EATING LESS AND LIVING LONG-HOW CAN THIS BE POSSIBLE?

It is a universal principle in health science that more food one eats higher will be the chance to be over weight and eventually becoming obese. The body requirement for energy comes from carbohydrates and fat to a large extent though proteins also do contribute. 2000-3000 kC energy need is correlated to the basal metabolism and the extent of physical work carried out in a day and any thing surplus is channeled to fat deposits in different parts of the body. If this is so why do human being splurge on food with no self control? One explanation is that good food is a food addictive too and under certain circumstances the control of food intake is just not possible. if recent reports are to be believed, slow eating can significantly reduce food consumption and if calorie intake is slowed down, the potential for long living is enhanced. Here is a take on this new perception proven by scientific studies.  

"It may seem a little obvious, but one way to eat less is to take smaller bites. Researchers from the Netherlands published a study Wednesday in the journal Plos One that looked at what happened when 53 people ate soup, taking various size sips – when they were focused and when they were distracted. People who took small bites consumed about 30% less than those who took big sips and those who decided the size of their sips. And, those who took larger sips underestimated how much they ate. "Consuming small bites rather than large bites involves more bites for consumption of the same amount of food. Due to a relatively higher number of bites … small bites may lead to lower food intake," the researchers wrote. It's also possible, they said, that lower intake results from diners' beliefs about how much they are eating. "These findings stress the importance of cognitive factors on satiation," they said. So if you think you are full, that makes a difference. But if a diner's attention is distracted, those factors are also affected, and several studies have shown that people eat more while they are distracted by TV or other things".

The classical studies with animals have proved that a limited calorie diet prolonged life very significantly though how the body can meet its daily calorie needs under such a condition is still a mystery. There are many gray areas in health and nutrition science and the complexity of human body is still not understood completely. What is known unambiguously is that excess food can definitely be injurious causing a host of disorders, some of which can be debilitating and even fatal. The slow eating regime makes sense because one is giving sufficient time to the body to synchronize satiety control and the hormonal signaling system. Mechanical eating without focusing on the act of eating can obviously lead to consuming more food than what is really required. Probably slow eating habit must be inculcated among children at very early stages of life and hurrying mothers valuing their time more than the interest of the child are not helping their kids in the long run. Whether lunch or dinner a family must keep aside a minimum time for sitting together and enjoying the meal in a relaxed way!

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

FREE RADICALS-FROM VILLAIN TO HERO!

It may be scandalous to even suggest that oxy radicals that are formed in biological systems whether in humans or in animals are not as harmful as being made out. Recent scientific evidence generated using tadpoles, scientists appear to have got a clue that oxy radicals are necessary in the body for regeneration and recovery of cells after injury and liberal consumption of antioxidants may even harm the system. For being healthy they suggest that oxy radical levels will have to be optimal and too low or too high can have undesirable consequences. Here is a take on this new startling revelation which has received acclaim world over.

"Researchers at the University of Manchester have found that Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) – oxygen-containing free radicals that are commonly believed to be harmful to cells – actually play a vital role in the regeneration of the tails of tadpoles. The finding could have profound implications for the healing and regeneration of human tissue. Free radicals are a group of highly reactive molecules. The radicals containing oxygen are collectively known as ROS, and play a predominant role in biological systems: they are involved in cell signaling and maintaining homeostasis but, when their concentration increases beyond a certain threshold, they are believed to be responsible for cell damage and, some suggest, even aging. As a result antioxidants, which suppress ROS, have almost become a synonym for good health. But in recent years, evidence has been mounting to suggest that ROS may not be the bad guys after all. Just days ago, a paper by Professor James Watson – co-discoverer of the DNA's double-helix – was published that greatly re-evaluated the importance of free radicals, with the Nobel laureate going so far as to say that antioxidant supplements "may have caused more cancers than they have prevented." Now, building on their previous work, a research group led by Professor Amaya at the University of Manchester has confirmed that in tadpoles, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) – a very common free radical – is not only harmless to cells, but is actually the catalyst that makes it possible for tadpoles' tails to completely regenerate in less than a week".

Who would have thought that the very same villain castigated till recently for their role in cancerous growth is now being rehabilitated after understanding their role better in biological systems? What will happen to the multi billion dollar industry that is making a living, peddling hundreds of anti oxidant containing health supplements claiming their benefits against all types of caners? As the required clarity has still not emerged regarding the optimum levels of oxy radicals required by human beings to maintain good health, these anti oxidant supplements may still be walloped by the consumers but a major effort may be needed to assure the consumers that consumption of too much of anti oxidants will not be dangerous. Will a day arrive when human beings are advised not to consume anti oxidant containing foods indiscriminately? No one knows as yet!

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

DECLINE OF SODA-IS IT A REAL THING?

Caffeine is being demonized as an undesirable food constituent that can be addictive and stimulant to be avoided by children, old age people and pregnant women. But till to date it has never been implicated in any health disorders of serious dimension. With the advent of cola beverages, caffeine consumption started increasing as it is a significant component in all such drinks. While caffeine was a matter of concern in these drinks, over a period of time it was overtaken by the sugar content in these drinks which was held responsible, at least partly, for the obesity syndrome in a country like the US. It is shocking that an average American gulps down more that 500 ml of cola beverage a day which constitutes almost 40% of liquid intake! In spite of many policy orchestrations and campaigns to reduce soda consumption, there was hardly any impact on this practice. Against such a background the recent news that Americans are switching over to coffee from soda in large numbers is a welcome development. Here is a take on this phenomenal change in the consumer attitude of late.  

"Ten years ago, Americans drank enough soda every year to fill a small aquarium. Fifty-three gallons of the stuff per person. That's half a liter of Diet Coke on an average day. Compare that to our other favorite liquid-caffeine companion. For every cup of coffee we consumed in 2003, we drank two cups of soft drink. For $1 we spent on joe, we spent $4 on soda. Now look where we are: Soda is in a free fall, with domestic revenue down 40%. Coffee culture is ascendant, up 50% in 10 years. In another decade, the United States could easily spend more on coffee than soda — something utterly unthinkable at the turn of the century (industry data via IBISWorld)"

Whether more consumption of coffee is better in terms of health is a debatable point but such a shift in consumer behavior will definitely contribute to lesser intake of sugar and its attendant benefits. The million dollar question is regarding the future of the soda industry which has been raking in record money for the last 6-7 decades through a captive consumer market? Probably the industry may yet see the writing on the wall and hopefully offer better products with more emphasis on the well being of the consumer. Explosive growth of coffee shops like Starbucks and others can have another implication because unlike the classic black coffee drink usually consumed in that country, the new "Avatars" are selling sugar laden variants of coffee using sugar syrup liberally and if this trend continues Americans will be back to square one, making no difference whether one drinks soda or coffee!  

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

CRUELTY, THY NAME IS POULTRY FARMING!-WHAT A SHAME TO HUMANITY!

Chicken, chicken and chicken1 This world is getting overwhelmed by chickens as every omnivorous human being loves a chicken preparation in what ever it is prepared! Imagine the human beings, collectively dispatching the souls of about 4o billion creatures belonging to the chicken species every year for just their culinary pleasure! In a world of great inequalities where man is the supreme "animal", other lesser living species have no right to live and to some extent it is understandable as the natural theory of evolution is based on survival of the fittest. But while destroying other fellow inhabitants on this planet, why not make their lives less miserable by providing minimum comforts before leading them to slaughter. This is what the animal activists are fighting for and chick farms world over are living examples of man's cruelty to animals. In rampant pursuit of money and pleasure man has become the cruelest and most ruthless animal on earth and no wonder the nature is hitting back with vengeance when it is realized that unlike herbivores, those practicing omnivores face enormous health related afflictions incurring enormous money on treating such diseases. Here is a commentary on the heart breaking conditions of poultry birds in thousands of farms across the US, known for so long but very little being done to address the issue. 

"In 2003, the animal protection group Compassion Over Killing produced a video exposé of the biggest farm animal industry in our country – the factory farming of chickens raised for meat.  Entitled 45 days,  it laid out the short, brutal life of a broiler  (i.e. meat) chicken: panting, overcrowded, lame, limping and even dead birds. The film shows a bird trapped in a feeder unable to reach water, birds in filthy, dusty conditions, and birds with chests so heavy that they were unable to move around with ease. New Yorker writer Michael Specter wrote separately in 2003 on his first visit to a broiler factory farm, "I was almost knocked to the ground by the overpowering smell of feces and ammonia. My eyes burned and so did my lungs, and I could neither see nor breathe….There must have been thirty thousand chickens sitting silently on the floor in front of me. They didn't move, didn't cluck. They were almost like statues of chickens, living in nearly total darkness, and they would spend every minute of their six-week lives that way." That was nearly ten years ago and still remains the last time the public saw in any detail the life of a factory farmed broiler chicken in the U.S. Globally, the world raises and slaughters some 40 billion chickens for meat every year – 9 billion of whom are right here in the U.S. We are the world's largest producer. More than 99 percent of U.S. broiler chickens are raised in barren windowless enclosed long houses, houses that remain inaccessible to anyone outside the industry. Recently in rural north Georgia and south Kentucky, I drove past row upon row of uniform structures – 500 feet long, 40 feet wide and windowless – on otherwise barren properties, surrounded often by beige fields of soy and maize.  What hides behind the walls? What starts off as a seemingly spacious, clean (though barren and dimly lit) environment, soon changes. A full 25,000 individual animals defecate in the same enclosed space for 45 days. They get a lot bigger, rapidly growing from the size of your fist to the size of a soccer ball in that short period. They crowd that space as they grow, with each individual only having space equivalent to less than a piece of 8"x11" paper.   It is a sea of chickens from wall to wall, sitting in their own feces, struggling to move, in large part because of their genetics. The modern broiler chicken is unnaturally large and has been bred to grow at a fast rate. This selective breeding produces as side effects serious welfare consequences including leg disorders: skeletal, developmental and degenerative diseases, heart and lung problems, breathing difficulty, and premature death. The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture explains the unnaturally fast growth rate as follows: "If you grew as fast as a chicken, you'd weigh 349 pounds at age 2." [1] They are forced to breathe ammonia and dust filled air, and have no natural lighting. Most photos and video from factory farms come from undercover investigators who manage to get hired to work within the farm and then secretly gather images for an external organization.  This is next to impossible in a broiler factory farm.   There is hardly a 'job' involved in raising broilers in factory farms anymore. Often there are only one or two people, usually the farm owners, overseeing multiple houses, each house filled with tens of thousands of birds. Chickens are put into a long windowless structures soon after hatching. They grow in that house and the main job of the farm owner is to remove, dispose of and record the dead birds on a daily basis. A  University of Georgia's College of Agriculture and Environmental Science (CAES) study refers to a typical flock of 25,000 birds in Georgia with a 3% mortality rate over 6 weeks.  On average, that means 750 birds dying over the 6 week in each house and the farmer on average picking up 18 dead birds a day in each house over the 6 weeks. That is the main job – recognizing dead or dying birds, killing sick birds, picking up dead birds and disposing of them. The feed, water and temperature are automated and the litter is never changed during those birds' short life. The job is done easily by one or two people and the farm worker (including a covert one) is hardly required".

Can any consumer, aware of such humiliating and brutal practices in these poultry farms, relish the attractive dishes served in restaurants or cooked at home or offered by the industry, without affecting the conscience? World must ponder over whether killing billions of animals and birds mercilessly for the sake of food is a desirable step for mankind to survive? Why not the collective conscience of the world decide to phase out mindless destruction of animals over a period of, say, about 50 years? Why not bring up a generation of population not addicted to meat foods? May be this is platonic in thinking but to bring back the humaneness to humanity this is unavoidable!

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

GLOBALIZATION-IS IT BENEFICIAL TO ALL?

It is a laudable effort on the part of organizations like World Health Organization of the United Nations to promote healthy foods and scientific dietary practices. If health has become the single most critical issue when food quality is considered, there is a strong logic to it. Advent of modern food technology has unleashed a glut of processed foods which are increasingly becoming more and more unhealthy causing many life style disorders like CVD, hypertension, Diabetes, Kidney diseases, cancer etc and the much abused food industry does not seem to be sensitive about the clamor for healthier foods from its clients, viz the consumers, in stead placing more emphasis on profitability and economic viability of their operations. A society stressed out because of inaccessibility to healthy foods, attention is being turned to food materials which are more nutritious than white rice, refined wheat flour or corn flour and grits. Food grains like millets including Ragi, Bajra, Jowar, Oats, Quinoa etc are considered much more healthy and there is a large surge in demand for these grains from the consumers who are willing to pay any price for getting hold of them. What consequences such a pull for these grains from the rich man in the wealthy countries on the poor man living in poverty ridden undeveloped countries which produce these foods has never occurred to the world community! Here is a commentary on this sad situation that exists in a country like Peru because of snatching away of the staple food grain Quinoa from there by consumers in America, Europe and other wealthy countries.

"But there is an unpalatable truth to face for those of us with a bag of quinoa in the larder. The appetite of countries such as ours for this grain has pushed up prices to such an extent that poorer people in Peru and Bolivia, for whom it was once a nourishing staple food, can no longer afford to eat it. Imported junk food is cheaper. In Lima, quinoa now costs more than chicken. Outside the cities, and fuelled by overseas demand, the pressure is on to turn land that once produced a portfolio of diverse crops into quinoa monoculture. In fact, the quinoa trade is yet another troubling example of a damaging north-south exchange, with well-intentioned health and ethics-led consumers here unwittingly driving poverty there. It's beginning to look like a cautionary tale of how a focus on exporting premium foods can damage the producer country's food security. Feeding our apparently insatiable 365-day-a-year hunger for this luxury vegetable, Peru has also cornered the world market in asparagus. Result? In the arid Ica region where Peruvian asparagus production is concentrated, this thirsty export vegetable has depleted the water resources on which local people depend. NGOs report that asparagus labourers toil in sub-standard conditions and cannot afford to feed their children while fat cat exporters and foreign supermarkets cream off the profits. That's the pedigree of all those bunches of pricy spears on supermarket shelves".

In a unified world, evolving without any national borders and globalized marketing environment, it may be some what specious to argue that exports from one country to the other is causing social tension or depredation of the local people. But can such large scale trade be insensitive to human misery? Probably the countries which indulge in reckless export of their staple foods for the sake of earning a few dollars must think about such consequences. Blaming the buyers can never be logical since money power can introduce such distortions. However there are still some countries, though rich, still look at agricultural trade from a social angle. Examples include Palm oil trade, Cocoa trade and a few others where there appears to a consensus that users must insist on sustainable cultivation and harvesting practices without destroying forests or without use of child labor. Of course this is a complex area of international logic and logistics for which global community must find a solution.

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

THE "FOOD HUBS"-A CONCEPTUAL MECHANISM FOR LOCAL PRODUCE MARKETING

Increasing farmer suicide cases in India is a disturbing trend that ought to be addressed by the government and there is some how a feeling persisting with successive governments that giving subsidies can take care of farmer problems. No wonder India cannot raise the level of value addition to the agricultural commodities and to a large extent this can be traced to very low entrepreneurial aspirations among the farming community. While saluting hundreds and thousands of villages in the country where millions of farmer families toil hard to produce adequate food for self consumption as well as earning a livelihood through sale of surplus production to non-farming population, the subsistence level of living in grossly under developed village environment with sub-human conditions and daily miseries make them permanently disabled to do any thing constructive. Why the country is not attempting to create village based processing facilities by providing necessary inputs for value addition to the basic commodities is despicable. Even if these unfortunate "second class" citizens of the country are provided the needed financial inputs through government agencies, from where do they get other inputs like technology, infra support and marketing muscle? Here is an example coming from a developed country like the US which has understood the critical importance of food in the local economy and facilitate the processing and marketing of locally produced food materials through creation of "Food Hubs" which link the farmer, local technical resources and the consumer in a sustainable way.  

"By developing a local "food hub," organizers hope they can provide a centralized facility that can buy and aggregate locally produced food and make it available to larger, institutional buyers in the area on a regular basis. "A food hub is that linkage between the local farmers and the institutions, like schools, hospitals, the jail, the grocery stores and the restaurants that want to have access to local foods," said Eileen Horn, who directs the work of the Food Policy Council. "The customers are asking for it, and there's public interest in it, but they can't access enough consistent supply." Horn and other members of the Food Policy Council told Douglas County Commissioners last week that efforts to develop a local food hub in Douglas County will be one of their top priorities in the coming year. "What the Food Policy Council has been talking about in terms of a food hub is really what could be that central site that could aggregate, warehouse, maybe have some cold storage and some light processing for food so it would make it simpler for our community members to access that food from a single point," Horn said in a recent interview. The Food Policy Council was established by the County Commission in 2009. "Basically the Food Policy Council works to identify the benefits, the challenges and the opportunities for a local food system in Douglas County," she said. "So we're looking at what could be the health benefits for the community; what could be the local economic development benefits for our community; and then what are some of the barriers we could look at from a policy perspective to help build a vibrant food system that would support our local farmers and our community members." Traditionally, Kansas agriculture is known for producing a limited number of commodities in vast amounts – wheat, corn and soybeans, as well as beef and pork. But Horn says smaller-scale producers in Douglas County and the surrounding area are now producing large volumes, and a surprisingly wide variety of fruits and vegetables on nearly a year-round basis. She said much of that is the result of local growers investing in "high tunnels" — semicircular hoop structures that are relatively inexpensive and function as modified greenhouses to extend the growing season. "That has really changed the game in terms of season extension, because now you can get greens – there are local greens available in grocery stores right now, in January, and that's because of the season extension and high tunnels and greenhouses that people are utilizing," she said. Local and regional food hubs have grown in popularity in recent years, in part because of support from state and federal departments of agriculture.

India is a country dominated by middle men and pre-harvest contractors who exploit the helplessness of the farmer in cornering the harvested produce at ridiculously low prices and selling the same at exorbitant prices to the easily vulnerable consumer! Elimination of such intermediaries from the system can substantially increase the farmer income while making the same available to the consumer at very reasonable cost. Milk industry under the cooperative sector has demonstrated that producers can get as much as 70-80% of the consumer price by eliminating most of the private players from the scene. The much hyped APMC yards, supposed to be helping the farmer are becoming joke of the country and any how they are going to be dismantled soon under the pretext of economic liberalization and much hyped foreign investment regime. The Agro-industries Corporations in different States which could have been powerful interlocutors with the farmers have been made to wither away through lack of government support. Local foods have great relevance because they are fresh, easily accessible, cost-wise cheaper and have minimum carbon foot print. Sooner such hubs are created better it will be for the farmers and consumers of this country!

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

TURMERIC AND INFLAMMATION-NEW FINDINGS

Turmeric has a unique dietary role under the Indian cooking system and there is practically no curry preparation without the presence of this ubiquitous natural condiment. With almost all artificial colors being weeded out of human diet because of the health risks associated with them, Turmeric emerged as a rich source of natural yellow color which is available to day across the world for food industry to use in hundreds of processed food products. More than the color, Turmeric is recognized as a food component with medicinal effects. Besides its antibacterial credentials, the Curcumin that is present in it is considered as an anti inflammatory substance possessing properties to combat a number of human diseases linked to inflammation. Here is the latest findings on Curcumin which seem to be opening new avenues for its effective use in counteracting human diseases among population across the world.. 

"Turmeric has been used widely in Indian cooking for thousands of years, and, in the past two decades, hundreds of studies have determined curcumin helps fight arthritic inflammation, reduces cancer risk and slows the onset of diabetes, said Sukumar, co-director of the breast cancer programme at Johns Hopkins. Curcumin is a potent inhibitor of inflammation, which can exacerbate rheumatoid arthritis and spur cancerous growths, according to Sukumar. The compound inhibits a molecule called NF-kB that plays a key role in initiating inflammation. "What curcumin does is blunt this pathway. That's how it is able to mediate its effect," Sukumar said. Consuming curcumin also has been shown to repair skin damage caused by radiation therapy for cancer, she said. Maitra, Sukumar's colleague, began working a few years ago on a water-soluble form of curcumin that can be taken in pill form. That formulation is still in the experimental stages. The body doesn't readily absorb curcumin so a person has to consume several grams of curcumin a day to get the health benefits, Sukumar said. Pills containing unaltered curcumin are on the market. "The other way, the preferable way, is to add (turmeric) to everything you cook," Sukumar said. To get the full benefits, dissolve turmeric in warm oil and add it to foods, she said".

It is true that Curcumin is not water soluble and most of it, consumed through oral route, does not get absorbed across the intestine having only limited effect on flora associated with the gut. The attempt to increase absorption through its solubilization and creating ready to take preparations like tablets or pills is a welcome effort. Since Indian culinary preparations contain high levels of Turmeric even the limited solubility does help getting adequate quantity into the blood stream to derive the benefits attributed to this food adjunct. It is for those population which do not like the typical flavor of Turmeric in the food, camouflaged preparations are necessary to deliver sufficient dosage to confer the benefit. 

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