To celebrate National Nutrition Month 2020, NSI Mumbai organized an International webinar series on Translational research on 1st and 2nd September 2020. This was the 3rd paid webinar series organized by the chapter. YouTube links are not available for this series.
Topic: Inaugural Address on Poshan Abhiyaan
Speaker: Dr. Aparna Deshpande, Nutrition Officer, UNICEF Mumbai
Dr. Deshpande spoke about Poshan Abhiyaan and its goals and objectives were highlighted by her. She talked about the current IYCF practices in India, and the status and barriers in complementary feeding. She highlighted the various community based activities that are being successfully carried out in the state of Maharashtra. She also spoke about the ways to identify SAM and various initiatives taken by government to fight SAM, she went on to explain the support provided by UNICEF.
Topic: Nutritionally Sensitive Agriculture – An Approach to Reducing Hidden Hunger
Speaker: Dr. Mahtab Bamji, Director Grade Scientist Retired, NIN, Hyderabad, India.
Dr. Bamji began by explaining the difference between food security and nutrition security. She highlighted some areas of concerns in India as India has one of the highest incidences of hunger and under-nutrition in the world. She also spoke about the demand-supply projections and the gaps for major food grains, edible oil and sugar in India. She further emphasized on the approached that can be adopted to combat dietary micronutrient deficiencies and hidden hunger by enlarge.
Topic: Food Synergies: Evidence Based Dietary Approach To Address Micro-nutrient Malnutrition
Speaker: Dr. K. Madhvan Nair, Former HoD Micronutrient Research & Scientist-F, ICRM-NIN, Hyderabad
Dr. Madhavan Nair began with explaining the balanced diet concept. He further highlighted the prevalence and impact of micronutrient deficiencies and discussed the approached for correcting mineral and vitamin deficiencies. He focused on evidence based practices and research to explain food synergy and presented it as a public health strategy.
Topic: Role of Pre-Conceptional Nutrition On Pregnancy Outcome & Future Health: Evidence Based Nutritional Concepts
Speaker: Dr. Sadhana Joshi, Director Grade Scientist, Mother and Child Health Division, IRSHA
Dr. Joshi began with explaining the important role of micronutrients from conception and throughout the pregnancy. She touched upon the concept of epigenetics and dietary factors modulating epigenetics. She also spoke on Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative, Early Interventions to Support Trajectories for Healthy Life in India (EINSTEIN) which is a multi-faceted intervention package to improve child growth and development.
Topic: Preventive Nutrition for Neurodegeneration
Speaker: Dr. David Vauzour (UK), Research Group Member, Nutrition and Preventive Medicine, University of East Anglia, UK
Dr. Vauzour began with explaining the modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors leading to neurodegeneration and other brain vulnerabilities. He also highlighted the role of bioactive components for brain health and dietary lipids as the inflammatory modulator. Gut-brain axis was also discussed and the role of microbiota in brain health was explained with the help of current researches.
Topic: Translational Research in Diabetes: Preventive Nutritional Aspects
Speaker: Dr. V Mohan, Chairman and Chief of Diabetology at Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialties Centre at Chennai
Dr. Mohan began with highlighting the prevalence of diabetes in India and its its effect on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. He discussed the food consumption pattern of the urban population and the risk factors that has led to the development of diabetes. Finally he discussed the preventive measures, dietary changes and strategies to combat diabetes.
Topic: Present Problems in Food Security: Need For New Dimensions In Solutions
Speaker: Dr. B. Sesikeran, Former Director, ICMR-NIN, Hyderabad
Dr. Sesikeran began with discussing the existing food and nutrition insecurity in the world that might worsen even more. He continued with highlighting the impact of Covid19 pandemic on the country, the world and the individual. He went on to explain the accessibility of food to different socio-economic classes and its health implications. Lastly he focused on the management strategies to combat food insecurity and tackle undernutrition.