Food and Nutritional Biotechnology

The research in the areas of food and nutrition is expanding rapidly with new knowledge to (a) develop diet–based strategies and policies to address the problems of malnutrition including undernutrition as well as overnutrition, (b) design diets and therapeutic functional food- based formulations for better health care and wholesomeness and (c) understanding the molecular aspect of interaction between human-food using multiple “omics” technologies. In the western world countries, major strategy to make diets nutritionally more rewarding is through improved food processing, technology-oriented high-end research on mechanisms related to health benefits of food, and appropriate evidence based fortification. However, for India, solutions need to be different because of nearly non-existent food processing industries, need to keep the costs low for community welfare, differences in the effectiveness of fortification approaches due to problems unique to the genetic makeup and disease burden in India, and issues specific to vegetarian diets. In summary, research efforts in Food and Nutrition Biotechnology division at NABI will open a broad horizon of training and knowledge development, spanning from the basic science to translational research of food and nutrition to clinical manifestations and validation of designer foods and nutritional interventions for better health. Following programmes would be strengthened in future.

1. Post-harvest improvement in storage and quality of Agricultural produce
2. Functional foods and Nutraceuticals for better health
3. Food and GM Crops biosafety
4. Nutrigenomics for Health and Human Welfare.