Nutritional Program for Infants in United States, Research Paper Example

Introduction

The main nutritional problem in United States infants and young people is not lack of meals as it has been the case with most developing countries but mainly deficiency of certain minerals and/or vitamins. According to US Department of Health and Human Services, (2005) such deficiency causes retarded growth in children which result to unhealthy nation that is not economical viable. Hence, this assign shall analyze on the most appropriate nutritional program to address nutritional problems in United States.

Proposed Program

The program should mainly target mothers with infants, young children and teenagers as implementers of the program as the children of the mentioned age sets are the one who are prone to malnutrition (Shashidhar & Grigsby, 2009). The program will mainly be educational as there are rare cases of lack of meals in United States but most people are not informed on health eating for the bodies to be well nourished.

Due to changing life styles mothers are less concerned on the nutritional value of the meals which the children eat and most alarming the career women are not breastfeeding the infants for the recommended two-three months. McMullan, (2009) according to poor diet most of the children are malnourished which others are obese. Hence, the program should emphasis on need to breast feed the infants as breast milk is rich in nutritional value and prevent most ailments which children get when they are young.

Mothers will be informed to train their children and teenagers on the importance of health eating and limit on intake of processed food and snaking. Lastly, the government should formulate policies which increase nutritional value of the meals accessible to the citizens. Use of wheat and corn for production of bio fuels (ethanol) has made availability of such cereals to be less available and also expensive. The government should also encourage investment in agriculture and food industries to lower the malnutrition rate (Meijer & Rosegrant, 2002). Promotion of a nation which is not malnourished would have healthier citizens which will be economical as less of them will be falling sick and they will be energetic to support most of the activities which promotes the countries economy in different economic sectors.

Conclusion

After successful implementation of the program it is important to evaluate its applicability and performance. Such evaluation should be done frequently to determine if it is successful. It’s during such evaluation implementers would realize areas which needs to be improved it. Therefore, for the program to be successful and self sustaining it is essential that the program should be continually upgraded to meet any new challenges/problems arising due to malnutrition.

References

McMullan, B. (2009). Obesity and Malnutrition in the United States. Retrieved on February 11 2010 from http://www.worldfoodprize.org/assets/YouthInstitute/05proceedings/PostvilleHighSchool.pdf

Meijer, S & Rosegrant, W. (2002). Appropriate Food Policies And Investments Could Reduce Child Malnutrition By 43% In 2020. The Journal of Nutrition, 132(1), 3437-40

Shashidhar, R. & Grigsby. D. (2009. Malnutrition. Retrieved on February 11 2010 from http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/985140-overview

US Department of Health and Human Services, (2005). Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Washington, DC: US Department of Health & Human Services. pp. 71