Maintaining that nutraceuticals form an integral part of preventive health care, the Alathur Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (APMA) has undertaken a research study in dietary supplements. The result of the study, which is under process, will be sent to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry soon. The study was conducted in association with Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamil Nadu.

R. Rajakumari, the research guide working with APMA says that nutrition related risk factors contribute to more than 40% deaths and 30% of overall disease burden in developing countries and India is no exception. According to her, India is reeling under the burden of nutritional deficiencies and majority of the Indian population is lacking the purchase power to even consume the diet sufficient in calories. However, there has been an improvement in the last 20 years in the nutritional status of the Indian population. This results not only from changes in food intake but also from socio-economic factors, increased availability of portable water, lower morbidity and improvement of health facilities.

In a chat with Pharmabiz, Rajakumari said, it should be part of the critical agenda of the government to ensure that every citizen has access to dietary supplement products which supplement the diet to provide the nutrition over and above regular food. Nutrition care, which forms an integral part of preventive healthcare, is undergoing a transformation in India. Now, food alone is unable to fully serve the nutrition needs of the body. Dietary supplements including fruits like apple can provide sufficient nutrition to the body. While good health is the ultimate objective of nutrition, nutrition is the vital component of health, she said.

"S Lakshmi Narayanan, Secretary of APMA said, "our country's paradox in the socio-economic blends gets manifested by the nutrition and metabolism related diseases pattern. Innovation and continued emphasis on R&D in both neutraceuticals and pharmaceutical industry in India hold the key for a healthy future of our country. Scientists in government, academic and private sectors need empowerment to focus on the special needs of our growing societal needs".

According to a paper submitted by the research scientist, R Rajakumari, in India nearly 20% of the total population and 44% of young children (below 5 years of age) are under nourished. These figures are higher than that of the poorer Sub-Saharan African countries. Iron deficiency anaemia during pregnancy accounts for one-fifth of maternal deaths in India and prevalence of this deficiency in women has alarmingly increased from 52% in 1998 to 56% in 2006. Iodine and vitamin A deficiencies are still above the WHO specified desired levels. Annually, as many as 0.3 million children succumb to vitamin A deficiency related diseases. The impact of this shortage, is a productivity loss of around one percentage point of India's GDP, the research paper says.