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Adequate nutrition is a top priority within the health sector, in particular, in developing countries, as well as a global development cooperation priority . Feedback from Member States and other UN agencies have shown that there is a growing interest in isotope applications in this area. Under optimal project arrangements, the application of stable and radioactive isotopes can have a major impact on socio-economic development by providing information that is necessary to optimise nutritional interventions. This impact is in terms of both efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Isotopes are rarer forms of naturally existing chemical constituents of the body (e.g. hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, minerals) which differ from the more common forms only in respect of the number of neutrons in the nucleus. In nutrition evaluation isotopes are natural, harmless and are simply used to label a food supplement to allow it to be traced within the body. Four approaches to using isotopes in human nutrition : tracer of foods or nutrients in the body; measurement of body reserves of specific nutrients; measurement of metabolic rates; and evaluation of body composition and energy expenditure.
