News
Visit from the Vice Chancellor of the University of Khartoum, Professor Mustafa Idris Elbashir Ali
Vice Chancellor Mustafa Idris Elbashir Ali who was previously Professor of Biochemistry and Dean of Faculty of Medicine at the University of Khartoum is visiting IBCHN on the 31st July - 5th August. The IBCHN has been collaborating with Faculty of Medicine for some years on sickle cell disease, protein-calorie malnutrition, maternal nutrition and pregancy-induced disorder (preeclampsia, diabetes). He will give a lecture on "Malaria in Sub Sahara Africa" on the 5th August (Wed), Tower Building, room T9-05.
Launch of the International Seafood & Health Conference and Trade Show
FAO/WHO consultation on the "Role of Dietary Fats and Oils in Human Nutrition" in progress
The FAO and WHO has an expert consultation on "The role of dietary fats and oils in human nutrition". The first was published in 1978 and the second in 1994. Currently the recommendations are being revised for both developed and developing countries with the IBCHN contributing its expertise on essential fatty acids and brain. The report is expected in the summer.
17 April 2009
First announcement for the International Seafood and Health Conference Australia 2010
Oman awards IBCHN Gold Medal for food policy contribution
Professor Michael Crawford, the Director of the institute has been awarded a Gold Medal forged by the Bank of Oman. With approval and support from the Ministry and the Sultan, Professor Crawford was honoured for his life’s contribution to science, particularly, his work on the relevance of lipid nutrition to the improvement and function of the brain. His involvement with the development of food policy in Oman was also recognised.
Initially, Professor Crawford was invited to discuss the relevance of maternal nutrition and health by the Oman Government in March 2007. He met several of the Ministers, the British Ambassador, the UN Family Planning Organisation in Muscat, lectured at the University and visited the Fisheries Laboratory used for quality control.
During many discussions he presented the evidence on the evolution of the brain in the marine environment, concluding that 500-600 million years later, the brain still uses the marine lipid (docosahexaenoic acid - DHA) for the construction and development of its signalling systems, on which brain function and intelligence depends. This compelling evidence emphasises the importance of seafoods and fish in human nutrition. This encouraged the Government to split the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, to create, the separate Ministry of Fisheries Wealth.
In the year following the first meeting in Oman, Izzeldin Hussein, a member of the International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency and Professor Crawford designed an international meeting in collaboration with the Ministry and Qaboos University and created the First International Conference on the ‘Economic Importance of Fisheries and their Impact on Public Health’, which was held in Muscat, from 8 - 10 March 2008.
With 44 international, expert speakers and over 250 delegates, the conference produced the Declaration of Muscat, 2008 to provide a guide for the way forward. The Declaration of Muscat has relevance internationally in view of the double concern over the threat of un-sustainability of oceanic resources and the rising cost of human brain disorders.
22 September 2008
The Associate Parliamentary Food and Health Forum (FHF) Inquiry into the links between diet and behaviour
