DEPARTMENT OF FOOD& NUTRITION

SPOTLIGHT: NUTRITION WEEK ACTIVITIES

IN THE DEPARTMENT 2016:INTERNATIONAL YEAR

OF PULSES

NUTRITIOUS SEEDS FOR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

NutriGenie Smt. VHD Central Institute of Home Science,

Monthly newsletter Department of foods and nutrition 29th September2016

I am Nutri Genie, your news reporter

and will visit you every month here on-

wards. I will bring to you exciting Sci-

entific and Commercial news from the

world of Food & Nutrition. I will also

talk about innovations, recent trends,

opportunities and a lot more related to

our department. Sometimes I will play

with you by bringing funny facts, jokes,

quizzes and similar stuffs. Contribu-

tion from: Faculties and Ph. D.

Scholars, Dept. Food and Nutri-

tion.

NATIONAL NUTRITION WEEK IS CELEBRATED EVERY YEAR IN THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER DURING THE FIRST WEEK. (SEP1st - SEP 7th) Theme 2016:LIFE CYCLE APPROACH FOR BETTER NU-

TRITION

Date & Day Institution Activity Level Institution /

Public / Social Media/ School

Target Group

DAY I

1st Septem-

ber, 2016

Smt. V.H.D Central Insti-

tute of Home Science

Dance Performance on

Healthy eating habits

Institution Adolescents

and adults

DAY II

2nd Septem-

ber, 2016

Smt. V.H.D Central Insti-tute of Home Science

Skit on Nutrition from

Womb to Tomb: Im-

portance of nutrition at

each stage of life

Activity postponed to 3rd

Sep due to Bharat

Bandh

Institution Adolescents

and adults

DAY III

3rd Septem-

ber, 2016

Smt. V.H.D Central Insti-tute of Home Science

Games by M.sc IInd Year

1.Pictionary

2.Treasure hunt

Institution Adolescents

and adults

DAY IV

4th Septem-

ber, 2016

Smt. V.H.D Central Insti-tute of Home Science

Sunday’s Activity :

Games postponed to 6th

sep.

Institution Adolescents

and adults

DAY V

5th Septem-

ber, 2016

Smt. V.H.D Central Insti-tute of Home Science

Games

Ganesh Chaturthi: Ac-

tivity postponed to 6th

sep

Institution Adolescents

and adults

DAY VI

6th Septem-

ber, 2016

Smt. V.H.D Central Insti-tute of Home Science

Games:

Caption It

Guess the Ingre-

dients

Institution Adolescents

and adults

DAY VII

7th Septem-

ber, 2016

Smt. V.H.D Central Insti-tute of Home Science

Exhibition and Sale Nutri-

tious products

Institution Adolescents

and adults

ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FOODS & NUTRITION DURING NUTRITION WEEK

SKIT

GAMES

They are packed with nutrients and have high protein, and fibre content..

They are non-GMO,gluten free, low allergen vegetable protein.

Their nitrogen-fixing properties improve soil fertility.

They have a broad genetic diversity from which climate-resilient varieties can be select-ed.

They are highly water efficient and their production has low greenhouse gas emissions.

They can be stored for months without los-ing their high nutritional value.

PULSES: The super food

The 68th UN General Assembly declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses (IYP) (A/RES/68/231) The Food and Agricul-ture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been nomi-nated to facilitate the implementation of the Year in collaboration with Governments, rel-evant organizations, non-governmental or-ganizations and all oth-er relevant stakehold-ers. The IYP 2016 aims to heighten public aware-ness of the nutritional benefits of pulses as part of sustainable food production aimed to-wards food security and nutrition. The Year will create a unique opportunity to encourage connections throughout the food chain that would better utilize pulse-based pro-teins, further global production of pulses, better utilize crop rota-tions and address the challenges in the trade of pulses.

Pulses are a type of leguminous crop that are harvested solely for the dry seed.

Dried beans, lentils and peas are the most commonly known and consumed types of puls-es.

2016:INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF PULSES

Pulses can help us combat malnutrition in south asia South Asia is home to almost 40% of the world's stunted children. A lack of vital nutrients in their younger years leads children across the continent to have impaired growth, both mentally and physically. This leads to a higher rates of illness and mortality in later life.

Strategies to improve nutrition for mothers, and children within their first 1,000 days of life, are at the heart campaigns to reverse this tragic trend. Breastfeeding, supplementation, as well as the promotion of nutrient-rich diets for mothers and adolescent girls are among the interventions that have shown the most promise for combatting this key issue.

Photo: ICARDA

2016 has been declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Pulses. One major reason for this is to draw global attention to the diverse health benefits that pulses offer. Naturally rich in protein and fibre, whilst low in fat, pulses should be featuring in the daily diets of those suffering from malnutrition. However, gov-ernment food distribution systems to tackle hunger focus on providing calories, but not other nutrients. Many of the poorest Indians can only afford rice or wheat.

Bringing a wider range of affordable food products that feature pulses to market will be key to ensuring people across South Asia can access the many nutritional benefits they provide. Because pulses require much less irrigation than rice and wheat, their increased use could be beneficial not only for the nation's health, but for our nation's water supply as well.

FAO has developed a series of fact sheetscovering the key messages of the International Year of Pulses. These documents provide an in-depth look at how pulses can help to improve health, nutrition, biodiversi-ty, food security and climate change adaptation.

Climate change has a huge impact on global food production and food security. Changing weather pat-terns can cause an increase in natural disasters like droughts, floods, hurricanes, which can impact every level of food production. Unless urgent and sustainable measures are established, climate change will con-tinue to put pressure on agricultural ecosystems, particularly in regions and for populations that are par-ticularly vulnerable.

Climate-smart varieties

Pulses have a broad genetic diversity from which improved varieties can be selected and bred. This diver-sity is a particularly important attribute because more climate-resilient strains can be developed for use in areas prone to floods, droughts and other extreme weather events.

Indirectly reducing greenhouse gas emissions

It is estimated that globally, some 190 million hectares of pulses contribute to five to seven million tonnes of nitrogen in soils. As pulses can fix their own nitrogen in the soil, they need less fertilizer, both organic and synthetic, and in this way, they play a part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, when included in livestock feed, pulses’ high protein content contributes to increase the food conversion ratio while decreasing methane emissions from ruminants, thus at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Pulses and agroforestry

Agroforestry systems that include pulses such as pigeon peas grown at the same time as other crops, help sustain the food security of farmers, by helping them to diversify their sources of income. Agroforestry systems are more able to withstand climate extremes as pulses are hardier than most crops and help to nourish the soil. When using these systems, farmers see an increase in crop productivity that extends to subsequent crop yields.

ONE OF THE FIVE MESSAGES THAT FAO AIMS TO HIGHLIGHT DURING THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF PULSES IN 2016 - ARE THE NUTRI-TIONAL BENEFITS OF PULSES AND ENCOURAGE A PARADIGM SHIFT TOWARDS INCLUDING MORE OF THIS NUTRITIONAL POWERHOUSE IN DIETS ALL OVER THE WORLD.

Malnutrition is one of the im-portant contributors to many types of illnesses and, in some cases, lead to death. Malnutrition is a re-sult of eating too little, too much or eating an unbalanced diet that does not contain the right quantity and quality of nutrients to be healthy.

Pulses typically contain about

twice the amount of protein found in whole grain cereals such as wheat, which for most populations in developing countries they con-stitute a major source of protein.

Pulses are an excellent comple-

mentary food for infants and young children to meet their daily nutri-tional needs. They can be incorpo-rated into children’s diets through family diets and school meal pro-grammes in both developed and developing countries. Their high nutrient content also make pulses ideal for vegetarians and vegans to ensure adequate intakes of protein, minerals and vitamins.

When combined with food high in

vitamin C, pulses’ high iron con-tent makes them a potent food for replenishing iron stores, particular-ly for women at reproductive age, who are more at risk for iron defi-ciency anaemia. Older people can also benefit from eating pulses.

KEY FACTS

With a low glycemic index, low fat and high fibre content, pulses are suitable for people with diabetes. Pulses in-crease satiety and help to stabilize blood sugar and insulin levels by reducing spikes after eating and improving insu-lin resistance making pulses an ideal food for weight management. ➤ Pulses may reduce the risks of coro-nary heart disease. They are high in die-tary fibre, which is well known for re-ducing LDL cholesterol, a recognized risk factor in coronary heart disease. ➤ Pulses are good sources of vitamins, such as folate, which reduces the risk of neural tube defects (NTDs) like spina bifida in newborn babies. ➤ Pulses’ high iron content makes them a potent food for preventing iron deficiency anaemia in women and chil-dren especially when combined with food containing vitamin C to improve iron absorption. ➤ Protein quality matters, particularly for growth and development. The pro-tein quality of vegetarian diets and plant-based diets is significantly improved when pulses are eaten together with ce-reals. ➤ Pulses are gluten-free. ➤ Pulses are rich in bioactive com-pounds such as phytochemicals and an-tioxidants that may contain anti-cancer properties. ➤ Pulses promote bone health. ➤ Phytoestrogens may also prevent cognitive decline and reduce menopau-

GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR PULSES In many cultures, pulses are considered as ‘protein for the poor’. There are a number of reasons why they are underestimated. The most common ones are: they can cause bloat-ing, flatulence, and, unless they are soaked for hours, pulses take a long time to cook. Pulses contain some anti-nutrients, which are sub-stances that reduce the body’s ability to absorb the various minerals that pulses contain. Fortu-nately, many of these issues (bloating, flatu-lence, anti-nutrients and length of cooking time) can be overcome using traditional cook-ing techniques, such as soaking, germination (sprouting), fermentation and pounding. Tradi-tional methods can also help to reduce the con-tent of the anti-nutrients. When other foods are combined with pulses, the nutritional value of pulses is further enhanced, as other foods help to ensure that the body is able to better absorb all the nutrients found in pulses. Here are a few examples: 1. When beans are eaten with other foods

such as grains, the nutritional value of puls-es is even greater as the body is better able to absorb iron and other minerals found in pulses.

2. Another way of increasing the body’s ability to absorb iron is to combine pulses with vita-min C rich foods (a good example is to sprin-kle some lemon juice on lentil curry). 3. Drinking tea or coffee with meals, on the other hand, has the opposite effect. There are so many ways to eat pulses. They can be eaten at any meal. In some Asian countries, boiled chickpeas, mung beans and butter beans are a common sight at breakfast. They are also a fa-vorite snack. In other parts of the world, bean burgers or falafel, made from ground chickpeas or fava beans or both, are eaten for lunch. Puls-es, especially beans, can be added to soups, salads, and pasta sauces. In some parts of Italy, boiled beans and tuna fish is a common second course. Even children as young as six months can enjoy a puree of boiled pulses with other foods.

References: IYP2016 I5384E/1/02.16 fao.org/pulses- http://www.fao.org/3/a-bc435e.pdf http://www.fao.org/3/a-c0049e.pdf http://www.fao.org/resources/infographics/infographics-details/en/c/412361/