Salt & Beriberi: 100 years later, NIN keeps vigil on your plate

HYDERABAD: Is your salt double fortified by iodine and iron to fight goitre and anaemia? The answer is yes, and the unique credit of keeping iron and iodine together, bonded to common salt, goes to the city-based National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), which will enter the centenary year on Tuesday - September 26. Indeed, it was a Herculean task to double fortify salt. Nonetheless, the prestigious NIN achieved the near impossible task after tireless research efforts.

The NIN, which also has the unique distinction of controlling the notorious Beriberi, caused by vitamin B1 deficiency, has carved out a niche for itself in the field of research in nutrition, food and health. The NIN - its predecessor was Beriberi Enquiry Unit - was set up on September 26, 1918.

The NIN will celebrate its 100th Foundation Day on Tues day . To mark the occasion, it will release "Urban Nutrition Data of India" surveyed by a group of scientists led by Dr Avula Lakshmaiah, head, Division of Community Studies, NIN. The prestigious institute owes its origin to the Beriberi Enquiry Unit, which was opened in a single room. It was attached to the Pasteur Institute at Coonoor in Tamil Nadu. The Unit was founded by eminent physician and nutrition expert Sir Robert McCarrison. It was later upgraded into Deficiency Disease Enquiry in 1925. In 1928 it blossomed into Nutrition Research Laboratories.

The NRL was shifted to Hyderabad in 1958 and in 1968 it was renamed as the National Institute of Nutrition. The NIN is one of the first research institutes of the Central government to be set up in Hyderabad post-Independence.

"It's activities are broad-based, encompassing the whole area of food and nutrition. The Institute has achieved close integration in its research activities between the laboratory , the clinic and the community ," said an official statement here, adding that the emphasis has now shifted to problem-oriented research, with a view to discovering practical solutions to nutrition problems that can be applied within the existing socio-economic framework.

Incidentally , NIN is located on the campus of Osmania University , which is also celebrating its birth centenary year."The NIN's strength lies in the dedicated and devoted scientists belonging to diverse disciplines such as medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology , biochemistry , pathology , community health, social sciences, dietetics, statistics, communication and other related areas," the release added.

It also runs a nutrition museum that throws light on different aspects of food and nutrition in India.