Prof. Sunita Mishra, who holds the esteemed position as Dean School of Home Sciences and Head HDFS Food and Nutrition Department of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar (A Central) University, Lucknow (BBAU Lucknow) is a renowned researcher academician and nutritionist. She has earned a Ph.D. in nutrition with a colossal amount of International research papers to her credit. Formerly, Prof. Sunita Mishra was the coordinator of Community Services at BBAU, Lucknow. Eight villages of Lucknow along with nearby places were adopted for community services of BBAU. In order to spread awareness on menstrual hygiene, nutrition and health, immunity booster foods during Covid-19 pandemic, extensive programs were conducted. These were aimed to educate particularly to women in rural area. Adopted villages include Chandrawal, Bijnor, Sisandi, Dhanuasand, Bijli Pasi, Mohanlalganj, Nigohan in Lucknow district and Shivgarh (Raebareli). She made several attempts to spread awareness on locally available and seasonal foods that were useful for eradicating anaemia among women and children. Covid-19 pandemic sensitized the population about immunity booster foods. And, Prof. Sunita Mishra has been working and researching in this field of nutrition, immunity booster foods since the past two decades.
As an expert in Food and Nutrition, she has constantly worked on developing indigenous food products. These are prepared with easily procurable grains and plants. Some foods prepared from ragi (finger millet) are consumed in the form of Nutrient bar. Super seeds like Sunflower seed, Pumpkin seed, Turmeric powder, Black Pepper, Cloves etc. are also to be consumed. These are a great source of micro and macro nutrients. This provides instant energy, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and more. Easily digestible and utilized to the fullest by various age groups, it is a must for all. It proves to be useful for athletes as their body needs rapid energy flow for maintaining a good body balance. It also builds strength and endurance. Our body's immunity is boosted and helps us fight against the coronavirus. Research papers on similar work by Prof. Sunita Mishra are published in renowned International Journals such as European Journal of Molecular and Clinical Medicine (Aditya Singh and Sunita Mishra, 2020-21)
Valuable and quality products like formulation of Jowar Laddoo incorporated with banana peel powder and Ashwagandha powder. Banana peel is a rich source of iron, calcium, dietary fiber, potassium, antioxidants magnesium and bioactive compounds. It is easily available to the consumer and budget friendly. Jowar laddoos help to boost immunity. It has a proven track record of improved digestion and is considered to be good for patients of celiac diseases. This ladoo is a nutritious, tasty and healthy option. On top of that, it has overall acceptability.
Prof. Sunita Mishra visited several areas of rural and remote India to spread awareness on nutrition, health and hygiene among masses. It was particularly aimed at women from rural Lucknow and nearby districts of Uttar Pradesh. Eradication of anaemia was a target topic. Elaborate use of Sejan (Moringa) Leaves in a person's diet helps combat anaemia was suggested. It acts as a combating champion as it is a rich source of iron. This was suggested. Moringa leaves can be used to prepare value added products without compromising taste and these are well-utilized in recipes.
(International Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical research - Pooja Mishra & Sunita Mishra)
Research on standardization of Fruit and Vegetable Residue (FVR) Flour was found to be cholesterol free, high in calories and low in sodium and potassium. Well, it was rich in vitamin B6, vitamin C and vitamin D, accompanied by high content of dietary fibres. The absence of unsaturated fat makes FVR flour an ideal mix for Multigrain Atta. Biscuitskra, Kha and Nachos can be prepared with FVR flour.
Prof. Sunita Mishra had conducted camps in Shivgarh, Raebareli district on Anaemia Awareness Campaign. Women and girl students were briefed about problems caused due to Anaemia and ways to counter it. Apart from that, she had conducted camps in Kheri district - ‘Tharu’ tribe areas in Chandan Chowki on Hygiene practices and Nutrition for women and children. Prof. Sunita Mishra has worked for educating the girl child as well as awareness about girls.
Under the aegis of Vaama Sarathi, the UP Police Family Welfare Centre, production of masks, programmes on topics like family counselling were conducted in districts of Lucknow including Barabanki, Hardoi, Sitapur, Kheri, Ayodhya amongst others. Library for school- going police wards started enthusiastically in the police lines with her efforts in 2020-21.
Prof. Sunita Mishra worked in districts such as Koraput, Nabarangpur and Kalahandi in Odisha which possessed a sizable tribal population. Nutrition and food habits of tribals were studied by her during her UGC study of major project fields in those districts. The professor's post-doctoral research was on food habits, mortality and morbidity of the local population. She had prepared value added products from locally available material. She did a lot of hard work to spread nutritional awareness amongst tribal women. Her outstanding postdoctoral work was awe-inspiring and that earned her a postdoctoral degree as ‘Doctor of Letters’ from CCS University, Meerut.
She's perseveringly researched on varied aspects of food science and development of novel products. Alongside that, she's spreading awareness among the masses, focusing more on the rural population, where the awareness level is not very high. Her indigenous nutritional recipes for immunity booster foods gained popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic. Truly, this is a phenomenal step towards ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ (Self-reliant India), a goal the nation is constantly working towards.
