It’s a menu of a different kind. It does not reveal what your favourite delicacy will cost, but tells how many calories you will consume instead. That’s the Health Ministry’s soon-to-be-launched app for you.
The app draws its ‘calculating prowess’ from a massive, recently revised database on Composition of Food Tables for Indian Foods, which was unveiled by Health Minister J.P. Nadda earlier this month. The database provides nutrition information of more than 150 components from 526 foods sampled across the country. The institute’s director, T. Longvah, said at a press conference here on Friday that the database was crucial for those who like to exactly know what they eat while it would also help in shaping nutrition policies. The last database was published in 1989 while the first in 1937. He also said that the new database was expansive and more detailed than the previous ones, keeping pace with the new nutrition research in the last few decades. The scientists at National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) also said that the changes in the new database take stock of the rising health and food awareness. Work on the revision began in 2011.
“This is the first time that amino acid and fatty acid profiles are being provided. Vegetarian sources of vitamin D2 are mentioned as well,” said G.M. Subba Rao of NIN, which compiled the database into a book. The book has food indexed in Indian languages, besides English. That apart, many new nutrients including calcium, magnesium, riboflavin, niacin have been analysed in Indian foods. As for the app, the NIN scientists said it was still in the making, but could be ready for launch in two months. It would allow users to enter recipes or food preparations to learn the nutritional value of the components used in the food. For the diet conscious, the app would also search across recipes for foods rich in specific nutrients.
