President Halimah Yacob visited the Clinical Nutrition Research Centre (CNRC) on 11 December 2017. During the three-hour visit- she was briefed on the Centre’s various research programmes and brought on a tour of the facility for a look at the centre's fight against diabetes and obesity in Singapore through nutrition and eating habits. The Clinical Nutrition Research Centre is a joint initiative by A*STAR’s Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS) and the National University Health System (NUHS).

President Halimah in CNRC’s test kitchen- speaking to Mr Melvin Koh- Research Coordinator and Ms Tay Shia Lyn- Research Officer. They discussed their novel idea of altering food structures to influence nutrition. They are investigating how the structure of normal and flaky pastry biscuits can influence blood glucose and fat absorption.

Associate Professor Melvin Leow- Deputy Director of CNRC- explaining to President Halimah how certain functional food ingredients such as capsinoids found in sweet peppers can activate brown fat in humans and increase energy expenditure- which can be detected and measured accurately using the whole body calorimeter housed within the CNRC. The whole body calorimeter at the CNRC is the only one in Southeast Asia and also one out of approximately 10 such sophisticated instruments in the world.

Researchers- mothers and children who are part of Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS) birth cohort studies with President Halimah and senior management from A*STAR- NUHS- SICS and CNRC.