vitamin A, D, and E. Vitamin K plays a key role in helping the blood clot and preventing excessive bleeding. Unlike many other vitamins, vitamin K is not typically used as a dietary supplement. The body needs vitamin K to produce prothrombin, a protein, and clotting factor that is important in blood clotting and bone metabolism. People who use blood-thinning medications, such as Warfarin, or Coumadin, should not start consuming additional vitamin K without first asking a doctor. Vitamin K is actually a group of compounds. The most important of these compounds appear to be vitamin K1 and vitamin K2. Vitamin K1 is obtained from leafy greens and some other vegetables. Vitamin K2 is a group of compounds largely obtained from meats, cheeses, and eggs, and synthesized by bacteria.
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- Category: Region 9
Have you ever noticed that the National Nutrition Council (NNC) logo is composed of many spoons? What do they represent? Malnutrition is seriously affecting millions of Filipinos most especially the vulnerable groups like pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants, and young children, and even school children. And this cannot be addressed by one agency alone. Addressing malnutrition requires collective efforts among government offices, non-government organizations, private sectors, and other stakeholders. This is the reason why NNC was created by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 491 “Nutrition Act of the Philippines”, which was signed on June 25, 1974 by the late President of the Philippines Ferdinand E. Marcos.
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- Category: Region 9
By any chance, there are instances that newborns appear to be yellowish in color. Do not be alarmed as this can be a normal phenomenon due to immature liver but if it persists for days then it is something already. The yellowing of a newborn's skin and eyes is known as Newborn Jaundice. Newborn jaundice is very common and occurs when babies have a high level of bilirubin, a yellow pigment produced during normal red blood cell breakdown. In older babies and adults, bilirubin is processed by the liver and then passed through the intestinal tract. A newborn's liver, on the other hand, may not be mature enough to remove bilirubin. The good news is that newborn jaundice usually resolves on its own as a baby's liver develops and the baby begins to feed, which allows bilirubin to pass through the body. In most cases, jaundice will go away in 2 to 3 weeks. Jaundice that lasts more than three weeks may be a sign of an underlying condition.
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- Category: Region 9
By any chance, there are instances that newborns appear to be yellow in color. Do not be alarmed as this can be a normal phenomenon due to immature liver but if it persists for days then it is something already. The yellowing of a newborn's skin and eyes is known as Newborn Jaundice. Newborn jaundice is very common and occurs when babies have a high level of bilirubin, a yellow pigment produced during normal red blood cell breakdown. In older babies and adults, bilirubin is processed by the liver and then passed through the intestinal tract. A newborn's liver, on the other hand, may not be mature enough to remove bilirubin. The good news is that newborn jaundice usually resolves on its own as a baby's liver develops and the baby begins to feed, which allows bilirubin to pass through the body. In most cases, jaundice will go away in 2 to 3 weeks. Jaundice that lasts more than three weeks may be a sign of an underlying condition.
