Cebu City - During a woman's pregnancy, eating food that can provide a wide variety of nutrients is not only good for their overall health, but also for the development of their baby.
On 06 May 2021, the National Nutrition Council in partnership with Cebu City nutrition committee started the wet feeding phase of the Tutok Kainan Supplementation Program where they provide hot meals to pregnant mothers in the second month of the program implementation which ran for the next 30 days.
Introducing foods like beans, beef, chicken (any red meat), fish, and eggs to pregnant mothers are essential because they are rich in iron, which they need in their diet. This helps prevent iron-deficiency for both the mother and her child as they will be given the same nutrients.
Through the Tutok Kainan Supplementation Program, pregnant mothers had cooked iron-fortified rice as part of their nutritional diet. This kind of rice goes through a process of fortification, combining with iron to help strengthen and protect those living in poorly developed countries with the added nutrients in their diet. Having fortified rice with iron in a mother’s diet is a good way to start.
What are the benefits of eating iron-fortified rice during pregnancy?
Iron-fortified rice helps increase hemoglobin
Iron helps in blood production. Essentially, iron-fortified rice will help increase the protein molecules found in red blood cells so as to prevent iron-deficiency anemia in pregnant women.
The mother’s volume of blood increases during pregnancy to help support the baby and herself, which can cause mothers to develop mild anemia due to the lack of iron in their system. This can heavily affect the mother and baby in the long run if not treated.
Iron-fortified rice helps strengthen the immune system
Mother’s immune system is very important during pregnancy as it fights off infections and germ-fighting factors that can put the mother and baby at-risk. By giving iron-fortified rice during pregnancy, it will help strengthen and protect both of them all together.
Iron-fortified rice helps the body absorb iron
Iron can be absorbed on its own with the right foods. However, Vitamin C is known for its added benefits as they help enhance iron absorption faster into the mother’s digestive system, especially if the mother is anemic during her pregnancy.
How is that so? Vitamin C and Iron combined increases solubility of iron in the small intestine, which helps increase uptake of mucus membranes for absorption. Vitamin C foods, such as mangos, potatoes, and broccoli, can also be introduced in a mother’s diet.
Pregnant mothers are expected to take both Vitamin C and iron together in order to be effective.
Iron-fortified rice has still the same taste as non-iron-fortified rice
One of the benefits about iron-fortified rice is that they are almost incomparable to unfortified rice in terms of taste, color, and smell. During pregnancy, some mothers will experience heightened sense of smell due to imbalance of pregnancy hormones, which can affect the way they smell food. However, because iron-fortified rice tastes, smells, and looks just like regular milled rice, mothers will be able to eat this without feeling the change in their diets while adding beneficial properties to her baby and herself.
The National Nutrition Council Region VII encourages mothers to have iron-fortified rice as part of their diet to improve their iron status during their pregnancy. //Jewelle Chua, The Memoriter Writing Service intern
