NEW GENERATION NON-NUTRITIVE SWEETENERS-WHAT IS THE FATE OF SUGAR?

The non-nutritive sweetener market can never be the same after the run away success of Stevia sugars which are to day marketed as a natural low calorie/ no calorie sweetener globally. The dominance of synthetic sweeteners like Aspartame till the arrival of Stevia offered no choice to consumers with diabetes or those wanting to cut down on calories in their diet but Stevia changed all that and to day it is overwhelmingly being accepted by the consumer with least reservation. Probably attraction to every thing that is natural by the present day consumer society is pulling in more and players intent to develop sweeteners like Stevia. Recent arrival of Monk fruit sugar being made popular among low calories adherents is another attempt to tap this rich market. Like Stevia which has complex steviosides that contribute to sweetness, Monk fruit contains migrosides which have 300 times the sweetening power compared to sucrose. Hot on the heels are others like sweeteners made from the fruits of Oubli grown in West Africa. Here is a take on this emerging development which may have far reaching future implications in the low calorie sweetener market. 

Hot on the heels of the stevia and monk fruit revolution is asweetener derived from the West African fruit of the climbing plant Oubli, Pentadiplandra brazzeana Baillon. Oubli has been long recognized by natives of the Gabon Republic, a sovereign state on the west coast of Central Africa, and Cameroon for its sweetness. The sweet compound is called brazzein, and is an extracellular protein found in the pulp surrounding the seeds of the berry. First isolated as an enzyme by researchers at the University of Wisconsin in 1994, the super-sweet protein is now expressed in bacteria in order to lower the cost of production and eliminate the need for farming. After sequencing the DNA that codes for brazzein, researchers could use bacteria as little cellular factories that churn out the highly sweet protein. The newly formulated final product will be marketed under the name Cweet by Natur Research Ingredients, Los Angeles. Boasting a sweetening power 1,000 times that of sucrose, Cweet is promoted as a natural, easily dissolved and heat-stable sweetener that leaves no aftertaste. Stability at high temperatures makes the sweetener appropriate for baked applications as well as beverages. Since it's a protein, it weighs in at 4 calories per gram, but with a 1,000:1 replacement value for sucrose, it is essentially zero calories. 

How far this sweetener will compete with established non-sugar sweeteners is is matter of speculation right now though it does have the potential to become a significant player provided this plant is taken up for cultivation in an organized way. The economics also can pose challenges and the ultimate commercial viability will very much depend on the consumer cost. Though the process of extracting the sweet fraction is rather simple as it is concentrated in the pulp portion that surrounds the berry, still as it becomes popular questions regarding the safety of the product for long term use in humans are bound to be raised. The biggest advantage is that it is the most intense sweetener known so far with a 1 to 1000 sweetness ratio compared to sucrose though it cannot be categorized as a zero calorie sweetener in the strict sense as it does yield about calories per gm but as the quantity required to impart required sweetness in food products is so minuscule that it will not contribute any significant calories to the products consumed. It is necessary that the quest for unveiling many such low calorie sweeteners from natural sources with as high sweetness intensity as possible be continued since sugar cane cultivation is increasingly becoming unsustainable and the population requiring sugarless products for managing obesity and diabetes is expanding rapidly.  

V.H.POTTY
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FUELS OF FUTURE-THE MICROBIAL ROUTE

Fast depletion of fossil fuel sources has created a sense of panic among wealthy countries as well as newly emerging economies and this realization has spurred enormous research and development activities to find out suitable alternatives at comparable cost. While non-conventional energy sources like solar, wind, waves, geothermal etc are available in plenty, their commercial exploitation is fraught with enormous challenges to the energy scientists. So far solar energy seems to have an edge and many countries are investing heavily in solar energy projects to generate power. With cutting edge technologies emerging from countries like China, the generation cost and investments are coming down very significantly offering some hope for future. What is not attempted in a big way is the potential capacity of microorganisms to produce energy from cheap sources at economically attractive costs. The horizontal solar panels call for wide areas for their installation and there is some element of unpredictability of availability of sunshine uniformly. Vertical reactors that can grow microorganisms to produce fuels through fermentation route, if successful, can be an attractive alternative. Here is a critique on this important area of futuristic energy front which offers some hope.     

"In a bid to find a substitute to fossil fuels as raw material for the chemical industry, scientists have engineered bacteria, which could help grow chemical precursors for fuels and plastics. "Most chemical feed stocks come from petroleum and natural gas, and we need other sources," assistant professor of chemistry at University of California, Davis and lead author on the study Shota Atsumi said. Biological reactions are good at forming carbon-carbon bonds, using carbon dioxide as a raw material for reactions powered by sunlight, called photosynthesis, and cyanobacteria, also known as "blue-green algae," have been doing it for more than 3 billion years, the Science Daily reported. The challenge is to get the cyanobacteria to make significant amounts of chemicals that can be readily converted to chemical feed stocks. With support from Japanese chemical manufacturer Asahi Kasei Corp., Atsumi's lab at UC Davis has been working on introducing new chemical pathways into the cyanobacteria. The researchers, working a step at a time, built up a three-step pathway that allows the cyanobacteria to convert carbon dioxide into 2,3 butanediol, a chemical that can be used to make paint, solvents, plastics, and fuels. "Because enzymes may work differently in different organisms, it is nearly impossible to predict how well the pathway will work before testing it in an experiment," Atsumi said. After three weeks growth, the cyanobacteria yielded 2.4 grams of 2,3 butanediol per liter of growth medium - the highest productivity yet achieved for chemicals grown by cyanobacteria and with potential for commercial development, Atsumi added. Atsumi hopes to tune the system to increase productivity further and experiment with other products, while corporate partners explore scaling up the technology. The US Department of Energy has set a goal of obtaining a quarter of industrial chemicals from biological processes by 2025".

Though the developmental efforts are on a smaller scale, if the scientists and the corporate honchos who are footing the bill for this futuristic research are to be believed, the results are encouraging enough to invest further to commercialize the findings. 2,3 Butanediol is indeed a valuable source of energy with versatile industrial applications and probably microbes may be playing much bigger role in future to augment the industrial chemicals production. Biological processes such as this using CO2 as the feed stock have the added advantage of helping the world to reduce the carbon foot print considered responsible for the global warming phenomenon. It is only recently that the CO2 level crossed the 400 ppm level which is considered a forewarning about impending disasters if world does not pull back from this brink soon!

V.H.POTTY
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IS MANGO COMPATIBLE WITH DIABETES? SOME SEEM TO THINK SO!

Strange are the ways science comes up with new findings, demolishing prevalent beliefs! Here is the latest "finding" by a group of scientists who feel that ripe Mango consumption, in stead of aggravating the blood sugar level can actually brings down the same suggesting in a way that those consumers with sugar compromised problem can safely eat this exotic fruit without any "guilt" feeling! A closer look at the report reveals that this interpretation of their research studies is based on experiments with a few volunteers. What can a person affected by diabetes make out of this study? Absolutely nothing. In India many diabetic experts lament the tendency on the part of those with this disease to indulge in mango eating during the season which result in going their sugar level haywire! The new study seems to be contradicting the experience these physicians have dealing with their patients. Here is a take on this controversial subject which may get attention in the coming days by scientists around the world due to its repercussions.  

Consumption of mangoes may potentially have a positive effect on blood sugar in obese individuals and help to limit inflammation, according to a new research.The study led by Edralin Lucas, Ph.D., associate professor of nutritional sciences at Oklahoma State University, examined the effects of daily mango consumption on clinical parameters and body composition in obese subjects (body mass index, BMI = 30kg/m2). Twenty adults (11 males and 9 females) participated in the study, which included daily dietary supplementation with 10 grams of freeze dried mango (equivalent to approximately 100 grams of fresh mango, according to Dr. Lucas) for 12 weeks. Blood sugar levels at the conclusion of the study were significantly lower than the baseline in both male and female subjects. There were no significant changes in body composition for either gender, and BMI increased significantly in female subjects but not male subjects compared to baseline. These findings are the result of a single study and more research is needed on the effects of mango consumption on human health. "The results of this study support what we learned in our recent animal model, which found that mango improved blood glucose in mice fed a high fat diet," said Dr. Lucas. "Although the mechanism by which mango exerts its effects warrants further investigation, we do know that mangeos contain a complex mixture of polyphenolic compounds. Research has shown that several other plants and their polyphenolic compounds, such as isoflavone from soy , epigallocatechin gallate from green tea , and proanthocyanidin from grape seed , have a positive effect on adipose tissue," the researcher stated.

Of course the study only says that the results are based on experiments on obese people and is silent on whether it is equally applicable to normal healthy individuals and those having diabetes. The conclusion that mango consumption may have effect on controlling inflammation and blood glucose is based on the theory that the polyphenols present in this fruit help to bring about the benefits attributed. If this is true why mango alone? Other fruits, a few dozens in number commonly consumed all have plenty of polyphenols, even greater than that present in mango and the million dollar question is whether all colored fruits would be equally effective as mango? The authors did state that more studies are needed in this area to bring about better clarity on the issue ans sure enough more scientists can be expected to take up studies in this area.

V.H.POTTY
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A DIGITAL TOOL FOR AVOIDING FOOD WASTAGE- NEW DEVELOPMENT

Consumers invariably face a dilemma regarding the quality of food within a sealed pack though the date marking on the label indicating the manufacturing date and expiry date give them some clue. Still millions of consumers believing that the food they buy must be as fresh as possible scout for packs with most recent manufacturing date and get assured that they are safe. However after taking home these purchased items may lie on the kitchen shelf some more days and some time not utilized till the expiry date is reached. Under such circumstances the critical question is whether these food items can still be safe or not? Many food pundits suggest that food packages past their expiry date should not be thrown away as most of them would be still good and safe for consumption. It is argued that after all expiry date is not an absolute figure but an indicative one for the consumers to be more cautious. Still many consumers are not willing to take risk with their lives and like to err on safer side not consuming them which end up in the garbage bin. Here is an innovation claimed to be of help to such consumers in taking a decision regarding how safe is the food inside a package with the help of electronic sensors printed on flexible packaging material used to fabricate the pouches.

To fight food waste, producers could include an electronic sensor circuit in their packaging to monitor the acidity level of the food, for example. The sensor circuit could be read with a scanner or with your mobile phone to show the freshness of your steak, or whether your frozen food was defrosted. Researcher Eugenio Cantatore of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e): "In principle that's all already possible, using standard silicon ICs. The only problem is they're too expensive. They easily cost ten cents. And that cost is too much for a one euro bag of crisps. We're now developing electronic devices that are made from plastic rather than silicon. The advantage is you can easily include these plastic sensors in plastic packaging." The plastic semiconductor can even be printed on all kinds of flexible surfaces, which makes it cheaper to use. And it makes sensor circuits costing less than one eurocent achievable.

How versatile this sensor might be, can be assessed only after wide scale testing of different food products and various packing materials under factory conditions. What criteria are used to design these sensors are not clear and due to different type of food spoilage one sensor may not fit for all of them. For example food is spoiled due to chemical changes caused with or without oxygen, undesirable textural changes, moisture ingress, microbiological changes etc and if really one can come up with a sensor that can monitor all these changes, there is nothing like that. But according to the inventors the above development may take at least 5 years before becoming a reality. If there is reasonable confidence that it will materialize consumers will not mind waiting for such a day for enabling him to buy packed foods with more confidence and trust. 

V.H.POTTY
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ENSLAVING THE CONSUMER-THE NEW GAME BY FOOD INDUSTRY!

Food industry has a responsibility to protect the health of its consumers by manufacturing healthy products because of the confidence and trust they receive from them unreservedly. Unfortunately this trust is being systematically undermined by practices considered unethical and hostile to consumer interests, at least by a major segment of the industry during the last three decades.  Safety authorities are increasingly being forced to bring in mandatory steps to discipline this industry which seems to be more focused on making easy money at the expense of the consumer. The enormous "money clout" and political patronage from the elected representatives make them immune to any penal action and corrective efforts by the government. The result is massive health crisis that is happening in countries like America where obesity and over weight people make up more than 50% of the population! Scientific data regarding adverse consequences of food additives are systematically suppressed and food standards are diluted through nexus with safety authorities. Now comes the news that American food industry controlled by a few monopolistic giant players have infiltrated into professional organizations for influencing technical decisions by scientists and generate industry friendly data. Here is a take on this unfortunate trend which needs to curbed at any cost 

"Instead of joining the fight against the obesity and diabetes epidemics, the food industry—Big Food—persistently pushes favorable legislation in Congress through aggressive and, more often than not, successful lobbying, as the recent "Monsanto Protection Act" proved. As if this were not enough, Big Food companies such as Coca-Cola, Kraft and Hershey's seem to have also basically taken over the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), the largest organization of dietitians and nutritionists in the country. And this is without even mentioning that research has led these companies to learn how to manipulate people's tastes and habits. Public health attorney Michele Simon talks about this in "And now a word from our sponsors: Are America's nutrition professionals in the pocket of Big Food?"—a report that questions the ethics of the Academy's acceptance of such sponsorship. "The food industry's deep infiltration of the nation's top nutrition organization raises serious questions, not only about that profession's credibility, but also about its policy positions," says Simon in the report's summary. Simon's reports that in the past 10 years there has been more than a three-fold increase in sponsorships from the Big Food industry. One of the most loyal AND's sponsor is the National Cattleman's Beef Association, followed by ConAgra, General Mills, Kellogg's and the National Dairy Council. Coca-Cola, Kraft and PesiCo come in next. If it were just because the Academy needs the funds to do its educational outreach, all this might be understandable. But has AND at least established some guidelines about the messages broadcast by the companies to their own people? It doesn't seem so. Paradoxically, the Academy represents itself as an advocate for Eating Right (their public campaign's brand), calling people to make informed choices and to develop sound eating and physical activity habits". 

What will happen to the consumers in the US if this trend continues unabated with many scientists in the pockets of the industry? Are their lives going to be more and more uncertain with practically no choice regarding what they want to eat? Who is to be believed and who are their real friends and protectors? The scientific community as a whole must be ashamed of themselves for this unholy alliance with this dubious industry! Where will the common man go in search of truth? Is a time coming for the consumer to be self reliant in terms of food safety by shunning the processed foods and in stead go back to their kitchens to make their own foods, preferably with organic food raw materials? May be yes.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

DRINKING WATER ANARCHY IN KERALA-WHY NO ACTION ON CULPRITS?

Here is a shocking news item from Kerala, the 100% literate state in the country! The food safety authorities have suddenly woken up to the possibility that water consumed in three of the major metropolitan cities might not be safe. Branded as God's own country, authorities probably were under the impression that God was taking care of the quality of water consumed by His subjects! But the "flash drive" to make a random check undertaken, probably to justify its existence, the agency seems to have unearthed a scam in the water market which at best can be called shameful! Even with limited sampling, it turned out 90% of the market samples were sub-standard and/or unsafe when tested against the specifications laid down for potable water! Here is a take on this unfortunate but condemnable  situation for which the safety authority must be held responsible.  

The three-day drive was carried out from March 21, simultaneously in Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram, as per the direction of the food safety commissioner. Officials collected 34 samples, including 16 bottled drinking water samples and nine each from tanker lorries and water sources of tanker lorries. The samples were subjected to chemical and biological tests. According to food safety officials, the situation is alarming in Kochi compared to other two cities as 90% samples collected from the city proved unsafe to drink."Both chemical and biological results of water samples collected from Kochi are not satisfactory. The presence of E coli is a major cause of concern. As per the Food Safety and Standard Act it should not be present in bottled drinking water. In the samples there was a minimum of two organisms in 100 ml," said an official with the food safety department in Thiruvananthapuram. Authorities said pH level in samples collected from sources and tankers were above the permitted level of 6.5. The iron and nitrate content in samples were also high. "If pregnant women drink water with high nitrate level, it can cause blue baby syndrome," said the official. Tests showed the presence of E coli in major brands. The presence of E coli in a well at ToshibaJunction near HMT, which is a water source, came to 1,600 organisms/100ml against the permitted level of 10 organisms/100ml. Despite the grave situation, food safety officials expressed their inability to take action against those who supply unsafe drinking, considering the scarcity of drinking water in the city and nearby areas.

After reading the report one gets the impression that the authorities (who else but the FSSAI?) is contented in flashing the results in the media to get publicity while those responsible appear to have been spared. Having misgoverned the country for decades which allowed these food criminals to thrive, exploiting the man-made water scarcity conditions, not bringing to books these perpetrators is nothing but shirking of responsibility. Selling water itself is unconscionable when Kerala is blessed with abundant rains but allowing tainted water to be sold to the unwary citizens is all the more heinous and heads must roll for perpetuating this situation. Such products must be banned in the state and the retailers who deal with such products also must be taken o task. The excuse trotted out against their inability to bring these violators to book is highly amusing that people would be starved of water!. the Government seems to be contented with the "satisfaction" that some thing is better than nothing! Will this be tolerated in any other country but in India? 

V.H.POTTY
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SUGAR LADEN "HEALTHY" FOODS!-INDUSTRY'S NEW STRATEGY

Any responsible country will spare no efforts to make the lives of its citizens safe from many dangers lurking around them including unsafe foods. In balancing the citizen's right and his well being, reasonable restrictions will have to be put in place on the former so that the public place becomes more secure for the society in general. In the case of food also every country has a legal frame work within which only food handlers, traders and processors will have to work. Lately there appears to be a bias in favor of the industry players in allowing many foods to be made and marketed by them which are patently unhealthy if the scientific yardsticks are strictly applied. Food products containing unusually high levels of sugar and fat are becoming the mainstay of the industry which is exploiting the weakness of consumers to these palate tingling offerings and over a period of time get hooked on to these life threatening products. The result is the wide spread prevalence of food related human disorders like CVD, Diabetes, Hypertension, Kidney ailments etc and there is almost a unanimous view that to day's Obesity epidemic associated with many wealthy countries is mainly due to over consumption of such foods while physical activity of individuals is declining rapidly. Governments are usually reluctant to displease the industry by mandatory restrictions and depend more on persuasion for voluntary action by the manufacturers for improving the health credentials of the products they make and sell. According to the experience in several countries such voluntary actions agreed to by the industry is often a sham and only lip service is made to mislead the governments as well as the consumers. Here is a critique on this on going "ping pong" game between the government and the industry leaving the consumer a silent spectator!

"The nation's largest food and beverage companies are under renewed attack for what critics see as misleading ads for obesity-promoting foods, especially ads aimed at kids. "The trickery that we're trying to stop includes General Mills' false claims that some of its corn-syrup- drenched products are 'natural,' and Coca-Cola Company's deceptive health claims about its Vitaminwater (which would be better called Sugarwater)," the Center for Science in the Public Interest said Wednesday in a release launching its "Stop the Lying Labels" campaign. Industry representatives counter that they have worked to make their products healthier - just as critics have demanded. "Since 2002, we have introduced more than 20,000 new product choices with fewer calories, reduced fat, sodium and sugar, and more whole grains," the Grocery Manufacturers Association said in an e-mail. "We have voluntarily adopted strict advertising criteria" through the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative."

One of the strategies of war is to give an inch if peace can be brought which may not make any significant loss to the one who makes such a gesture and food industry also seems to be adopting this practice if their promises and performance are closely monitored. There are thousands of products made by the industry which contain very high amounts of sugar, fat and salt and to buy peace with the consumer activists and reluctant government safety agencies either the concentration of these ingredients is marginally reduced or a healthy ingredient is included in the recipe! High pressure promotional campaigns are undertaken to highlight the "sacrifice" made by the industry by changing the "established formula" of the products! It is like adding a drop of "Elixir" to a chalice of poison and claim that the product is better than the original poison!  Probably food industry will learn only when consumers start putting pressure on the industry by banishing unhealthy products from their buying basket and force the government to discipline the industry leaving no option but to make only healthy products. In this endeavor grading of foods based on some scientifically valid scale and printing easily recognizable icons on the label can go a long way to use the consumer force to weed way unhealthy products eventually.

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