From left to right: Dr. Sheila John, Dr. Lilian I Jasper, Thiru.Ma.Subramanian, Mr. I.Paranthaman, Prof.Vimal Kirani and Dr Mary Pramela.
The Department of Home Science held an international conference on August 29th and 30th, on ‘Precision Nutrition in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: Implications in the Management of NCDs’. This conference was organised in collaboration with the University of Reading, UK. It was inaugurated by the Hon'ble Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu, Thiru. Ma.Subramanian. The conference included expert sessions by professors from Singapore, Malaysia and the UK. The event also commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Department of Home Science (1942-2022). A book titled “A Compendium of Nutrition Research: From Population to Precision”, which includes research and review articles by students, research scholars, dietitians and academicians, was also released.
On August 29th, four sessions were conducted. Dr Geeta Dharmatti conducted a session on Nutrigenetics of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) followed by Prof Vimal Kirani on the role of multi-omic approaches in Precision Nutrition. The third session was about the role of AI techniques to generate individualised dietary recommendations by Dr. Anto Cordelia T A. The last session was about Precision Nutrition and Fitness by Dr. Mahendran Appukutty.
On August 30th, two sessions and a panel discussion were held. The first session was about diabesity, gut microbiota and precision nutrition, by Dr. Kalpana Bhaskaran, followed by Prof C A Kalpana on millet based prebiotic and 3D fabricated foods for the management of NCDs. Delegates made oral presentations in three parallel tracks on Clinical Nutrition, Food Product Development and Public Health Nutrition. E-poster presentations were also displayed. A panel discussion by Dr. Mahendran Appukutty, Dr. Kalpana C A, Dr. Geetha Dharmatti and Dr. Kalpana Bhaskaran on Research Gaps, Opportunities and Approaches to identifying contributors to individual variability, was then conducted. The session was moderated by Dr. Usha Antony.
The conference was attended by students and academicians from 26 institutions and nutritionists and dieticians from 10 clinics, hospitals and wellness centres. The UG and PG students found this conference interesting and beneficial for their field of study. “We were introduced to the new field of 'precision nutrition' and 'personalised nutrition'. So with this knowledge, we can make personalised changes to a person's diet to make sure he/she is healthy and not at risk of NCDs,” said Yumna Yasser T, III BSc NUC.