2005–2014 · lebanondiet.org archive
LANFS: the Lebanese Association for Nutrition and Food Sciences, 2005–2014
Between 2005 and 2014 the domain belonged to LANFS — the same association under a broader name. The pages of that period were mostly announcements: elections, conferences, a newsletter and news from the Nutrition and Food Sciences Department at AUB. This page restores the substance of them.
The association in its own words
LANFS presented itself as a non-governmental, non-profit organisation founded in 1970 — “the first association established in the Middle East” in its field — with around 400 active members by 2010. It was an adhering body of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) and of the Middle East and North Africa Nutrition Association (MENANA), and a member of the Federation of Asian Nutrition Societies (FANS).
Its stated primary goal was health promotion and disease prevention, with a large part of the work aimed at raising public awareness of healthy nutritional behaviour through conferences, exhibitions and public sessions. The association also offered consultancy to public and private institutions and took part in international and regional meetings on nutrition and food sciences.
Elections and the executive committee
The general assembly of 4 August 2005, held at the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at AUB, elected a six-member executive committee for two years. The nominees announced on the site were Dr. Nahla Hwalla, Dr. Malik Batal, Dr. Omar Obeid, Huda Ardakani Maamari, Nadine Mahboub, Sawsan Wazzan Jabri, Nathalie Asmar Yaghi, Dr. Rony Abboud and Dr. Evelyne Aoun. A list of members eligible to vote — 94 names — was posted on the site at the time and is not reproduced here.
Further elections were announced in 2008 and, under the LAND name, in later years. The committee published in the first newsletter (2010–2011) was: Dr. Nahla Hwalla, president; Huda Ardakani Maamari, vice president; Dr. Omar Obeid, accountant; Nadine Mahboub, secretary; Abir Barhoumi, treasurer; Sawsan Wazzan Jabri, public relations.
December 2007: a WHO Collaborating Centre at AUB
On 6 December 2007 the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences held a ceremony at Issam Fares Hall to mark the designation of its Nutrition and Food Science Department as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for research, training and outreach in nutrition and food science — the first WHO collaborating centre in Lebanon. The event was attended by AUB Provost Peter Heath, WHO country representative Hussein Abu Zaid, Dean Nahla Hwalla and Farid Karam for the Ministry of Public Health, together with LANFS members, graduates and students.
The WHO representative set out the four criteria for such a designation: the scientific and technical standing of the institution nationally and internationally; the quality of its leadership; its working relationships with other institutions at country, regional and global level; and its readiness to provide services over a sustained period rather than for a single task. The ministry’s representative credited the department with developing new policies and the government licensing of dietitians.
At the same ceremony the department recognised its graduate Sawsan Wazzan Jabri, co-owner of the Nutrition and Diet Center in Beirut — the first centre of its kind in the city to offer diet therapy and prepared diet food, later expanded to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.
Registered Dietitian’s Day
Each 13 March the site carried a short message from the president for Registered Dietitian’s Day, congratulating members “for your devotion, commitment and efforts in contributing to the health of our community” and describing the dietitian’s role in preventing disease through healthy eating as vital for the future of the nation.
Public role: dietary guidelines and the professional order
Two press items from the later period sum up what the association worked towards. In July 2013 the Daily Star reported the launch of a localised manual of dietary guidelines for Lebanese adults — the first Food Based Dietary Guidelines for the Lebanese population, developed at AUB and adopted by the Ministry of Public Health and the National Council for Scientific Research. In February 2014 An-Nahar reported that the parliamentary Committee of Justice, chaired by MP Robert Ghanem, was following the establishment of a professional Order of Dietitians in Lebanon.
The decree recognising dietetics as a protected profession in Lebanon, prepared with the Ministry of Public Health, and the ACEND accreditation of the AUB nutrition and dietetics programme in November 2013 — the first in the Middle East — belong to the same effort.
Advertising and partners
A small page invited companies with a health-related product or service to feature it on the site through the contact form. Conference sponsors named on the announcements of the period included Abbott (2012 metabolic syndrome conference) and the Coca-Cola Foundation (2012 paediatric nutrition conference).
Original addresses on lebanondiet.org
The content above was published on the old site at the following addresses, which now redirect here — /join.asp, /article.asp?id=27, /article.asp?id=40, /article.asp?id=42, /article.asp?id=56, /article.asp?id=59, /article.asp?id=15 — Restored from the Internet Archive on 20 September 2026; text condensed and edited for readability, facts and dates kept as published.
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