Egypt's Ministry of Health and Population organised on Tuesday the Scientific Conference of the National Institute of Nutrition to discuss the latest developments in research on therapeutic nutrition under the theme 'Your food is your medicine.' Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said that the conference aims to monitor and discuss nutrition problems prevalent among citizens and to raise awareness of their risks and similar alternatives in order to reduce the risk of chronic and non-communicable diseases among citizens. Abdel Ghaffar pointed out that the conference is held in cooperation with the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and the World Food Programme (WFP), stressing the importance of spreading awareness among citizens about nutrition culture and the importance of replacing unhealthy food with healthy alternatives with high nutritional value, as malnutrition leads to many diseases. He further explained that the conference includes workshops on Wednesday and Thursday in various fields related to the nutrition of patients that suffer from diseases in their digestive system, liver, kidneys, diabetes, heart, or obesity, conjunctivitis, coronavirus, muscular dystrophy. It also features workshops on nutrition for children and mothers during the breastfeeding stage. Moreover, Abdel Ghaffar added that the National Nutrition Institute is working to implement strategies to improve the quality of nutrition and maintain the public health of citizens that are based on reducing the use of sugar and salt, eating healthy fats, raising the efficiency of school feeding, raising awareness of the importance of breastfeeding, and raising awareness of food labels on food. Dean of the National Institute of Nutrition Jihan Fouad stressed the importance of the conference to discuss the latest scientific research in the field of nutrition and to come up with recommendations and action plans that contribute to raising citizens' awareness and reducing wrong food habits as well as holding periodic workshops for medical cadres and workers in the field of nutrition.
