‘Consider nutritional value rather than taste in daily food list’
Boosting the immune system is always important ─ not just during a pandemic
Food of a variety of colours like that of the rainbow should be included to the daily food list because a balanced diet of different colours increases the body's immunity, and the body becomes more resistant to Covid-19 as well.
This was stated by speakers at a seminar on the role of diet in the prevention of Covid-19, organised by the Bangladesh Institute of Research and Training on Applied Nutrition (Birtan) at Irrigation Building in the capital on Monday, reads a press release.
The main article reads that along with white rice, various vitamins, mineral-rich vegetables, fish-meat, different types of pulses should be added to our diet. Besides, seed crops such as nuts should be included in the daily diet. An adequate intake of vitamin C, rich fruits and vitamin D rich foods should play a helpful role in preventing Covid-19.
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According to the seminar, it is necessary to eat food of different colours to ensure that various nutrients including zinc, magnesium, calcium and iodine are included in the diet.
National Nutrition Service line director Dr Mostafizur Rahman, who delivered the keynote speech, said, "Everybody has become aware of the immune system of the body in the extreme situation prevailing all over the world. However, boosting the immune system is always important ─ not just during a pandemic."
The trend of the Covid-19 infection shows that 65 percent of infected people do not show any symptoms, five percent of infected people have to be hospitalised, and the rest recover at home. So, how much the Covid-19 infection will affect a person depends on the person's immunity, he added.
Habibur Rahman Khan (additional secretary), the executive director of the Birtan, said in his inaugural address that one should consider taste more important while choosing a diet, but to increase the body's immune system, it is very important to choose nutritious food in a balanced amount. The Birtan is carrying out research on this, and is providing training on it.
