Food and Nutrition Sector: What You Need To Know

Food and Nutrition is one of the largest, most essential sectors of any government around the world. The supply and demand of food products is essential in any economy, much less in any healthy and thriving community.

The issue of food and nutrition is considered as one of the most essential components of a successful community as it makes up most of a person’s daily life. The United States understands this, which is why it has created several governmental agencies that are tasked solely to support and consolidate food and nutrition-related concerns.

On top of the list is the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, otherwise known as NIFA. Established in the year 2008, the agency was specifically designed to consolidate all federally-funded agricultural research, and will be subordinate to the Department of Agriculture.

The mission of the NIFA is to “stimulate and fund the research and technological innovations that will enhance American agriculture and make it more productive and environmentally sustainable while ensuring the economic viability of agriculture and production.”

And it aims to achieve this by administering a slew of programs and initiatives like the Food Security Learning Center Program which aims to create and maintain a national, web-based clearinghouse of information on community food security concerns and common community problems related to the underlying causes of hunger and poverty, including the loss of farms and ranches, rural poverty, welfare dependency, hunger, and food access issues.

On the other hand, there also exists the United States Food and Nutrition Service, otherwise referred to as the FNS. The agency operates under the United Department of Agriculture is generally responsible for administering the country’s domestic nutrition assistance programs and initiatives.

The agency has established several projects and grant programs to achieve their primary agency mission, such as the Innovative Food Defense Program (IFDP) which mainly seeks to generate food defense tools and resources which are easily replicated and can most definitely complement, aid in the development of, or improve state, local, tribal and territorial food defense programs.

Meanwhile, there is also the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), one of the largest agencies under the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

The FDA is espcially designed to safeguard and promote public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, dietary supplements, prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs (medications), vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices (ERED), and veterinary products.

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Pregnancy and Related Potential Health Risks

This can be readily witnessed from the tons of studies conducted on conception, fetus development and delivery infants. While most of them have been observatory in nature a few have explored ways to improve the chances of fetuses developing into healthy infants that can lead to a full life.

During conception potential mothers are frequently advised on appropriate diet, daily routine, emotional well being and contact with certain substances. Diet is generally considered very important because when child bearers fail to get adequate balanced nourishment they increase their health risk along with that of the fetus. In fact consumption of certain foods and beverage products like fast food products is highly discouraged during pregnancy. This is because drinking caffeinated or carbonated beverages plus calorie rich meals with plenty of sugar, salt, fat and species is harmful to both baby and mother. It increases the risk of cardiovascular disorders such as high blood pressure along with lethal sugar levels.

Other harmful substances that increase risks in pregnancy include alcoholic beverages and use of narcotics. Alcohol consumption is linked to premature births or under weight babies. It can also lead to birth of babies with alcohol withdrawal syndrome that can result in premature loose of life if not taken care of in time. Besides this, there are some cases whereby pregnant women lose their life due to miscarriage resulting from alcohol related complications. Tobacco smoking on the other hand affects the oxygen supply required for a fetus to develop well. This can result to delivery of offspring with some underdeveloped organs.

Meanwhile, consumption of drugs whether over the counter, prescription or illegal narcotics is among the most studied risks area in pregnancy. This is because the various synthetic and even natural compounds in them can cause genetic mutation. This can cause an increase the risks for miscarriage, abnormal births, infant organ failures and sudden infant death syndrome. Illegal narcotic substances area also known to cause infants to be either underdeveloped or have high tolerance to hard drugs.

Some genetic disorders and preexisting health conditions like kidney disorder

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