The webinar titled “Food Fortification and Nutrition Security” was organized by Sarvoday TheRise Foundation, a public-policy think tank based in Lucknow, under its initiative SarvArogya, which is a public-health-focused research initiative.
India has expanded its food production and has held some of the world’s largest nutrition programmes, and yet malnutrition remains deeply embedded in our society. Malnutrition does not only refer to empty plates or when people don’t have access to food, but also when they lack essential micro as well as macro nutrients. Even if a plate is full, it could still be lacking nutrition. This is where the process of Food Fortification stepped in, where staple foods became a vehicle to deliver nutrients that were missing from the diets.
This was the core argument at the webinar titled “Food Fortification and Nutrition Security,” organized by Sarvoday TheRise Foundation, a public-policy think tank based in Lucknow, under its initiative SarvArogya, which is a public-health-focused research initiative. Ms. Deepti Gulati, a distinguished nutrition and public health specialist, graced the webinar as a speaker. The webinar was attended by the Project Director, Sneha Yadav, and the foundation’s interns.
The webinar began with a key emphasis on the lack of good nutrition. “There is an intergenerational cycle of malnourishment. Malnourished women lead to higher maternal mortality and inadequate fetal nutrition. This leads to low birth weight in babies, impaired mental development, and higher mortality. Stunting is very common in children whose mothers have been malnourished, and these stunted children have reduced mental capacity and physical development. This in turn leads to stunted adolescence, which means impaired growth and reduced physical capacity,” said Ms Gulati.
Further, talking about the link between food and the impact on our mental health. She states, “ Diet is as important to mental health as it is to physical health. A healthy diet is protective, and an unhealthy diet is a risk factor for depression and anxiety. A healthy diet affects brain health by boosting brain development and raising serotonin levels through various food enzymes, which improves the mood.”
The webinar then led to a discussion of three strategic ways to control micronutrient malnutrition: supplementation, dietary diversification, and staple food fortification. “Fortification is one of the most efficient and low-cost strategies, and it can yield significant results in a short period of time,” said Ms. Gulati, explaining the concept of food fortification, which is the process of adding vitamins and minerals to food, and emphasizing that it is good public health policy to provide micronutrients to reduce dietary deficiencies across population groups. Fortification improves work capacity and health and hence contributes to improving national economic performance.
To conclude, Fortification has great potential to enrich food and improve the lives of millions of children by giving them a healthy start to a nutritious life.
(Article by Ananya Bhalla)
About the author
Ananya Bhalla is currently a research student at University Of Delhi, focused on creating the field of research and writing. She is currently a editorial intern at TheRise.
