FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SOYBEAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP TO COMBAT MALNUTRITION IN INDIA

New Delhi, June28, 2018: Despite India's 50% increase in GDP since 1991, more
than one third of the world's malnourished children live in our country. To solve
this problem, US Soybean Export Council (USSEC) is working with Food and
Nutritional Security of India to build transformational partnerships involving
multi-stakeholders to promote soy entrepreneurship in India.

Problem of malnutrition in India is one of the alarming magnitude but also of

great complexity. India suffers from the consistent problem of Protein-Energy-
Malnutrition (PEM) across the spectrum of age, sex and socio-economic
background.
Soybean is a rich source of good quality protein. It is a less expensive source of
high quality protein with other important nutrients, minerals and vitamins and it
can play a key role to combat the malnutrition in India as it increases muscle mass
and weight, improves brain development, increases stamina, improves immunity,
reduces fatigue and improves the overall health.

Besides nutritional benefits, there are reports that soybean also provides several
therapeutic benefits too. Soybean is one of the very few plants that provide a high
quality protein with minimum saturated fat. The global soy food demand is
expected to grow by many folds in the coming years.

USSEC is working extensively on soy-related technologies and promotional

methodologies to transform customer behaviors and bring about market changes.

Director, India Soy Food Programme, US Soybean Export Council (USSEC), Dr

Ratan Sharma, said that soy is an outstanding source of low cost and high quality
protein. It has highest protein density among all plant protein sources.

As per Dr. Sharma, Indian population is predominantly vegetarian. Our diet is

lacking in terms of quantity and quality of protein. Even the majority of non-
vegetarians among us do not consume animal products on a daily basis in
quantities sufficient to provide the recommended amount of protein. He pointed
out that our immediate requirement is to bridge the protein gap in India, and soy
should be the lead protein source to bridge this gap. He suggested for a policy
driven support for the inclusion of soy in the government feeding and social
welfare programs.

Indian government should introduce soy products in the feeding and social
welfare programs which will make a huge impact on reducing malnutrition in our
country. Soybean can play a vital role in improving nutrition status of millions of
urban and rural population in India.

To address the issue of Malnutrition and diet enrichment with protein through
the soybeans, various workshops on the Role of Soy in health & nutrition have
been organized. Association of Food Scientists and Technologists (India), Mumbai
Chapter along with US Soybean Export Council (USSEC) is organizing a seminar on
"Entrepreneurship Development in Soy Food Processing" this month in Mumbai.

CONTACT-

Srishti Saxena
srishtisaxena@prsoltion.co.in
PR Solution, MP Nagar zone 1, Bhopal

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