Dietetics, nutrition division inaugurated at Guru Nanak Dev University

Amritsar, October 15

Taking another step towards becoming regional centre in agricultural innovation and research, the Centre for Research and Innovation, established under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA-2.0), opened a new division of the Dietetics and Nutrition in the Department of Agriculture at Guru Nanak Dev University. The division was inaugurated on Friday, as its significance emanates from the fact that nutrition along with physical activities is now considered a cornerstone in the prevention and treatment of many diseases.

Centre head Prof PK Pati said the new division will offer BSc (Hons) Dietetics and Nutrition and MSc (Sports Nutrition) courses to students from this year onwards.

Apart from classroom teaching and seminars, students will be attached to diet clinics and various hospitals to get adequate exposure in the field. “Malnutrition in elderly, sportsperson, infants and children is a growing concern. Keeping this in mind, the new division will focus on nutritional intake, dietary patterns and food-derived natural compounds for many chronic and degenerative diseases such as metabolic diseases, cancers, neurodegenerative diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases etc. We will also be focused on research-based studies in the field of nutrition and dietetics,” he said.

Before the inauguration of the new division, to sensitise students about the role of nutrition for good health, the centre conducted one-day international seminar on neutraceuticals and human health with eminent international scientists Dr Sunil Kaul, Dr Renu Wadhwa and Dr Yoshihiro Ohmiya from AIST, Japan, and Dr Ravinder Singh from Mayo Clinic, USA, delivering talks on the subject.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Jaspal Singh Sandhu inaugurated the seminar series and emphasised the need for dietetics and nutrition division in the university.