The Status Paper on “Global Initiatives to Reduce Post-Harvest Food Losses and Waste” is first of its kind study in the world and shares the perspectives on the issues and actions required to stem the problem of food loss and waste. The status paper highlights various processes and protocols being employed to estimate the losses, available data for various geographic regions, plausible causes of loss and waste, various impacts of loss and waste, basic and advanced scientific practices and indigenous technical knowhow to curb the losses and wastages, policies of various countries to reduce food waste, etc. This document serves as useful reference for scientific as well as social community and provides guidance for developing new practices and policies to reduce the menace due to Food Loss and Waste.

The Status Paper sponsored by ILSI India and ICAR CIPHET can be downloaded from: https://shorturl.at/vNjOI

Clinical Trials for food and food ingredients has been identified as one important area requiring attention of scientific community as well as concerned authorities. It acquires significance as with technological advancements a number of new products with a variety of claims have been introduced in the market by the Food Business Operators (FBOs) to fulfill the aspirations of health conscious consumers. These are called by various names - Dietary Supplements, Functional Foods or Nutraceuticals. The process for substantiation of claims is yet to evolve.

The Concept Paper points out the differences between clinical trials for Drugs and food and food ingredient and explains when Human Intervention Studiesare required, what should be the Protocol for conducting Human Intervention Studies,What type of Human Intervention Studies should be conducted, important factors to be taken into consideration for conducting Human Intervention Studies,and the way forward.

The Concept Paper can be downloaded from: https://tinyurl.com/2hwf8n86

A National Food Control System should be such that the consumer is protected from unsafe food. The National Food Control System, therefore, must be effective and comprehensive with science-based food law and regulations; and an institutional structure which is active and responds to the needs of food safety management.

The integrated food chain surveillance system is being recognized as a holistic approach in various developed countries for controlling food safety risks across the entire food chain. The key element in the integrated food chain surveillance is the sharing, integrating and interpretation of food borne disease surveillance data in the human, animal, and food sectors.

This White Paper explores the application, feasibility and usefulness of this surveillance system from a developing country perspective including India through a review of literature and designing a model activity plan of the integrated food chain surveillance in the Indian context .

The White Paper can be downloaded from: https://tinyurl.com/2pzdruhb

The process of risk assessment is fairly scientific method that is an assurance that despite the same nutrient coming from several sources and at the highest centile of intake would still not be expected to cause any adverse effect nor put the population at risk. This monograph is intended to create better understanding and provide information on the methods and scientific basis of calculating the risk objectively. It provides information on the following:

1. Various terminologies used to express the safe limits for nutrients.
2. Basis for deriving safe limits for nutrients.
3. Application of risk analysis framework for some of the bioactive compounds.
4. Exposure assessment and risk characterization data from various countries in one place (as it varies from country to country/region) in addition to Indian data.
5. Identifies the gaps for further improving nutrient risk assessment.

The article has been published in Journal of Nutrition and Food Science.

The Executive Summary can be downloaded from: https://tinyurl.com/4wc9w545
Email to info@ilsi-india.org for the Monograph (750 pages).

This article is based on study sponsored by ILSI India and it looks at the role of non-nutritive sweetener and their role in insulin regulation and related metabolic factors with special reference to Asian Indians / Asian Population. The study has revealed that: NNS exposure did not conclusively induce increased food intake or change in subjective appetite ratings, replacement of sugar with NNS, helped in reducing weight of overweight/obese individuals on an unrestricted diet, NNSs do not affect insulin levels and do not stimulate insulin secretion to the same extent as nutritive sweeteners, NNSs were not associated with an increased risk of cancers, some studies reported increased risk of premature delivery by mothers who consumed NNS sweetened beverages daily and Weight gain and energy intake, remain unaffected due to NNS intake among children.

The article has been published in Journal of Nutrition and Food Science.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/NFS-03-2023-0060

Dairy products have been used for centuries and were generally believed to be healthy. Recently, dairy products have been implicated in the rise of non-communicable diseases especially new onset type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, the available data have been inconsistent. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis sponsored by ILSI India was to analyze all available prospective studies on the effect of dairy products with incident (new onset) T2D.

An article has been published in Journal of the Indian Institute of Science.

DOI: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41745-023-00396-3

Nutraceuticals have generated an interest among clinicians for their applicability in the prevention and treatment of many ailments. Literature suggests the possible role of nutraceuticals in Covid-19. However, substantial uncertainty related to their safety and efficacy still exists.

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of nutraceuticals in preventing or treating Covid-19. Researchers searched electronic databases, registries, websites, and e-libraries of development agencies. This study included randomized controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-experiments, pre-post studies, and other experimental study designs.

The study has been published in journal of Cogent Food and Agriculture.

DOI: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311932.2024.2330183

This systematic review was conducted to understand the relationship and interaction between nutrition and mental health across the lifespan. The results of the review suggests that healthy eating pattern, including green leafy vegetables and fresh fruits, polyunsaturated fatty acids, like alpha-linoleic acid and minerals like magnesium positively impact mental health.

The study can be downloaded from: https://tinyurl.com/4xmfcn5k