A future-oriented report on the basic and applied research that will be needed to solve nutrition problems in South-East Asian countries. Research needs are identified for both persistent problems linked to malnutrition and emerging problems linked to rising affluence, changing lifestyles, increasing urbanization, and the ageing of populations. Throughout, emphasis is placed on the region s distinct nutrition needs, resources, and research capabilities. The book has fourteen chapters presented in two main parts. Part one takes a brief look at the changes in nutrition-related health problems that have taken place in the region during the past four decades. Major changes identified include an end to large-scale famines, the total elimination of several major deficiency diseases, and the considerable reduction of many others. The chapter ranks anaemia, protein-energy malnutrition, and goitre as the most important enduring problems associated with nutrient deficiency, and looks at a number of emerging challenges. Part two, which constitutes the core of the report, provides detailed chapters on 10 problems that should form the focus of future research. Each chapter opens with a state-of-the-art review of world knowledge, followed by a discussion of the current and future importance of the problem in South-East Asia, the issues that remain to be resolved, and the most fruitful lines for further study. Five chapters deal with problems of undernutrition: low birth weight, poor growth and development, iron/folate deficiency anaemia, goitre and iodine deficiency, and vitamin A deficiency. The remaining chapters focus on cancer, coronary heart disease and related diseases, osteoporotic fracture, nutrition of the aged, and food contamination.

DC.SEARO

eng.

WHODOC

WHO monograph

4