Nutritional value keeps going down

Hyderabad: The absorption of micronutrients in the body is limited as they are lost in sweat, stool and urine and also by eating the wrong combination of foods, say nutritionists.

Addition of preservatives, injecting chemicals to enhance colours etc result in the loss of micronutrients.

Nutritionist Raghunath Rao said, “The time that vegetables, grains and foods take in reaching from the farm to the plate is one of the reasons for the loss of micronutrients and that is the reason the food-chain at the larger level needs to be strengthened. Packaged foods and pre-cooked foods are found to have very low levels of micronutrients and their consumption does not help even adults.”

For this reason, supplements are being recommended, as the food one consumes does not have sufficient quantities of micronutrients.