Some Nutritionists on Wednesday, June 10, urged Nigerians to eat nutritious food to boost their immune system against the COVID-19 infection.
They made the call during a virtual training organised for journalists and other stakeholders by an NGO, Civil Society-Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN).
The training, which attracted 110 participants from across the country, was aimed at training participants on reporting the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the kind of food that could help boost the body immunity against the virus.
Speaking during the session, Mrs Beatrice Eluaka, Executive Secretary of CS-SUNN encouraged the eating of adequate food with protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, water and minerals to boost their immune system against COVID-19 infection.
According to Eluaka, medical experts have said that individuals with strong immune system stand a better chance of surviving the COVID-19 if contracted.
“People should eat food with locally sourced vegetables and proteins to boost their immune system.
“You must not be rich to eat nutritious food as you can source cheap nutritious food within your environment,” she said.
Eluaka further explained that their organisation had drafted a nutritional action plan to be presented to the Presidential Task force (PTF) on COVID-19 as a guide on the kind of palliative to give to Nigerians to boost their immunity.
On his part, Dr Auwulu Kawu, one of the facilitators, said the lockdown imposed by government to curb the spread of COVID-19 had affected the purchasing power of people.
He added that the economic hardship occasioned by the lockdown had impacted adversely on the quality of the peoples’ diet.
Kawu also pointed out that social media has also contributed negatively in misleading the public on issues of nutrition.
“Everybody would be posing as a nutritionist in the social media, advising people on what to eat or not to eat,” Dr Kawu added.
He called on journalists to focus more attention on nutrition related reports to correct some of the misinformation in the social media.
The training featured paper presentations by resource persons on different topics as well as question and answer sessions. (NAN)
