DIET AND NUTRITION: PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Nutrition plays a pivotal role in the public health development of the society. It is a known fact that among all the differences in humanity, food is one of the few things that unite all people. However poor knowledge of diet and poor available for food leads to poor nutrition or malnutrition. Scientific studies including UNICEF, (2012) report have shown that nutrition has increasingly been recognized as a basic pillar for social and economic development and changes in diet can help prevent or control many health problems, including obesity, diabetes and certain risk factors for cancer and heart disease. The issue of poor diet can be addressed when people are knowledgeable of nutrition. However, a multidisciplinary approach is recommended to tackle issues of malnutrition given that its causes are diverse and multi-factorial. This study concludes that malnutrition involves more than just shortage of food and there is no singular solution to prevent and treat under nutrition, so more evidence-based researches, multi-sectorial involvement and political interest is needed.