What you eat will determine how well your digestion works,” read a placard as schoolchildren held a rally here in observance of the World Digestive Health Day on Sunday.
A little girl carried a poster which warned, “Take care of your body; it is the only place you have to live in.”
“The food we eat is important because if it hurts our system; it can lead to a variety of complications and diseases including cancer,” Dr Manoj Kumar Sahu, Head of Department of Gastroenterology at the IMS and Sum Hospital, told a gathering of cadets at the State Bharat Scout and Guide headquarters.
Food is the main reason of cancer of the oesophagus, stomach, colon, liver, pancreas and gall bladder, and indiscriminate choice of street food could lead to great suffering, he said.
The programme was part of the weekly Raahgiri Day celebration on the Janpath here.
Dr Sahu pleaded with children to shun junk food as it harms their body and digestive system. “Avoid processed food available in the market as it contains a lot of salt and preservatives,” he said, adding that harmful food destroys the micro-organisms present in the intestine which helps prevent various diseases.
Many people don’t take curd, which helps in the growth of these micro-organisms, thinking that it would cause acidity, but it is not true, Dr Sahu said, adding that acidity and heartburn can aggravate by dietary triggers like fatty food, chocolate, spicy food and carbonated beverages.
Dr Sahu said the kind of food people consume also results in obesity as nearly 40 per cent of India’s population was facing this problem. People with fatty liver often ignore the condition, but they don’t realise that it can lead to serious problems including cancer.