By Prof Madya Dr Hazreen Abdul Majid / Dr Wong Min Fui

As the COVID pandemic swept across the world, none of the livelihood of mankind is spared.

The crisis has jeopardized the economy in this country and left a far-reaching impact on our children's fundamental rights to attain their rightful potential, whereby their progress in terms of education, social intellectual, social security and food security are compromised.

Though Malaysia is an upper middle income nation, food security has remained a pernicious issue.

Recent data from the National Child Development Research Center (NCDRC) has depicted that at least 9.85% of children aged one to four years old were stunted, in which 13.89% of these children (2 to 4 years old) failed to thrive.

An observational study done by UNICEF "A Child Without" has unveiled the inequality in the resource-compact state in the country, whereby approximately 22% of the children are below the targeted growth.

Following the school closure to contain the outbreak, more than half a million children from poor families are running the risk of going hungry as their food supply from the school supplementary program is disrupted.

School food supplementary program in this country has the capacity of providing approximately 40% of the total daily energy requirement for school children.

If we are to compare with other countries' food supplementary programs where lunch is the only provision in their menus, our country has offered breakfast as part of the menu as well.

Why is breakfast Important for the children?

Breakfast is the most important meal in a day that provides fuel to kick off the day for our physically active children.

Frequency and the nutritional quality of the breakfast is the essence for optimal performance among children and adolescents.

This is crucial among the adolescents owing to their unique neuro-developmental milestones which are vulnerable for various social milieux insults.

Based on the evidence from systematic review, children who consume regular breakfast have better ratings for mental health, academic performance, well-being, physical endurance and lesser risk of obesity.

However, results from NHMS 2017 revealed that breakfast was the most frequently neglected meal in a day.

The statistic reported that one in seven adolescents skipped their breakfast with the reason of lack of appetite, no time and no food supply.

Malaysian Health and Adolescents Longitudinal Research Team Study (MyHeARTs) conducted by local researchers and led by the author from University of Malaya, has confirmed the relationship between breakfast-skipping habit with risk of cardiovascular diseases among adolescents, whereby lower BMI and cholesterol level were found among adolescents who are regular on their breakfast intake compared to breakfast skippers.

Facts from this study have highlighted that breakfast skipping is a poor dietary habit that shows an association with increasing LDL, total cholesterol and weight which is a potential risk for future adult cardiovascular development among the adolescent.

It is a challenging task to change poor dietary habits among the adolescent, but not impossible.

The nurturing process should start from young and from home. Parents are their role models.

It is indisputable in the era of information technology that adolescents have resorted to online social media and games as a means of staying connected with their peers and entertainment. Therefore, they tend to stay up late at night and have difficulty waking up early in the morning.

Some parents also have a tendency to be engrossed with their gadgets during bedtime whereby they are using phones in the bed chatting, browsing, discussing until they miss their timing to sleep.

In the new norm amidst COVID-19, parents have to work from home by default. Many need to be juggling between household responsibilities like baby-sitting their own children and their own official work.

These groups of parents sleep late at night just to complete their work as it is less chaotic at these hours.

As a consequence, their children also follow their footsteps, going to bed late and waking up in the late morning.

The disruption in circadian rhythm leads to breakfast skipping and a bigger portion of food intake during lunch among adolescents. This could increase the risk of obesity if the consumption of energy-dense foods is greater.

Let's pause and reflect on this. Parents are accountable to cultivate good dietary habits in their children. Show them waking up early and taking breakfast is a healthier option. Rising early in the morning allows you to prepare home-made breakfast which is a much cheaper and more nutritious meal in a day.

Breakfast provides the correct balance of macro and micro nutrients that enhance optimal growth among children and adolescents. Therefore, parents are encouraged to stock up adequate healthy food in the kitchen cabinet or fridge.

At least on rushing hours that fall on certain days in the morning, the ready packed healthy food is ready for the children to "grab and go".

The examples of "grab and go" food are "Mini Packed" food like low sugar milk, fresh fruits, cereals, cheese, wholemeal bread, eggs salad and yogurt.

Healthy meals can be quick and easy to prepare and only requires 20 to 30 minutes.

Raw ingredients like vegetables, fruits and carrots can be cut and kept in the fridge overnight, for the next morning's breakfast menu.

Involvement of teens in meal preparation instilled cooperative and concept of healthy living since young age.

Parents can consider this as a sweet spot resolution for the coming up new year family planning, not too hard but good enough with a sustainable effort.

We call upon people from all walks of life, including policy makers, to prioritize our children's well-being and their rights cutting across all the domains especially the more critical food security issues.

The previous national budget announcement revealed commendable initiatives from the policymakers. The budget planned to increase the subsidies for children from low-income families in order to improve their nutritional status.

This effort has to be pursued with collective efforts from other stakeholders as well in order to garner a desirable outcome to curb the current rise of non-communicable diseases in the country.

Children are our precious future generation for nation-building. Embracing their health is wealth for sustainable development and well-being for all.

Let's help our teens enjoy their meal with a smile.

(Prof Madya Dr Hazreen Abdul Majid is Associate Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics, Center for Population Health and Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya; Dr Wong Min Fui is DrPH candidate, Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya.)