By: June Cheong

Insure your health by eating well.

Diet and exercise play an important role in mitigating chronic illnesses as one gets older.

Ms Lee Hee Hoon, a senior manager at Nutrition & Dietetics Services at Mount Alvernia Hospital, said: 'We have only our genes and a healthy lifestyle to count on.

'We cannot change our genes but we can adopt a healthy lifestyle - one that includes a balanced dietary intake and exercise.'

Ms Anna Jacob, a nutrition science and communications manager at Abbott Nutrition International, suggested that people who want to boost their health could adopt three strategies of nutrition.

First, eat a well-balanced diet, which should include the right proportions of food from all food groups, so as to build up one's nutrition foundation.

For instance, women need enough calcium to build and maintain bone density throughout their life.

Ms Lee advised girls between 10 and 18 years old to take 1,000mg of calcium a day as this is the period where up to 60per cent of total bone mass is achieved.

She added: 'For calcium to be absorbed and deposited in our bones, our body requires vitamin D, which is synthesised by our skin with the help of sunlight.

'Bone density can be strengthened with weight-bearing exercises, which make us less at risk of osteoporosis in old age.'

The second nutrition strategy is: Eat defensively to prevent disease.

Ms Jacob explained: 'We now know a lot more; we can use this information to prevent chronic lifestyle-related diseases.

'It means we need to eat less fat, especially saturated fat and trans fat. We should eat the right unsaturated fats like monounsaturated fat to ensure heart health, eat less sodium to reduce risk of hypertension, less sugar to reduce the risk of obesity and eat more fibre.'

The third strategy is: Eat to maximise one's wellness. An example is to take probiotic or prebiotic food, which helps to maintain the digestive system.

Asked if taking supplements works in giving one a balanced diet, Ms Lee said: 'Supplements, as the word implies, supplement a nutrient that is deficient in one's diet. It is not meant to replace a balanced dietary intake consisting of fresh food and vegetables.'

However, Ms Jacob added that supplementing one's diet can help certain groups of people, like pregnant women who need a large amount of folate and adults who need to keep up their calcium intake.

She said: 'Many people, due to lifestyle or diet choices, walk around for years with marginal deficiencies of several nutrients.

'While deficiencies like scurvy (a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C) may not be evident, the person may not be able to cope well with infections, may feel tired more often or may have less muscle strength.

'Altogether, these prevent the person from enjoying a good quality of life.'

This article was first published in Mind Your Body, The Straits Times.