By Philip Tengzu
Wa, Oct. 23, GNA – The Ghana National Egg Campaign Secretariat (GNECS) has advocated the need for Ghanaians to increase their egg consumption as it has enormous nutritional benefits to human system development.
It said despite its benefits, there were some myths surrounding the consumption of eggs, which had prevented some people from eating them.
Madam Comfort Kyerewa Acheampong, the National Coordinator of the GNECS, said this a training for district nutrition officers of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), and dietetic association on the nutritional benefits and importance of egg consumption.
She said the nationwide training was to enable the participants “propagate the gospel of the egg to everybody so that the myths surrounding eggs can be gradually removed for people to accept and eat it for good health and vitality.”
“The egg is a superfood, it contains almost all the nutrients you can think of, it is the cheapest food you can get, it is good for children, it is good for the grownups, the egg is good for the breast feeding mother, and egg is good for the pregnant woman”, the Coordinator added.
She noted that before the start of the campaign in 2015, each Ghanaian consumed only 12 to 20 eggs per year, which triggered the campaign by the GNECS and other stakeholders in the egg value chain.
“Eggs have been with us for many years but were being pushed out of our diet but knowing the importance of eggs we feel that the egg should be brought back to the table”, Madam Acheampong intimated.
She said egg consumption had risen to at least 115 eggs per person per year after the launch of the campaign, and that people were now accepting egg consumption.
The Coordinator also appealed to the government to resume the school feeding programme where eggs were in cooperated into the school meal.
She indicated that they had used different mediums to propagate the agenda of increased egg consumption but also chose to use the nutrition officers since they had direct contact with the public both at the community level and in health facilities.
Mr Kwabena Kusi, a Public Health Practitioner with the GHS, observed that the myths and issues surrounding egg consumption could also be associated with affordability and the desire of parents to hutch the eggs for birds rather than consume them.
“These myths are just to prevent people from eating eggs, but what we are saying is that, the benefits outweigh all the myths they are talking about.
The egg has so many nutrients, which are good for the human body development, for healthy skin, for good hair growth, and for proper heart circulation among others”, he stressed.
He added that the egg was also good for preventing anemia among adolescent girls, preventing osteoporosis among women, and boosting sexual performances of men.
Mr Chrisantus Danaah Dari, Deputy Chief Nutrition Officer at the Upper West Regional Health Directorate, said the training was timely as it would complement the existing knowledge of the nutrition officers on the importance of eggs to enable them to educate the public.
He said the training would also help them devise ways of encouraging the consumption of eggs among the communities without disrupting their community values and norms.
The egg campaign was championed by the GNECS in partnership with the Ghana Health Service.
GNA