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Good Nutrition Is Everything
IAEA Becomes Major Player in Nutrition Worldwide
Staff Report
2 October 2009
Poor diet can have devastating effects on human health, causing deficiency diseases in childhood. Also, common chronic illnesses like heart disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis all have nutritional correlations. (Photo: L. Davidsson/IAEA)
- Story Resources
- 19th International Congress of Nutrition (ICN 2009)
- Nuclear Techniques to Move the Nutrition Agenda Forward, 7 October 2009
- Capacity Development in Nutrition: The Turning Point, 5 October 2009
- In Focus: Human Health and Nutrition
- Assessment of Body Composition and Total Energy Expenditure in Humans Using Stable Isotope Techniques
- IAEA Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications
- IAEA Department of Technical Cooperation
- IAEA Division of Human Health
- IAEA Nutritional and Health-Related Environmental Studies Section
- International Malnutrition Task Force
Nutrition affects everything. A mother´s nutritional status before conception affects her foetus; and proper nutrition, or the lack of it, determines a person´s physical and mental capability from birth until death. The IAEA is one of a number of organisations involved in researching nutrition and investigating the role it plays in human development and prospects for later life.
Approximately 3,000 nutrition scientists, practitioners, and researchers from all over the world are taking part in the International Congress of Nutrition from 4 - 9 October 2009, which is organised in cooperation with the IAEA.
"The role of nuclear techniques, and stable isotope techniques in particular, is becoming increasingly important in the development and monitoring of interventions to combat malnutrition," says Werner Burkart, Deputy Director General for the IAEA´s Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications. "While nuclear techniques have been used as research tools for many years, their application in the development and evaluation of large scale treatment is a relatively new approach."
"The IAEA has a unique role to play here, in particular as an international Agency in the United Nations family with a commitment to development," he says.
Burkart will speak at a panel on capacity-building during the Congress.
During the congress, the IAEA is organizing two symposia on 7 October:
- Nuclear Techniques to Move the Nutrition Agenda Forward
- Composition from Conception through Infancy
Other IAEA initiatives in this field include a new publication series on nutrition. The first book in the series - Assessment of Body Composition and Total Energy Expenditure in Humans Using Stable Isotope Techniques - is now available on our website.
Background
Organized every four years under the auspices of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS), the International Congress of Nutrition will be held for the 19th time this year in Bangkok, Thailand.
The main theme is Nutrition Security for All. The congress aims to provide innovative solutions to the present and future challenges of securing enough safe food, and delivering basic nutrition and health services, thereby improving the quality of life of people around the world.
See Story Resources for more information.