NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NUTRITION

HYDERABAD - 500007

(Established in 1919)

Publications

• Situated at Hyderabad in the State of Andhra Pradesh, the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), conducts research in the area of Food and Nutrition.
• The Food & Drug Toxicology Research Centre (FDTRC) of the NIN carries out research in areas of food safety, food toxicology, drug-nutrient interactions, mycotoxins, heavy metal contaminants and fluorosis.
• The National Centre of Laboratory Sciences (NCLAS) of NIN (established in 1957) develops breeds and supplies various animal models and feeds for experimental purposes.
• The Preclinical toxicology centre (PCT) of NIN carries out short term and long term toxicological evaluations of candidate molecules.
• National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB), an extramural project of NIN operating in 10 states, generates information on food and nutrient intakes, nutritional status, prevalence of chronic degenerative disorders such as overweight/obesity, hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, micronutrients deficiency disorders etc. among rural communities, on a continuous basis.

The following are the thrust areas of NIN

Basic Research

• Food chemistry, nutritional biochemistry, endocrinology, lipid chemistry, ocular bio-chemistry, biophysics, work physiology, molecular biology, and stem cell research.

  Clinical Research

• Maternal and child nutrition, bone health, diet & cancer, diet & diabetes, infection & immunity, pathology and microbiology related studies.

  Community based operational research

• Nutrition monitoring & surveillance, food & nutrient intakes, infant and child feeding practices, macro and micronutrient malnutrition, behavioral sciences, sports nutrition, biostatistics and policy research.

  Human resource development

• Conducting regular post graduate and certificate training programmes in various areas of applied nutrition, and need based ad hoc training programmes for various target groups.
• Extension & education activities in nutrition and health

• NIN is a WHO collaborating centre for Nutrition in health development.
• NIN serves as the secretariat for the WHO South East Asia Nutrition Research-cum-Action Network (SEA RCA network).

• NIN runs a Postgraduate Certificate Programme in Nutrition. It also offers M.Sc. (Applied Nutrition)
  with Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences. In 2009, M.Sc. (Applied Nutrition) programme was
  converted from a 9 month course to a regular two-year masters degree.
• The other training programmes being conducted annually are
  • Training Course on Endocrinological Techniques and their Applications.
  • Training Course on Techniques for Assessment of Nutritional Anaemias.
• National Centre for Laboratory Animal Sciences (NCLAS) also conducts two different training
  programmes, viz.
  • Laboratory Animal Supervisors’ Training Programme
  • Laboratory Animal Technicians’ Training Programme
• NIN organizes, in collaboration with Ministry of Health & Family Welfare training of trainers for
  the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Fluorosis.
• N I N organizes re-orientation training programmes for the officials of Food & Nutrition Board,
  Dept of Women & Child Development, Govt. of India.

• NIN is recognised for D.Sc by Madras University, Chennai, Andhra University, Hyderabad, Mysore University, Mysore, Calcutta University, Kolkata and Nagpur University, Nagpur.
• In addition, a number of universities - Osmania University, Hyderabad; Madras University, Chennai; Bombay University, Mumbai; Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi; MS University, Vadodara; Pune University, Pune; Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and Guwahati University, Guwahati - have recognized NIN as a research center for carrying out Ph.D

Significant achievements of NIN are the following

• Exploded the Protein myth and highlighted the calorie gap as a major bottleneck in Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM).
• Institute’s research formed the basis for formulation and implementation of national nutrition intervention programmes for the control and prevention of iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) and vitamin A deficiency (VAD).
• Determined nutritive value of over 650 Indian foods.
• Established Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for different age/sex/ physiological and occupational groups in India.
• Generated data on diet & nutritional status of populations at different time points that formed the basis for development of nutrition policies and intervention programmes.
• Developed technology of double fortification of cooking salt with iron and iodine to tackle the twin problem of IDA & IDD.
• Established the anti-cancer properties of traditional Indian spices such as turmeric, and ginger.
• Developed simple and sensitive method for assessment of blood vitamin A levels using dried blood spot technique.
• Established molecular link for degenerative disorders such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and obesity.
• Developed different animal models for studying various nutrition related disorders.