About

The Indian Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (IAPEN) is an organization in the field of parenteral and enteral nutrition and promotes basic research, clinical research, advanced education, organization of consensus statements about clinical care and quality control.

IAPEN was registered under Society Registration Act, Government of India. IAPEN logo was protected by Government of India under Trademarks Act 1999, Government of India.

Website: http://www.iapen.co.in
Membership: http://www.iapen.co.in/members.html

IAPEN is the additional link to the already existing chain consisting of American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN), European (ESPEN, BAPEN), Australian (AusPEN), Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Society of Asia (PENSA) and South African (SASPEN) societies.

IAPEN has aggressively conducted various activities throughout India (From Kerala to Punjab, Indore to Kolkata) to bring lifelong learners in advanced clinical nutrition from 2012. Currently, in 2017, IAPEN could able to form a strong team of experts and lifelong learners in clinical nutrition.

We firmly believe that in the coming years, these experts will play a significant role in strengthening the current status of Clinical Nutrition in India and build a strong foundation and a path for the future generations to follow.

IAPEN sponsors two journals (Journal of Nutrition Research and Indian Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition) and for which it assumes editorial, as distinct from publishing, responsibility. IAPEN promotes experimental and clinical research, fosters high ethical standards of practice and investigation and promotes contact between investigators and clinicians in related fields.

Mission statement
1. To help ensure that those suffering from malnutrition or other nutritional problems are appropriately recognised and managed (adopted from BAPEN, UK)

2. To help ensure that proper nutrition is supplied to children in orphanages,  anganwadis and schools, students in hostels and pg accommodations, patients in hospitals, senior citizens in nursing homes and customers in restaurants.

Aims
1. To improve the nutritional care of people at risk of malnutrition, whether in hospitals or in the community.

2. To improve the basic and advanced clinical research and to organise the consensus statements about clinical care and care quality control.

Our Belief System
We believe that every nutrition support clinician should learn every day in his or her life. We encourage lifelong learning in basic and advanced clinical nutrition.

We believe in Evidence-Based Nutrition Practice (EBNP). EBNP integrates three basic principles: (1) the best available research evidence bearing on whether and why a treatment works, (2) clinical expertise (clinical judgment and experience) to rapidly identify each patient's unique health state and diagnosis, their individual risks and benefits of potential interventions, and (3) client preferences and values.

History
Iatrogenic malnutrition (malnutrition in hospitalized patients) is defined as malnutrition due to various medications or some complications to medical treatment or procedure. Iatrogenic malnutrition is currently present in Indian hospitals due to various factors including increased length of hospital stay, increased morbidity and mortality, impaired respiratory and cardiac function, decreased immune function, poor growth in infants and children, socioeconomic status, educational level, age group and severity of illness (Fessler 2008). Currently in India, it is very difficult to fight against iatrogenic malnutrition and Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) (http://www.iapen.co.in/history.html