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National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) under the aegis of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) launched the Report “Diet and Nutritional Status of Urban Population in India and Prevalence of Obesity, Hypertension, Diabetes and Hyperlipidaemia in Urban men and women” on the occasion of the inaugural ceremony of the centenary celebrations of the institute.
Pawan Agarwal, CEO, Food Safety & Standards Authority of India, New Delhi released the Urban Nutrition Data and delivered the key-note address on the occasion. He said, “NIN has been providing the much needed inputs to FSSAI regularly on the basis of their scientific studies. These inputs in the realms of food composition, recommend dietary allowances and dietary guidelines have helped immensely in the formulation of effective strategies to promote food safety and to streamline the regulatory mechanisms in the country.”
Agarwal, elaborated on proactive measures being taken to promote food standards in the country. He said that about 235 food testing laboratories, including 141 in private sector have been established and standard protocols have been formulated for food testing with the help of NIN. He urged NIN and other stakeholders to help devise effective strategies to educate the communities on safe and hygienic practices relating to food safety.
T Longvah, Director, NIN spoke on the stellar contributions made by the institute over the decades. He said that the massive national nutrition programmes to tackle micronutrient deficiencies, especially those of iron and Iodine deficiency, were made possible owing to NIN’s contributions. He presented a brief outline of future research projects including an ambitious public health nutrition initiative, with the help of Tata Trusts, India. Longvah also said that NIN would be starting two new projects on its campus very soon – a regular post-graduate course on sports nutrition in collaboration with Sports Authority of India and a ‘Centre of excellence for research on foods and nutrition’. He stressed the importance of comprehensive databases like the Indian Food Composition Tables which were released by NIN recently.
While presenting his remarks, Dr GS Toteja, ICMR, New Delhi congratulated NIN for the significant research contributions made to check malnutrition in all its forms. He said that the major nutritional programs operational in the country today, including supplementary feeding programs of ICDS and the programs to control blindness occurring due to vitamin A deficiency and also the programme to prevent and control Iron deficiency anemia were started on the basis of NIN’s recommendations.
All the former Directors of NIN were honoured on the occasion. Dr P Uday Kumar, Senior Scientist, NIN proposed a vote of thanks before the conclusion of the session.
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