India News | No Evidence of Rise in Serum Levels Linked to Diabetes in Iron-fortified Rice Fed Children Found
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Empirical evidence of an increase in serum levels linked to diabetes in children fed with iron-fortified rice has not been found after matters related to the issue have been discussed in meetings of the NITI Aayog's National Technical Board on Nutrition, the Rajya Sabha was informed Tuesday.
New Delhi, Dec 12 (PTI) Empirical evidence of an increase in serum levels linked to diabetes in children fed with iron-fortified rice has not been found after matters related to the issue have been discussed in meetings of the NITI Aayog's National Technical Board on Nutrition, the Rajya Sabha was informed Tuesday.
Minister of State for Health SP Singh Baghel was responding to a question on whether India's premier medical research body ICMR has expressed serious doubts about the effectiveness of fortified rice and the action taken thereon in Rajya Sabha.
Baghel, in a written reply, stated that as informed by the Department of Food and Public Distribution, consultations were done with all states and UTs and all the line ministries/departments such as Ministry of Health, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Ministry of Women and Child Development, NITI Aayog and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
The Ministry of Health has informed that food fortification is one of the strategies, under Anaemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) programme which has been taken up under the National Health Mission (NHM), to address iron deficiency anaemia.
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Also, a white paper titled 'Efficacy and safety of iron-fortified rice in India' has been developed by ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad.
"The NITI Aayog has also informed that the matter related to rice fortification has been discussed in the meetings of the National Technical Board on Nutrition. Empirical evidence of an increase in serum levels linked to diabetes in children fed with iron-fortified rice was not found," Baghel stated.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)