Prevent Stunting with Animal Protein

Animal protein intake can help children avoid the risk of stunting.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — The government targets the prevalence of stunting in 2024 by 14 percent. To achieve this target, a decrease of 2.7 percent per year is needed. One of the efforts to prevent stunting is the provision of good nutrition, especially animal protein.

How animal protein can prevent stunting? Professor of Public Health Nutrition, Faculty of Public Health, University of Indonesia Prof Dr drg Sandra Fikawati MPH explained, stunting becomes urgent to be addressed because the prevalence is already more than 20 percent.

“To deal with it, we have to know the cause and through the cause we try to prevent it so we can try so that children don’t become stunting,“said Prof. Sandra who is also the vice chairman of the Center for Nutrition and Family Health Studies (PKGK) at the University of Indonesia during the 2022 National Nutrition Day webinar #MelajuKuatBersama for the Fulfillment of Better Nutrition for Indonesian Families, Tuesday (25/1/2022).

Prof Sandra explained, intervention stunting includes both before and after birth. Prenatal intervention was performed on pregnant women.

Regarding intervention after birth, the Minister of Health in January 2022 said that his party continues to encourage the provision of water milk exclusive breastfeeding for six months. In addition, the government will also increase education regarding nutritional adequacy for complementary feeding (MP-ASI), especially animal protein.

“I am very happy because now it has been said that animal protein is very important to be able to overcome the issue” stunting,” he said.

Infants over the age of six months should be given complementary foods in addition to continuing breastfeeding. Try to give him one egg and milk as an intervention stunting.

“Information about the importance of animal protein for growth has not been encouraged,” he said.

According to Prof. Sandra, who is familiarly called Fika, nutrients are needed to carry out daily activities, maintain body processes, and to grow and develop. One of the nutrients needed is protein which functions for growth, muscle mass, endurance, and healing.

“To prevent stunting children, we must provide consumption of foods that contain protein, because apart from growth it is also important for the immune system so that children do not get sick easily. If children are sick, their nutritional status will be disturbed,” he explained.

Prof. Fika explained that there are two types of protein, namely animal and vegetable protein. Animal protein comes from better quality animal protein. While vegetable protein comes from plants.

Sources of animal protein consist of meat, milk, eggs, and fish. While vegetable protein consists of tofu, tempeh and beans.

“Animal protein has a better quality protein, in contrast to vegetable protein,” he said.

Prof. Fika said, if there is a lack of animal protein, the body that lacks animal protein intake will experience a decrease in hormonal function, impaired cell regeneration, the immune system, and muscle mass. If protein deficiency continues, it will have an impact on health, growth and development, such as stunted physical growth which can lead to stunting and cognitive impairment.

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