Indian Food Composition Tables

Food composition data provides food and nutrition sector, both private and public with the important guidelines in food labelling, assessment of nutrient intake to determine nutrition adequacy, diet formulation as well as in research and breeding. The information generated is also used to establish food-based dietary guidelines for dietary diversification and food fortification. They also help program managers in determining the relationships between disease outcome and nutrient intakes. The resultant information provides the evidence base for nutrition and health & agricultural policies in establishing how to meet the nutrient requirements in the population through diet. The Kenya Food Composition Tables [FCT] (2018) was developed following international guidelines from INFOODS considering all the required quality checks. It has three main sections: the first part of the book contains an introduction and user notes; the second section presents the actual food composition tables; the third section features photographies and descriptions of foods, to facilitate food identification. This publication will guide both county and national authorities in setting priorities in the implementation of food-based approaches to reduce the burden of malnutrition in the population and support nutrition-sensitive agricultural production.

Food composition data are useful throughout the food system for nutrition-sensitive agriculture, improved processing methods that ensure greater nutrient retention in foods, nutrition labelling, and to inform, educate and protect consumers through food-based dietary guidelines, nutrition education and communication, and legislation. The FAO/INFOODS Food Composition Table for Western Africa (WAFCT 2019) is an update of the West African Food Composition Table of 2012, which lacked some important components, foods and recipes. WAFCT 2019 contains almost three times as many food entries and double the number of components, with increased overall data quality. Many of the data points from WAFCT 2012 have been replaced with better data – mostly analytical data from Africa, with a special emphasis on Western Africa. These improvements are essential to understanding the nutrient composition of foods in the region and to promoting their appropriate use. WAFCT 2019 is the result of four years of collaboration among INFOODS network researchers in Africa and the Nutrition and Food Systems Division of FAO, and was developed as part of the International Dietary Data Expansion (INDDEX) Project, implemented by Tufts University’s Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. These new data from WAFCT 2019 will support further research towards an expanded and improved evidence base and will support better, more informed decisions and effective policies and programmes for improved nutrition in Africa.

Malnutrition among children remains a persistent problem around the world. This publication aims to map the challenges within the global landscape of childhood nutrition and considers the importance of nutrition both prior to conception and in children beyond two years of age. Session I provides an updated picture of malnutrition around the world, the recent progress that has been made in eliminating malnutrition in all its forms and several data limitations to track such progress. The role of milk in early life is covered in session II. The chapters describe different aspects of cow’s milk and the possible role of optimized plant proteins as an alternative to dairy ingredients in treating children with severe acute malnutrition. Session III considers the ramifications of environmental constraints to healthy child growth. The chapters cover the issue of how persistent gut damage and systemic inflammation can precipitate malnutrition as well as the putative effects of alterations in the gut microbiota. This overview of diverse issues is relevant to the epidemiology, biology of nutrition in early life, programmatic implications, and future directions.