Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in South Asian Countries provides an analysis of traditional and ethnic foods from the South Asia Region, including India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Iran. The book addresses the history of use, origin, composition, preparation, ingredient composition, nutritional aspects, and the effects on the health of various foods and food products in each of these countries from the perspective of their Traditional and Ethnic Foods. In addition, the book presents local and international regulations and provides suggestions on how to harmonize regulations and traditional practices to promote safety and global availability of these foods. Analyzes nutritional and health claims related to South Asian foods Explores both scientific and anecdotal diet-based health claims Examines how these traditional foods can be viewed from regulatory requirements and how to address any noncompliance in dynamics or regulations Reviews the influence of historical eating habits on today's diets and its combinatorial effect for health and wellness

Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in South Asian Countries provides an analysis of traditional and ethnic foods from the South Asia Region, including India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Iran. The book addresses the history of use, origin, composition, preparation, ingredient composition, nutritional aspects, and the effects on the health of various foods and food products in each of these countries from the perspective of their Traditional and Ethnic Foods. In addition, the book presents local and international regulations and provides suggestions on how to harmonize regulations and traditional practices to promote safety and global availability of these foods. - Analyzes nutritional and health claims related to South Asian foods - Explores both scientific and anecdotal diet-based health claims - Examines how these traditional foods can be viewed from regulatory requirements and how to address any noncompliance in dynamics or regulations - Reviews the influence of historical eating habits on today's diets and its combinatorial effect for health and wellness

Welcome to the first edition of South Asia Nutrition Knowledge Initiative’s (SANI) Abstract Digest! In each issue, we aim to curate a selection of the latest and relevant studies on maternal and child nutrition for the South Asia region. We conduct literature search across peer-reviewed journals and identify studies of relevance. The abstracts in this document are reproduced in their original form from their source, and without editorial commentary about specific articles. In this first edition, we include global studies on trends in malnutrition, health inequalities of common nutrition deficiencies in children and the importance of gender-sensitive social safety nets and nutritionspecific and -sensitive interventions in the low-and middle-income countries. There are interesting studies from South Asia with a focus on Bangladesh, India and Nepal on topics including geospatial and environmental determinants of undernutrition, dietary diversity assessment of pregnant adolescent girls and nutrition interventions such as mid-day meal program in India and Suaahara in Nepal. Below is the list of peer-reviewed articles. Please click on the title if you wish to go straight to the article or scroll down to explore the abstracts in the pages that follow. Happy reading! If this Abstract Digest was forwarded to you, we invite you to subscribe.

The 2020 report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the Asia and Pacific region, provides an update on progress towards the 2030 targets (SDGs and WHA) at the regional and country level. Selected indicators look at undernourishment, food insecurity, childhood stunting, wasting and overweight, adult overweight, child minimum acceptable diet, exclusive and continued breastfeeding, and anaemia in women and children. While the region continues to work towards ending all forms of malnutrition and achieving Zero Hunger, progress on food security and nutrition has slowed, and the Asia and Pacific region is not on track to achieving 2030 targets. About 350.6 million people in the Asia and Pacific region are estimated to have been undernourished in 2019, about 51 percent of the global total. An estimated 74.5 million children under five years of age were stunted and a total of 31.5 million were wasted in the Asia and Pacific region. The majority of these children in the region live in Southern Asia with 55.9 million stunted and 25.2 million wasted children. Estimates predict a 14.3 percent increase in the prevalence of moderate or severe wasting among children under 5 years of age, equal to an additional 6.7 million children, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With basic food prices and disposable incomes influencing household decisions on food and dietary intake, they are critical to improve food security and nutrition in the region. However, in the Asia and Pacific region, 1.9 billion people are unable to afford a healthy diet, driven by high prices of fruits, vegetables and dairy products, making it impossible for the poor to achieve healthy diets.In Part 2, the 2020 report promotes a systems approach to healthy maternal and child diets, involving and coordinating institutions and actors in the Food, Water and Sanitation, Health, Social Protection and Education systems, to collectively create the enabling environment for healthy diets. Integration of healthy diets and nutrition-focused Social Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) mainstreamed throughout these systems will lead to greater uptake and sustainability of healthy behaviours and caregiver’s knowledge.

This book addresses the health status of both mothers and children, highlighting acute malnutrition through anthropometric indices such as weight-for-height, weight-for-age, height-for-age, and BMI. Divided into four sections, it provides an overview of public health and nutrition, presents the state-of-the-art situation in South and South-east Asia, and analyzes real-life data on public health and nutrition not only from India and Bangladesh but also from other countries in South and South-east Asia. The book covers insightful analyses of child nutrition, maternal health, and socioeconomic factors, with an emphasis on maternal empowerment, health-seeking behavior, and healthcare accessibility in diverse contexts. The book also addresses topics such as identification of potential genes for prostate cancer, and quality of life and living arrangements of ageing population. The book is relevant for researchers in the fields of biostatistics, anthropology, demography, health, medicine, and planning, interested in understanding public health and nutrition in South Asia, especially in India and Bangladesh.

Asia-Pacific is home to well over half of all people worldwide who do not obtain sufficient dietary energy to maintain normal, active, healthy lives. To achieve SDG 2 in the region, more than 3 million people must escape hunger each month from now until December 2030. In most countries in the region, the diets of more than half of all very young children (aged 6–23 months) fail to meet minimum standards of diversity, leading to micronutrient deficiencies that affect child development and therefore the potential of future generations. The high prevalence of stunting and wasting among children under five years of age is a result of these deficiencies. Only four countries in the region are on track to meet the global target of a 40 percent reduction in the number of stunted children between 2012 and 2025.At the same time, the prevalence of overweight and obesity is rising steadily among children and adults, negatively affecting health and well-being. Addressing the resultant burden of diet-related non-communicable diseases places great strain on national healthcare budgets and also causes productivity losses. Social protection is an important way of reducing inequality and mitigating the impacts of disasters, and it is expanding in the region. A special section of this report discusses how to develop social protection programmes that accelerate progress in eradicating hunger and malnutrition.

South Asia comprises of one of the most populous countries in the world that immensely depend on agriculture for economic development yet the region faces grave food insecurity. Despite abundant natural resources, demographic dividend and vast human and physical assets it falls far behind its potential in terms of economic growth. Through panel data study of five South Asian countries (Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal) we look at the impact of food security on economic growth as well as social development. Food security has become an alarming concern in South Asia as it has one of the highest incidences of food insecurity in the world characterized by under nutrition, food inflation and other poor social and health indicators. Our main model discusses the impact of food security (measured by crop production, food production, undernourishment, secondary education, domestic food price index, per capita food variability) on economic growth. Our results indicate that food insecurity has a negative impact on economic and social development in these countries. Countries in the South Asian region should try to build a collaborative framework to deal with this issue.