May 6, 2008

Supplements in the time of scarcity

A recent lecture by Dra. Anna Ong-Lim, a fellow at the Philippine Pediatric Society and Philippine Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines and associate professor at the Philippine General Hospital underscored why adequate Vitamin C is necessary in boosting the immune system. Studies have shown that Vitamin C may reduce the relative risk of developing the common cold by 50 per cent, notably for people exposed to short periods of extreme physical or cold stress or both. Its severity, or the downtime a person suffers which prevents him from going to school or work, may also be reduced by Vitamin C. The duration of its symptoms may be shortened - in adults by around eight per cent, and in children around 13.5 per cent.

Unilab, manufacturer of the children’s Vitamin supplement Ceelin, has also joined advocacies promoting awareness of modern threats to children’s health. For the emerging diseases that are not covered by vaccination, the company offers that moderate physical activity - which helps the body eliminate toxins - and a diet rich in nutrients like Vitamin C, are relevant today more than ever. Parents, it said, should also consider that supplementation may be necessary in meeting their children's nutrient requirements and boosting their defenses.

Aside from these, the company stresses that studies have also shown Vitamin C to decrease the incidence of pneumonia by around 80 per cent, and even aid in the recovery of patients. While more evidence is still being gathered to support the widespread use of Vitamin C to prevent pneumonia, some researchers have concluded that Vitamin C supplementation may be reasonable for pneumonia patients who have low vitamin C plasma levels because its cost and risks are low.

The role of Vitamin C in protecting against diseases, together with its insufficient intake from natural food sources by Filipino children become the basis for supplementation. Studies have shown that supplementation offers one of the most cost-effective means of improving the health and survival of children in developing countries like the Philippines, especially in light of today's rising food prices, global warming, and urbanization, which have given rise to changing disease patterns and their increasing frequency. 

Aside for the continued prevalence of respiratory diseases such pneumonia and the common cold, changing times have also seen different countries including the Philippines experience, together with outbreaks of dengue and typhoid. The Philippines’s Department of Health recorded 6,848 cases from January to March in 2008, compared to the previous record of 5,859 cases. The typhoid outbreak at the start of the year downed around 1,200 in Calamba and 150 in Samar, both provinces south of the major Philippine island of Luzon.

The medical community also continues to identify not so common diseases, such as Kawasaki, known as an "unclassified infectious diseases." According to Dra. Jo-Anne De Castro, also a fellow at the Philippine Pediatric Society and the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines, the first two cases in the Philippines was identified in 1983 , but until today its origins are still poorly understood; many of these risks still do not have vaccines.

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