India to get new Food Composition Table 

Hyderabad-based National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) is poised to release the new Indian Food Composition Table (IFCT) at a glittering international symposium on the subject ‘Food Composition in Nutrition and Health’ in New Delhi to be held on January 18 and 19.

The new IFCT 2017 would highlight national average and range values for more than 150 discrete nutritive components analysed in a total of 526 foods sampled from six well dispersed agro‐ecological regions of the country. It will be formally released in public domain by the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda on 18 January.

In India, nutrient composition of foods as Nutritive value of Indian foods (NVIF) commenced almost a century ago which resulted in the release of updated versions from time to time with the major revision done more than 45 years ago. The contribution of NVIF has proved to be important, especially in the Indian context.

However, there are many inherent uncertainties about the values, missing data points and skewed sampling which threaten to cause higher costs and inefficient use of resources. Under these circumstances, the Indian national food sampling and analysis program was initiated by the Indian Council of Medical Research in 2011 in order to bring out a totally new Indian Food Composition Tables (IFCT) as authoritative source of food composition data in India wherein key foods were prioritised and analysed for a comprehensive set of nutrients at the NIN.

The exclusive analytical data of foods categorized under 12 food groups is complete for all proximates, dietary fibre, available carbohydrate, water and fat soluble vitamins, minerals and trace elements, fatty acid and amino acid profile, phytosterols, oligosaccharides, saponins, organic acids, individual polyphenols & phytate.

Government of India carries out several nutrition researches in the country including assessing, monitoring and policy research which are essential for monitoring the health and nutritional status of the population. In addition to satiating the appetite, foods supply molecular components for various metabolic processes in the human body eliciting specific physiological responses. Thus, the chemical composition of food forms the basis for any investigation into nutrition science and diet related diseases/ disorders.

Agricultural commodities as well as processed foods change rapidly in response to changes in consumer preferences, nutrition and fortification policy, food technology, and food source. Interest in new food components is expanding rapidly and the need to access core data on more nutrients and bioactive substances in foods is far outstripping the data that is available.

Production of database on emerging bioactive components of health interest have become necessary to meet the increasing demands of clinicians, dieticians, policy makers and epidemiologist studying the relationships between diet and population health, as well as to cater to the consumer's curiosity. Therefore, sound food composition databases that are both comprehensive and representative of foods available and consumed in the country have become essential basic tools for diverse activities.

The International symposium is being organised by National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, and, co-sponsored by UN World Food Programme. Dr. A. Laxmaiah, Sr. Deputy Director, NIN informed that the symposium will bring together various stakeholders and players using food composition tables for responding to new challenges and opportunities aimed at improving the nutrition situation in the country in a sustainable manner.

By K Naresh Kumar