Tempeh May Prevent Children Have Disease Because Low Immunity

Jakarta – Basically, it is perfectly normal for children to have disease as their low immune systems, even after Covid-19 becomes endemic. This is known to be prevented through the consumption of tempeh, according to experts.

"Children under the age of 7 have immature immune systems. Those who attend school or daycare are exposed to new environments and new pathogens, or germs, that they have never experienced before," Dr. Priya Mody, a pediatrician at CHOC Primary Care Network said.

At school or daycare, children can spread germs more easily because they don't know how to cough or sneeze while covering their mouths.

In addition, children's upper respiratory tracts are not fully developed until they reach school age, which makes them more at risk of viral and bacterial infections.

Tempeh and tofu as functional food sources

Children also tend to put their hands in their mouths, so any germs they touch on surfaces will be swallowed.

For this reason, children may often fall ill. Therefore, it is important to boost children's immune system through foods that have high nutritional value but are easily available, such as tempeh and tofu.

Food and nutrition expert from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia (FKUI), Dr. Widjaja Lukita, calls tempeh and tofu as processed soy foods that have high nutritional content. This is because soybeans are a source of protein and phytoestrogens that are very beneficial for the body.

"In addition to meeting nutritional needs, calories and so on, but he (functional food) has a biological function or biological function to prevent non-communicable diseases," Lukita said, in the Indofood Riset Nugraha (IRN) Program webinar, recently.

According to Lukita, functional foods such as soybeans have active ingredients that can be developed through an extraction process. Its utilization in the long run will become a source of phytopharmaceuticals that can be a source of disease prevention.

In line with this, food science and technology expert at Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) Purwiyatno Hariyadi said that the situation during the COVID-19 pandemic could be an example to develop functional food ideas based on local wisdom.

One is herbal medicine derived from rhizome plants such as turmeric, ginger, and temulawak.

"We have a tradition of herbal medicine, for example, and if it can be further developed into a form of food that can be consumed daily, it will be very good," he said on the same occasion.