Climate change is reportedly depleting the nutritional value of wheat and rice, the main sources of energy for Indians.
A study by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research has found that protein content in wheat can fall by 10 per cent and iron content by eight per cent due to carbon emissions.
“Higher carbon content in the area dilutes the capacity of wheat to take in nitrogen, essential for protein generation,” said PK Aggarwal, lead author of the study.
The annual average production of wheat is 75 million tonnes, 95 per cent of which is consumed within the country.
Indians have a 20 per cent protein deficiency, said Dr Parameet Kaur, chief dietician, AIIMS. “Climate change can raise this to 35-40 per cent, with major health implications.”
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Climate change robbing food of nutritional value: study
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Processed food increases risk of depression
People who eat a diet laden with processed and high-fat foods, like sweetened desserts, fried food and refined grains, faced a greater risk of depression, according to a study led by an Indian-origin researcher.
While vegetables, fruit and fish lower the risk of depression, processed food diet such as sweetened desserts, fried food, refined grains and high-fat dairy products increases the risk, British Journal of Psychiatry reported on Monday.
Researchers at the University College London said, "It is not yet clear why some foods may protect against or increase the risk of depression but scientists think there may be a link with inflammation as with conditions such as heart disease".
"Those who ate the most whole foods had a 26 per cent lower risk of future depression than those who ate the least whole foods. By contrast people with a diet high in processed food had a 58 per cent higher risk of depression than those who ate very few processed foods," study author Dr Archana Singh-Manoux said.
During the research, the team split the 3,500 participants into two types of diet - those who ate a diet largely based on whole foods, which includes lots of fruit, vegetables and fish, and those who ate a mainly processed food diet.
After accounting for factors such as gender, age, smoking habits and chronic diseases, they found a significant difference in future depression risk with the different diets.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
New exotic fruit variety 'developed'
Scientists have developed a variety of super healthy Chinese fruit, the Red Bayberry, that can grow in subtropical regions worldwide.
The dark red attractive fruit of the Red Bayberry (Myrica rubra) has been produced in China for centuries, long and enthusiastically sought after for perceived health benefits as well as their refreshing and delicious flavour.
Now, an international team, led by Queensland University, has developed new Red Bayberry varieties that are thriving in the subtropics.
Lead scientist Prof Daryl Joyce said the small number of mature fruiting trees currently growing in South East of Queensland started producing commercial yields of fruit just three years after transplanting.
"We were pleasantly surprised the trees grew so quickly and started fruiting after such a short juvenile period after transplanting. Many fruit trees don't start producing reasonable volumes of fruit until may be five or six years after transplanting.
"However, it appears that Red Bayberry responds well to the sub-tropical growing conditions," he said.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Only 43 eggs per year for an Indian!
An Indian eats only 43 eggs in a year on an average against prescribed consumption of 180 eggs a year for an individual in spite of NECC's heavy promotion for regular egg consumption through well-known slogans like 'Sunday ho ya Monday, roz khao Ande'.
"National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad has prescribed consumption of 180 eggs a year for an individual, but compared to that the actual figure of egg consumption in India is very small (43 eggs per person a year)," Venkateshwara Biofeed Business Manager Sanjeev Chintavar told reporters.
While Japan's average annual egg consumption per person stands at 346, a person in China on an average eats 312 eggs per year and this figure stands at 304 for Mexico, according to the National Egg Coordination Committee.
India's per capita egg consumption is not growing because the government is not paying the required attention towards this and also poultry feed items like maize and bajra have become costlier, he added.
"We want the government to either make poultry feed available to farmers at subsidised rates or announce a minimum support price for egg so that farmers are attracted towards this," he added.
Not only is egg rich in vitamins and minerals but also affordable for the common man-- priced at Rs 3 per egg at present.
Mediterranean diet can beat the blues
Labels: blues, Diet, Food, Health, Mediterranean
People who follow Mediterranean diet, an eating regimen which is rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains and fish, are less likely to be depressed, says a new Foodreport.
To reach the conclusion, Almudena Sánchez-Villegas, B.Pharm., Ph.D., of University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Clinic of the University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, and colleagues studied 10,094 healthy Spanish participants who completed an initial questionnaire between 1999 and 2005.
Participants reported their dietary intake on a food frequency questionnaire and the researchers calculated their adherence to the Mediterranean diet based on nine components (high ratio of monounsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids; moderate intake of alcohol and dairy products; low intake of meat; and high intake of legumes, fruit and nuts, cereals, vegetables and fish).
After a median (midpoint) of 4.4 years of follow-up, 480 new cases of depression were identified, including 156 in men and 324 in women. Individuals who followed the Mediterranean diet most closely had a greater than 30 per cent reduction in the risk of depression than whose who had the lowest Mediterranean diet scores.
The association did not change when the results were adjusted for other markers of a healthy lifestyle, including marital status and use of seatbelts.
"The specific mechanisms by which a better adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern could help to prevent the occurrence of depression are not well known," the authors write.
Components of the diet may improve blood vessel function, fight inflammation, reduce risk for heart disease and repair oxygen-related cell damage, all of which may decrease the chances of developing depression.
"However, the role of the overall dietary pattern may be more important than the effect of single components. It is plausible that the synergistic combination of a sufficient provision of omega-three fatty acids together with other natural unsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants from olive oil and nuts, flavonoids and other phytochemicals from fruit and other plant foods and large amounts of natural folates and other B vitamins in the overall Mediterranean dietary pattern may exert a fair degree of protection against depression," the authors write.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Longest line of Pizzas enters record books!
Foodies were delighted as the world’s longest line of pizzas measuring over 1, 500 feet made it to the record books at the Bucharest Food festival in Romania.
The line comprising of over 2,200 pizzas also bagged an award at the food fest.
More than 100 cooks prepared the pizzas and laid them on the lines to set the record.
The Daily Express quoted a chef as telling Austrian Times: "All we needed afterwards was 2,200 beers to wash the pizza down."
Friday, August 28, 2009
World's Best cities to eat well
Paris is known for its patisseries, Michelin-starred restaurants and perfectly prepared steak frites. In Rome, square slices of pizza topped with zucchini, Caprese sandwiches and of course, gelato, tempt foodies. In Tokyo, upscale favorites like sashimi and robatayaki rule alongside street food mainstays like Gyudon, a beef and onion mixture served over rice.
Tradition is a powerful sentiment. That's why these pillars of global cuisine remain the top cities for foodies. Klik disini untuk melanjutkan »»
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Hot or not? Best and Worst foods for your sex drive
It's no secret that the unhealthy American diet is contributing to an epidemic of obesity. But there's another hidden epidemic that our fatty diets are at the root of: A national sex crisis.
One of the big culprits, for both men and women, is obesity. As a person's weight soars, their libido plummets due to biochemical changes that result in diminished bloodflow. That extra weight also hinders their ability to have children — with men, it's damaged sperm; with women, it's ovulation problems.
The good news: With some simple changes to your diet, courtesy of "Eat This, Not That!", you can revitalize your sex life. How? First, as you consume filling foods with fewer calories, you'll begin to shed the weight that's dragging down your desire. Then, because these foods also contain ingredients and nutrients that strategically boost sexual attraction and performance, you'll squeeze even more satisfaction out of each and every sexual encounter.
Order the latest, most up-to-date version of the best-selling weight-loss series: "Eat This, Not That! Best (and Worst!) Foods in America!"
Take the "Hot or Not" food quiz and find out which foods will spark your sex drive and which will throw a wet towel on them.
| • | Intro |
| • | Bananas |
| • | Oysters |
| • | Chocolate covered strawberries |
| • | Chili peppers |
| • | Pomegranate |
| • | Asparagus |
| • | Sirloin steak |
| • | Vanilla ice cream |
| • | Tomatoes |
| • | Half a bottle of wine |
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Indian curry can stave Dementia
Eating Indian curry meal regularly can help prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease or dementia, an Indian-born researcher has told a meeting of British psychiatrists.
Prof Murali Doraiswamy of Duke University in America told members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists at their annual meeting in the city of Liverpool that curcumin, an ingredient in turmeric can prevent changes in the brain by blocking the spread of amyloid plaques - toxic protein deposits thought to play a key role in Alzheimer's.
Amyloid plaques, along with tangles of nerve fibres, are thought to contribute to the degradation of the wiring in brain cells, eventually leading to symptoms of dementia - brain disorders that progressively worsen and are eventually severe.
Speaking to a largely British audience on Wednesday, Prof Doraiswamy, who heads the Mental Fitness Laboratory at Duke University's Department of Psychiatry, suggested eating a curry meal once or twice a week to stave off Alzheimer's - a form of dementia.
And he predicted it might be possible to develop a curry pill which had the same therapeutic effect.
Turmeric or 'haldi' is the most commonly-used spice in the Indian curry - often dubbed Britain's national dish for their popularity.
Doraiswamy revealed laboratory and animal studies in America have already produced strong evidence that curcumin combats dementia and that a clinical trial is now under way in California to test the effects of curcumin on a group of Alzheimer's patients.
"There is very solid evidence that curcumin binds to plaques, and basic research on animals engineered to produce human amyloid plaques has shown benefits."
"You can modify a mouse so that at about 12 months its brain is riddled with plaques. If you feed it a curcumin-rich diet it dissolves these plaques. The same diet prevented younger mice from forming new plaques," he said.
"The next step is to test curcumin on human amyloid plaque formation using newer brain scans and there are plans for that."
Doraiswarmy said rates of Alzheimer's are known to be low in South Asian communities with turmeric-rich diets. One study in Singapore showed that regular curry eaters were at least half as likely to develop the disease as people who avoided curry.
"If you're not a fan of curry you can try putting mustard on your food," said Doraiswamy.
"Studies looking at populations show that people who eat a curry meal two or three times a week seem to have a lower risk for dementia.
"Those studies seem to show that you need only consume what is part of the normal diet - but the research studies are testing higher doses to see if they can maximise the effect.
"It would be equivalent of going on a curry spree for a week."
He said research had also examined turmeric's therapeutic potential for treating conditions such as cancer and arthritis, but stressed that eating a curry could not counter-balance the increased risk of dementia associated with a poor diet.
Dr Susanne Sorensen, head of research at the London-based Alzheimer's Society, said: "Indian communities that regularly eat curcumin have a surprisingly low incidence of Alzheimer's disease but we don't yet know why.
"Alzheimer's Society is keen to explore the potential benefits of curcumin in protecting the brain and we are conducting our own research into this area.
"A cheap, accessible and safe treatment could transform the quality of life of thousands of people with the condition."
Klik disini untuk melanjutkan »»
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Forests to fall for food and Fuel
Demand for land to grow food, fuel crops and wood is set to outstrip supply, leading to the probable destruction of forests, a report warns.
The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) says only half of the extra land needed by 2030 is available without eating into tropical forested areas.
A companion report documents poor progress in reforming land ownership and governance in developing countries.
Both reports were launched on Monday in UK government offices in London.
Supporters of RRI include the UK's Department of International Development (DfID) and its equivalents in Sweden and Switzerland.
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"Arguably, we are on the verge of a last great global land grab," said RRI's Andy White, co-author of the major report, Seeing People through the Trees.
"It will mean more deforestation, more conflict, more carbon emissions, more climate change and less prosperity for everyone."
Rising demand for food, biofuels and wood for paper, building and industry means that 515 million hectares of extra land will be needed for growing crops and trees by 2030, RRI calculates.
But only 200 million hectares will be available without dipping into tropical forests.
Forest focus
The report foresees demand increasing further into the century. 
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It cites studies suggesting that "...if the current plateau in productivity continues, the amount of additional agricultural land required just to meet the world's projected food demand in 2050 would be about three billion hectares, nearly all of which would be required in developing countries."
According to UN figures, the world currently has about 1.4 billion hectares of arable land and about 3.4 billion hectares of pasture.
Some academics place their hopes in agricultural technologies including genetic engineering to boost crop yields.
But since the spectacular successes of the Green Revolution, advances have been slow. In some areas, yields are falling - a trend which is likely to be exacerbated by climate change.
However, eating into tropical forests to create extra agricultural land would, in turn, exacerbate climate change, with deforestation currently accounting for about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Reform call
One of RRI's main conclusions is that reform of land ownership is crucial, if large-scale pillage of tropical forests is to be avoided.
The conclusion have been supported by DfID, whose minister Gareth Thomas was one of the speakers at the launch event.
"These new studies should strengthen global resolve to protect the property rights of indigenous and local communities who play a vital role in protecting one the most outstanding natural wonders of the world," he said.
DfID runs programmes in West Africa aimed at helping forest dwellers acquire the legal right to manage their land.
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"It is clear that the dual crises of fuel and food are attracting significant new investments and great land speculation," said Andy White.
"Only by protecting the rights of the people who live in and around the world's most vulnerable forests can we prevent the devastation these forces will wreak on the poor."
But the second RRI report - From Exclusion to Ownership? - says progress in reforming ownership has been slow, with only a few countries such as Brazil, Cameroon and Tanzania handing over significant tracts to local communities.
Moves to curb climate change by preserving forests in developing countries could help, RRI concludes. But it also raises the question of who owns rights to the trees - the rich Western countries that want to fund carbon sequestration, or the people who live in the forest areas?
Sorting out ownership could not only help on the environmental front, but also remove reasons for conflict. RRI calculates that about two-thirds of the world's current violent conflicts are driven by land tenure issues.
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