POST-PRESS: Filipinos Get Vitamin C from Vegetables

The DOST Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) recently issed a survey showing that 34 to 53 percent of Vitamin C consumed among Filipinos came from vegetables. Fruits merely contribute around 19 to 29 percent as a source.

More than 50 percent of Vitamin C intake among adults, the elderly, and lactating women came from vegetables. Adolescent and pregnant women comprised 42.2 and 41.7 percent, respectively.

Children have the lowest use of vegetables as Vitamin C source, contributing only 34.6 percent to diets among 6-12 agers and 17,2 percent among those ageing 6 months to 5-year olds.

Vitamin C-rich vegetables include leafy greens like malunggay, ampalaya, petsay, saluyot, peppers (red and green), sitsaro and raw cabbage.

Despite this figures, only 3 in every 10 households met the estimated average requirement (EAR) for Vitamin C, which is 80 percent of the recommended intake of the vitamin. And worse vegetable consumpion is on the downtrend over the years. It has decreased from an average per capita vegetable intake of 145 grams daily in 1978 to 110 grams in 2008.

Reversing this trend now becomes imperative to prevent distancing from natural sources of food nutrients. [Full report]

(Photo courtesy of Montreal Gazette)

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