Rice and potatoes fingered as Kirinyaga, Nyeri lead in overweight women– study

A report released by the Ministry of Health at the second National Food Fortification Summit 2021 revealed that Kirinyaga women are leading in obesity at 50% followed by their counterparts in Nyeri, Murang’a and Kiambu counties respectively.

Speaking during the event, MOH Director of Nutrition and Dietetics Veronica Kirogo noted that eating behaviour contributed to the weight-gain of women in those regions.

“Women are mixing rice and potatoes alone, that is not a balanced diet. In fact, what this kind of meal does is to add more weight to your body because you are eating a lot of calories,” Kirogo said.

The nutrition and dietetics expert also warned of the fast weight gain terming it as a “risk” to health problems such as heart attack, kidney and cancer-related diseases.

“Sometimes you will hear someone say they have headaches, a headache is brought about by lack of enough blood circulation and blood is built by food with ion.”

According to MOH, micronutrient deficiencies remain a public health concern, especially for Kenya’s women and children.

The most common deficiencies among the Kenyan population are those of iron, folate, zinc, iodine and vitamin A.3.

CAS Rashid Aman said malnutrition is one of the leading causes for infant & young child admissions in health facilities.

According to the 2020 Economic Survey, malnutrition is one of the leading causes for infant & young child admissions in health facilities in the period 2017-2019.

“This is a threat to the realization of the Vision 2030 including the Big Four Agenda,” said Rashid Aman.