NEWS IN BRIEF
Resilience and immune health at core of IADSA media resource
Launched yesterday, the online resource discusses the impact of nutrition on immune health especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With inadequate nutrient intakes so widespread, we need to find ways to help people maintain normal immune health and achieve greater resilience,” says Simon Pettman, IADSA’s Executive Director.
“Better nutrition education is key. Acting now could transform the lives of millions of people.”
Entitled, ‘Fighting Fit: Building Resilience Through Nutrition,’ the resource highlights the need to include vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, folate and the minerals copper, iron, selenium and zinc in the diet to ensure normal immune system function.
However, research shows that an estimated two billion people globally do not consume adequate nutrients – an issue that is exacerbated as populations get older.
WHO action
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2017 report described building resilience as, “a key factor in protecting and promoting health and wellbeing.”
The WHO’s Health 2020 policy framework states, “resilient communities respond pro-actively to new or adverse situations, prepare for economic, social and environmental change and deal better with crisis and hardship”
“Thus, strengthening resilience is not just a desirable side-effect of health policy, it is indeed an integral part of it.”
Referring to the Organization’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) the WHO adds, “resilience has a very prominent role in essentially all of the SDGs.
The IADSA urges global action in addressing the challenge of increasing resilience in the face of widespread inadequate nutrition intakes.
“Any response should be multi-faceted, since there is no single route to optimal nutrition,” the Alliance states. “Better nutrition education is undoubtedly key. Supplements have a role to play, too.”
