The National Institute of Nutrition is considering a proposal to fortify milk and oil with vitamin D, its Director B. Sesisekaran said here on Monday. Dr. Sesisekaran was concerned about the huge burden of Vitamin D deficiency in the country, despite the abundance of sunshine in most parts. It would be easy to fortify substances rich in fat, oil and milk, with Vitamin D so that an extra dose of the vitamin can be consumed easily.
Earlier, vanaspati used to be fortified with Vitamin D, but its consumption had dropped over the years. He also pointed out that the flip side of it was that there was very little milk consumption in rural areas; as far as oil goes, the recommendation is to lower the quantity of oil consumed.
Speaking at a national conference on ‘Nutrition in Metabolic Disorders,' organised jointly by Women's Christian College and Nestle Nutrition Institute, Dr. Sesisekaran said there was a powerful interplay between nutrition and metabolic alterations that lead to metabolic disorders.
Metabolic disorders may be inborn or inherited and include disorders such as diabetes, cardio vascular disease, thyroid dysfunction and metabolic bone diseases. A large proportion of metabolic disorders go largely undetected due to lack of awareness.
D. Prabhakaran, Executive Director, Centre for Chronic Disease Control, Initiative for Cardiovascular Health Research in the Developing Countries, New Delhi, said unlike in developed countries, endocrine and metabolic disorders were predominantly caused by environmental factors in India. Metabolic disorders have been found to have a disproportionately high prevalence in the Indian population.
Finding a proper diet based on healthy foods is, hence, imperative, he added.
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