By Thelma Mejía
TEGUCIGALPA, Mar 24 1998 (IPS)

A “nutritional revolution” that has changed the dietary habits among some 300 indigenous and peasant communities in western Honduras, has improved the health of children, backs of the project say..

The project, developed 10 years ago by the Honduran Ecumenical Institute of Service to the Community (Inehsco), led by a priest Fausto Milla also is supported by an infant-maternal health care programme funded by the European Union.

When Milla decided to change the dietary habits in this region, promoting the use of natural medicine and the consumption of herbs, vegetables and fruit, he never imagined it would cut the level of malnutrition in the average community from 40 percent to 18 percent.

“My idea was to prepare the people not to obtain money, but to obtain life. A person’s health does not depend on a great doctor, a pharmacy or a fabulous witch, but on the individual him or herself, on what he/she eats and what nature gives him or her,” Milla recalls.

By reviving old cultural traditions on food consumption, and exchanging opinions, ideas and experiences between the pesants, Milla was able to prove that the basic basic diet of corn and beans can be made more nutritious through eliminating fats and oils.

This was the basis of the idea of a “super tortilla”, made with corn flour that, combined with yucca, sesame seeds, soy or wheat, provides the necessary calories and nutrients to improve the health.

The “super” tortilla is not large; they are small and round, thick or thin, according to the community where they are consumed while the “super” in the name is related to the fact that they are far more nutritious, healthier and tastier.

The inhabitants of the Jamilile region have made a super tortilla using cooked green bananas, which they make into a puree and add to the corn flour mix.

“It is something simple, easy and inexpensive,” says Javier Rodriguez, a physician and nutrition researcher who is involved in the project. Rodriguez says along with the decline in malnutrition levels in several communities, children are healthier, and this is helping them to do better in school.

“Decreasing malnutrition from 40 to 18 percent is a huge success. It means that Hondurans can overcome our poverty and our health problems if we consume food that is readily available without implying higher costs,” added Rodriguez.

Additional to increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables the project also has involved the production of a drink, known simply as “green juice.”

Made of celery, lion’s tooth (a type of lettuce), lemon juice and a touch of sugar, green juice is rich in iron and vitamin A. A glass of juice is the equivalent of eating 30 to 60 grams of red meat.

Janet Alonzo, a physician with the Infant-Maternal Health Programme explained that “green juice” also provides dietary fiber and is a good intestinal regulator.

The juice can be made during any season of the year, does not require refrigeration, and is inexpensive, since the plants that go into making it are found easily throughout Honduras and they can even be grown in small bags in the home, says Alonzo.

Other plants that can be used to make the delicious green drink are yanten, amaranth, carrot leaves and radishes.

The nutritional revolution being promoted by Father Milla is met with approval and some skepticism in Tegucigalpa, while the communities in the western part of the country are preparing to hold a new contest to develop a new super tortilla that will be added to the 120 exisitng types.

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