India has been facing the wrath of natural calamities pertaining to its unique geography and varied climatic patterns from time immemorial. The purpose of this paper is to gather data pertaining to food assistance provided to stranded evacuees in the aftermath of Natural Calamities. Food assistance forms crucial part of humanitarian assistance to provide immediate relief to victims and help in their speedy recovery from injuries, illness and psychological distress. We aimed to collect information on the type of food, quantities of food and cultural competence of food because India has a wide diversity in food eating patterns across its regions. We also took into account the rescue operations involving role of different stakeholders like government organizations, Armed forces, paramilitary forces, NGOs, international donors and volunteers who usually work independently but gather together aftermath of any calamity or disaster, to address the problems that arise with a common shared goal in a coordinated and effective manner. The paper was basically a desk study involving compilation and analyses of information and data from official documents, research papers/reports of National and International agencies, NGOs and media reports such as newspaper articles featuring the updates on calamity. The paper concluded that, although there is enough information on disaster aftermath including rescue operations yet there is a dearth of detailed information about the food assistance in terms of type of food, quantities and cultural competency of food aid. The findings suggested that cultural competence in food aid is an important area to focus on as the stranded evacuees may have a wider acceptance of the food when they see culturally familiar foods in their food basket. Also, there should be clear documentation of the food aid in terms of quantity and distribution so that nutrition professionals, policymakers and other stakeholders can effectively debate and design the food policies and feeding programmes incongruent with identified food needs of stranded evacuees.

Comfortable foods are chemically processed and made from heavily refined ingredients and artificial additives. These foods are manufactured and distributed in ways that encourage consumption. This study focused on adolescents since they have greater access to comfortable foods, are more free and lesser concerned for their health. Fewer studies have been conducted on adolescents but in present scenario they are more inclined towards unhealthy eating behaviors. Therefore, the present study after careful considerations was attempted to assess the consumption of comfortable foods by urban adolescents in different socio-economic categories. Two hundred subjects in the age group of 16 to 18 years were purposely selected in equal number in the ratio of 1:1 of boys and girls. Findings revealed that majority belonged to high socioeconomic status whereas 52% boys and 44% girls belonged to low socioeconomic status. Respondents from the entire income category mostly consumed comfortable foods because it was either liked by them or they found it good in taste. Consumption of all the comfortable foods was found to be significantly (p≤0.05, p≤0.01) higher in adolescents who had high income and greater access of these food products.  Significant difference was observed in the mean values of consumption of comfortable foods by all the adolescents in different socioeconomic categories.

Overweight among professional women is a major health issue which remains a challenge to be addressed in the coming years. A study was carried out among female university teachers in the age group of 31-60 years to determine an association of anthropometry and body composition with nutrient intake and physical activity. The requirements of energy, protein and carbohydrates were adequately met. The fat intake was higher than requirement but the intake of dietary fibre was inadequate. The Physical Activity Frequency Score (PAFS) for sitting at work/commuting was found to be the highest. The longer time spent on sitting at work and home was significantly correlated with abdominal obesity parameters. Body weight was positively and significantly (p ? 0.05) correlated with intake of total fat as well as saturated fat thus, indicated that fat intake is a major determinant of obesity in this group. Energy and saturated fat intake were significantly (p ? 0.05) associated with Abdominal Volume Index, thereby indicating that abdominal obesity was attributed to higher intake of energy and fat. Longer time spent on sitting at work or while commuting was significantly correlated with Waist-hip ratio (p ? 0.01), Waist-height ratio (p ? 0.05) and Conicity Index (p ? 0.01), indicating that long sitting hours is one of the determinants of abdominal obesity in the studied group.

Sixty women of 45-55 years, belonging to middle income group were selected on basis of their Bone Mineral Density (BMD) from a – “Clinic After Forty” of Ludhiana city, Punjab. Serum calcium and BMD were tested using techniques called o-Cresolphthalein complexone (oCPC) method and Dual energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) respectively. Subjects were given nutrition counseling (NC) twice a month for a period of 4 months. Assessment of nutritional status was done by dietary survey and anthropometric parameters before and after study. Dietary survey revealed that daily intake of milk and milk products (p<0.05), roots and tubers (p<0.01), green leafy vegetables (GLVs) (p<0.01), other vegetables and fruits (p<0.01) increased significantly whereas intake of sugar and jaggery and fats and oils (p<0.01) decreased significantly after NC. Intake of beta carotene, vitamin C, iron, calcium and phosphorus also increased significantly. Mean weight, Body Mass Index (BMI) waist-circumference, hip circumference and WHR decreased significantly after NC. Biochemical assessment revealed significant improvement in serum calcium levels and BMD from 7.82mg/dl to 8.99mg/dl (p<0.01) and -2.2 to -2.01 (p<0.01) respectively. Subjects were classified as osteopenic and osteoporotic on basis of their t-scores. Majority of the subjects were osteopenic and the rest were osteoporotic. But after NC %age of osteopenic subjects increased while %age of osteoporotic subjects decreased. Study emphasized the importance of NC to bring about positive changes in dietary intake of menopausal women which in turn improved their serum calcium levels and BMD. Hence NC can be taken as an effective and sustainable tool to tackle osteoporosis as it is a serious public health issue among Indian menopausal women.