Department of Nutrition Research

The Department of Nutrition Research began its research activities in 1991 in various nutritional area. Since then, it has made steps towards providing information necessary for the policy-making organizations, ministries, and other related offices as well as the public in order to reach nutritional health. It also deals with the basic research and tools development in the field of human nutrition. The department benefits from the equipped research labs for Clinical chemistry and biochemistry, measuring trace elements (such as Zinc, Iron, Copper, etc.), measuring all vitamins, hematology, immunology, serology, microbiology, and cellular & molecular.

Vision

The Department seeks to improve community nutrition through conducting basic and applied research at both national and subnational levels.

Mission

The Department is trying to achieve the strategic findings, update data, and present them to the policymakers and administrative organizations, and other interested parties in food, nutrition, and health at both government and private sectors.

Goals

The Department pursues to design and initiate research projects in line with the priorities approved by the National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute in the following fields:

• Food and Nutrition Assessment;
• Identifying dietary patterns, practices and habits in various populations;
• Studying socio-behavioral determinants of and aspects associated with nutritional status;
• Performing validation studies of food consumption methods;
• Studying the epidemiology of obesity and diet-related NCDs (Non-Communicable Diseases);
• Scrutinizing on models for preventing diet-related diseases;
• Improving the micronutrients status;
• Operationalizing and modifying the lab determination methods of micronutrients;
• Assessment of micronutrients nutrition in different population groups;
• Developing and compiling the food composition table in Iran
• Developing and running PhD-by-research Nutrition program

The Department is also collaborating in reviewing research proposals and manuscripts, organizing educational and research workshops for the academic staff members, researchers, and graduate students in various academic levels, running PhD by research program in Nutrition, etc.