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t_Articles
Developments in nutrition and food safety over the past decades have
been nothing short of phenomenal. It was only at the beginning of this
century for example that we discovered nutrients such as vitamins and
linked certain diseases to deficiency states, including ricketts, scurvy
and malnutrition. In the past decade, we have furthered the
understanding of food and allergy, discovered phytonutrients and seen
the reality of food biotechnology and functional foods.
The 8th Asian Nutrition Congress held in Seoul, Korea on August 29
-September 2, 1999, was the last large nutrition congress to be held in
Asia this millenium. It was therefore a fitting venue to ask several of
the world's leading nutritionists to reflect on the major advances made
in nutrition in the last century and to make some predictions on what
they see occurring in the next one. Here's what they had to say.
It's all in the genes
Nevin Scrimshaw, United Nations University, United States, identified
the gradual discovery of the link between nutrition and the prevalence
and outcome of infections as one of the key advances in nutrition over
the last few decades. He also pointed to the explosion in the
understanding of immunology as critical to our understanding of
the link between diet and infection. An area of potential interest in
the next century will be the identification of genetic predisposition to
disease via a blood test using DNA analysis. People identified as
sensitive to certain food components could then alter their diet before
developing certain diseases. This would mean for example, that a person
identified as being at increased risk of colon cancer could make
specific changes to his or her diet and exercise patterns to reduce
their risk of contracting the disease.
Asia-specific predictions
Dr Gopalan, Nutrition Foundation of India, New Delhi, spoke of the
striking demographic and developmental transitions affecting Asian
countries over the last fifty years. Dr Gopalan noted that this has
resulted in profound changes in lifestyle-related health problems
including declining mortality rates, increased life expectancy, virtual
elimination of severe forms of malnutrition and the escalation of
chronic lifestyle- related diseases such as obesity, heart disease and
diabetes. Dr Gopalan's predictions for Asia were:
- Major paradigm shifts in national nutrition policies to include
optimal nutrition rather than just survival. This will include new
dietary recommendations on micronutrients and phytochemicals,
substances that until now have been largely ignored when governments
set their recommended dietary intakes.
- The emergence of proven and safe technologies for food production
especially in the area of production, processing and preservation.
- Intensive research on the potential benefits of Asian plant foods.
- Investment in strengthening scientific infrastructure and the
provision of adequate support for scientific research in food and
nutrition in Asian countries.
- An emphasis on mental development to enable children to reach
their full intellectual capacity.
Professor Mamdouh Gabr, Department of Pediatrics, Cairo University,
Egypt predicts:
- A growth in the numbers of adolescents and disabled children due
to lower infant mortality rates and improved medical care.
- Scientific and technical advances that improve the food supply
will partly alleviate nutrition problems caused by poverty and
malnutrition.
- Advances in vaccination programmes will lead to changes in disease
patterns with a reduction in infectious diseases and a growth in the
relative incidence of dietary-related diseases.
The sky's the limit
Professor Barbara Underwood, Institute of Medicine,
Washington, USA, discussed the discovery of vitamins and minerals in the
twentieth century. She predicted that the "sky is the limit" in terms of
the future of nutrition in the next century. Major factors she expects
to shape nutrition science over the next few decades include:
- More work on the modulation of genetic expression by dietary
factors.
- New functions discovered for trace minerals.
- An improved understanding about the interactions between
nutrients, genes and health.
- Scientists and nutritionists will focus on the health-promoting
qualities of eating patterns (such as Japanese or Mediterranean eating
patterns) rather than just concentrating on nutrients.
- Individual variations in responses to nutrients will be
intensively studied. This will enable improved understanding of why
some individuals develop disease while others do not.
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