The Nutrition Research Lab
The Nutrition Research Laboratory (NRL) was inaugurated in 1990 as part of outreach research operations to AKU Research laboratories. It is equipped with standardized facilities to support the research focusing on women and child health. It was founded by Distinguished Professor Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta, a world-renowned nutritional researcher.
Over the years, the laboratory has increased its capacity and repertoire of investigations to include a range of micronutrient estimations, metabolic balance studies, body composition studies, and indirect calorimetry. NRL is certified for its excellence and quality control procedures by VITAL-EQA, LAMP, and EQUIP programs of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. NRL also uses third-party controls for its assays.
The objective of the NRL is to analyze micronutrients and biological markers, develop, and standardize methods and protocols for use in the evaluation of micronutrient deficiencies and associated pathologies.
Recent major projects include the analysis of the national nutrition surveys of Pakistan (NNS) in 2002, 2011, and 2018. Sindh, Maternal and Infant micronutrient studies in Sindh (UNICEF 2000-2005) and the Sindh/Punjab Salt iodization and status survey (2007). The Department of Paediatrics & Child Health has also won competitive projects to undertake the national nutrition surveys for Afghanistan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka, thus establishing a footprint in South Asia.
