Unilever introduces ‘Astra Fried Rice’ to make nutritious food taste good

Friday, 12 July 2013 06:08 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

While mothers throughout the world always insist on providing their children with the very best in tasty and nutritious food, children themselves are very often choosy about what they eat. Driven by taste, they prefer ‘junk food’, with excessive sugar, salt and high calorific content with little nutritional value. Providing them with a well-balanced and healthy meal is a constant challenge for today’s busy mothers. The sedentary lifestyles of school going children, with more hours spent watching TV and fewer hours in outdoor play have further resulted in obesity becoming a serious problem in Sri Lanka. On the other hand, recent statistics of the Ministry of Health

shows that, approximately 21% of school aged children are underweight, 22% of children less than five years suffer from malnutrition with Iron and Vitamin A deficiency being the leading deficiencies. Hence, nutritional awareness and access to healthy meal ideas is essential for mothers to ensure that their children receive the right nutrition. Extensive research conducted over the years has proven that consuming a balanced healthy diet helps children achieve their optimum physical, intellectual and emotional development, while reducing the risk of chronic diseases in adulthood. “Unilever has a history of over 40 years in the margarine business driven by its flagship food brand – Astra. Fortified with Vitamin A & D, Astra has been established over the years as the mother’s choice

for healthy nutrition for growing children and is synonymous with ‘kids growth’ and ‘mothers love’. Made through an advanced manufacturing processes, Astra is virtually free of harmful ‘trans fats’, and has been trusted across generations for its excellent quality and taste” says Unilever Sri Lanka Nutrition Manager Dilani Hettiarachchi. For busy Sri Lankan mothers, who have to strike a delicate balance between bringing up their children, as well as being successful home-makers and career women, Astra has taken a further step to introduce ‘Astra Fried Rice’, as an ideal choice for providing children with tempting and tasty meals, that provides energy and nutrition. Serving Astra Fried Rice as a meal or packing it in the Tiffin box for the child to take it to school is an excellent way of providing a nutritious and tasty treat. When calculated in comparison with the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for boys (10-11 years) as per the Food (Advertising and Labelling) Regulations – Astra Fried Rice provides children with Energy (25% of RDA), Protein (33% of RDA), Iron (11% of RDA), Calcium (9% of RDA) and Zinc (14% of RDA), which makes Astra Fired Rice a balanced diet for a growing child. It is also an excellent source of Vitamin A & D. Sri Lankan mothers and children who try out Astra Fried Rice have a good reason to be reassured by the fact that Astra has been an iconic food brand in the country for over 40 years.