The Effect of Urbanization and Western Foods on Infant and Maternal Nutrition in the South Pacific

Throughout the Pacific region, infant and maternal nutrition has been adversely affected by urbanization and the introduction of new foods. However, the process of urbanization is probably irreversible, at least for the foreseeable future, and few of us would deny the convenience of many imported foods. What is needed is to select the best of the foods that have been introduced and the most appropriate technology, and to preserve the best aspects of traditional life. For this the general public must be well informed. Therefore, a Pacific-wide nutrition education programme is required, tailored to meet the needs of each country, making fullest possible use of the mass media. Some of the changes that have already occurred are not necessarily irreversible. In Papua New Guinea the Government passed legislation in 1977 removing infant feeding bottles and nipples from general sale, allowing them to be available only on prescription. This legislation, coupled with a campaign to promote breast-feeding, led to a reduction in the percentage of bottle-fed infants in Port Moresby from 35 per cent in 1975 to 12 per cent in 1979 (10). Over the same period, the number of cases of diarrhoea in infants less than six months of age seen each year at Port Moresby General Hospital dropped from 83 to 28. In Micronesia a campaign to replace imported soft drinks with coconuts resulted in a drop of over 50 per cent in such imports (11). In Fiji, a Feed Fiji First-campaign, through the use of radio programmes, newspaper articles, the sale of T-shirts, and a nation-wide school garden contest, has succeeded in reviving interest in traditional crops. The superiority of breast-milk and many other traditional foods compared to imported foods is self-evident to those who know the facts. Consumer education must therefore be the main goal. Military records from New Caledonia and Tahiti show that in 1905 the average height of Polynesians recruited into the armed forces was 4 cm greater than that of Europeans. BY 1950 there was no difference, and by 1970 the Europeans were taller than the Polynesians. Apparently our grandparents could teach us a lot about good nutrition!